Anaesthesia
Welcome to the UCDVH Anaesthesia Service.
We are the only Veterinary Hospital with board certified anaesthesiologists in Ireland. Our team provides sedation, general and regional anaesthesia and pain management for animals. Each anaesthetic protocol is individually tailored to your pet’s needs. Many of our patients are considered ‘high risk’ and we are dedicated to providing the safest anaesthetic possible.
As a veterinary teaching Hospital, it is our mission to provide superior clinical services and to educate future veterinary surgeons, veterinary specialists and interns.
The anaesthesia service is available around the clock for patients of the UCD Veterinary Hospital.
Our Services
• Anaesthesia for the following species:
- Dogs and cats
- Horses and donkeys
- Farm animals (cattle, sheep, goats and pigs)
- Small furries (rabbits, guinea pigs etc)
- Exotic species (including zoo animals) and birds
• Sedation and general anaesthesia for ‘high risk’ patients:
- Patients with heart disease
- Patients with airway problems
- Patients with metabolic diseases
(e.g., diabetes, Cushing’s disease, hyperthyroidism etc)
- Patients with liver and kidney disease
- Very old or very young animals
• Local anaesthetic techniques:
- Epidurals and epidural catheters
- Wound soaker catheters
- Peripheral nerve blocks (nerve stimulator-guided)
• Advanced monitoring:
- Oxygen saturation
- Capnography
- Electrocardiography (ECG)
- Invasive and non-invasive blood pressure measurement
- Measurement of inspiratory and expiratory oxygen and anaesthetic gases
- Blood gas analysis
- Central venous pressure measurement
• Acute pain management
• Mechanical ventilation
• Fluid therapy including blood and plasma transfusions
Types of Anaesthesia
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Anaesthesia is a drug-induced state of unconsciousness that allows us to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures impossible in awake animals. General anaesthesia is induced by injecting drugs into your pet’s veins or less commonly by your pet breathing an anaesthetic gas. Your pet will then be kept anaesthetised by either breathing an anaesthetic gas or by a constant infusion of anaesthetic drugs into its veins. Throughout the entire anaesthetic period, your animal will be monitored by a dedicated anaesthesia staff member.
• Peripheral nerve blocks
A nerve block will numb the part of the body that is being operated on. A local anaesthetic is injected very close to the nerve(s) that conduct sensations from that body part to stop any feeling of pain from being transmitted to the brain.
• Epidural
For epidural anaesthesia a local anaesthetic and/or an analgesic drug is injected around the spinal cord. This will also stop the transmission of pain signals to the brain.
• Pain Prevention and Treatment
Acute preoperative and postoperative pain management is a vital component of our patient management. We use a wide range of drugs and techniques to ensure the comfort of our patients in the perioperative period.