How Anesthesia for Veterinary Surgery on a Dog is Performed 

Thanks so much for this video. As an emergency veterinarian in practice for 16 years, all in a specialty practice setting, I did want to point out a few things. Firstly, it is very uncommon to have a veterinary anesthesiologist present for veterinary surgeries outside of academic settings. Secondly, I have never seen a human grade anesthetic machine used in a veterinary patient (either in academic settings or in any of the 10+ speciality facilities I’ve worked in, including most of those in NYC). Typically a much less sophisticated veterinary unit would be used along with a simple bellows based ventilator with settings only for tidal volume and rate. While it would be great if every animal patient could have a residency trained anesthesiologist supervising and use human grade monitoring and anesthetic equipment, it just isn’t economically feasible in the great majority of locations and not what most pet owners can reasonably expect in the vast majority of even speciality or academic practices.

In 99.99999% of veterinary hospitals in the country, a Registered Veterinary Technician (and sometimes it may even be an on the job trained assistant) is performing induction, intubation, maintenance, and recovery. I'm an RVT who's been in the veterinary feild for almost 17 years and I have met one veterinary anesthesiologist in my entire career. A vast majority of veterinary hospitals also don't use ventilators, especially not for routine procedures like castrations and ovariohysterectomies. Typically ventilators are only found in specialty referral hospitals and are used in specialized procedures. Since we do not use paralytics in veterinary medicine, our patients are able to spontaneously breathe during surgical procedures, so RVTs provide manual ventilation with the resivoir bag as needed on a patient by patient basis. Everything else in this video was pretty industry standard, though except for maybe the methadone. I've only worked with methadone in a speciality referall hospital and not ever in a GP clinic (GP clinics will typically use hydromorphone instead, but I like methadone MUCH better as a premed because hydro makes the majority of patients vomit and poop everywhere.) I'm very curious about the cost of this castration. Between the board certified anesthesiologist, the board certified surgeon, the ventilator, and that extremely fancy anesthesia machine, this procure has to be over $1,000... which for the vast majority of clients is not feasible or attainable for a neuter. My last veterinary job was for a non-profit hospital. I was the creator and clinical manager of a high volume, low cost spay and neuter operation in New Orleans that's still up and running today. A large canine ovariohysterectomy is $90 there... and clients can still barely afford it. I recently left the world of veterinary medicine and I'm currently in my last semester of RN school. My end goal is CRNA. In my area of the country RVTs (who have an associates in science the same as RNs do) make roughly $17 an hour. I ran an entire surgery department (controlled drug inventory, supervising & training staff, hiring staff, hospital management, supply ordering, client consults) and performed total anesthesia (intake, induction, intubation, maintenance, recovery, invoice charges, medical notes, and discharges) on 40 patients a day. And I made $17.51 an hour. CRNAs in my area (who have much job less responsibilities because their ONLY job is anesthesia) make roughly $150 an hour. I love that you made this video. But I want everyone to understand that the role this anesthesiologist plays is actually the role of grossly underpaid Registered Veterinary Technicians in 99.9999999% of veterinary hospitals in America.

This was great! Definitely top standard of care. I’d highly recommend finding a place to observe equine anesthesia. Intubating and monitoring a horse was one of the highlights of vet school for me. (Just imagine how big that ET tube is!)

Damn how fast she put that IV in was insane.

That was AMAZING! As a former (I left the field due to disability) veterinary technician, I really enjoyed this. I worked in general practice and used to do many of these things myself, under the supervision of a veterinarian of course. Wow, this video almost made me want to go back to working in the field. I’ve shared this video with all of my veterinary friends.

Very interesting to see this, as a "pet parent" whose dogs have all had surgeries along the way! My GSD had a hole in her heart (a PDA) that was closed with coil embolization at a teaching hospital in Guelph, Ontario, and it was amazing to watch the students examine her, then go into the hallway to discuss what they thought was going on, and they all got it right! They were also all present at her follow up ultrasound. Her heart had decreased in size, and was now normal.

Being a vet student in Poland myself I watched it with the greatest pleasure! Best wishes to dr Wypart!

I was a vet tech, and I loved assisting with surgeries. There was always 2 vet techs in each surgery and unbeknownst to everyone, someone left the isoflorine tank on and after a few hours of it on, we all started yawning and getting dizzy. We closed early because everyone was tired and unable to focus. Lol

My dad who is a firefighter paramedic, took a class years ago on how to do first aid on animals. And that included IVs. We have a first aid kit so that if anything happened to our dogs especially if we were on the road we could take care of it. It has all the supplies for an IV and everything else that could possibly happen.

I hope the doggy turns out OK. He's adorable. I love animals!

Always wondered if anesthesiology is similar for humans and animals. Thank you for sharing. This was super interesting. My girl Bella recently went under for heavy teeth cleaning and removal.

I found your conversation about extubating and prepping some patients for emergence while they're still deeper under anesthesia to be very interesting, especially with regards to young men 😅. I'm currently 24, and about 6 or 7 years ago I went under general to get my wisdom teeth removed. I actually have some memories of the recovery room, I was convinced I could stand and walk on my own, and I think I took a few steps leaning on the wall... but they pretty quickly convinced me to have a seat in the wheelchair. Then I just remember some of getting wheeled back out and giving my dad (and I think everyone else I saw) a thumbs up 🤣. I didn't start to *really* form solid memories until I got in my dad's truck with him, though. First absolutely solid memory is me tuning the radio to my usual favorite station 🤘 (it's still weird to me just how absolutely suddenly my awareness became completely normal at that instant!) I actually don't remember how I got to the truck, though 😂

Aww, what a good boy that adorable pittie is. He was such a mellow, chill patient. That was a fascinating video. It looked so similar to anaesthesia for humans, except I don't think humans get the pulse oximeter on the tongue.

Loved this video! Thanks for taking us along with you for this informative video

This was wonderful. We need more vet anesthesiologists taking care of our precious four legged children❤️🐶❤️

This was so good to watch! Thank you doc’s!

Wow im impressed what a great care they gave to the dog. Amazing!

This WAS awesome watched it a couple times and I can’t wait to see the sit down interview! I hope you take her up on letting her shadow you!!

I am a medical malpractice attorney in MN and I love Max. I am also in Shelter Medicine program at U of F Gainesville. This is unbelievable timing and information for our animal friends. Wow. Same drugs as Humans but higher dosages .

Absolutely amazing! Thanks for putting this video out there.

Pretty cool that you did this. Love it. Big fan of the channel and the work you do,

THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS EVER!!! great information, we just had two of our pups go through a tplo surgery. Very informative!

Wow! Well done!! I love seeing crossover education and information sharing!! Max you are a stellar educator and doctor!!!!

This was very enlightening. The technical details really take it to the next level, it's hard to find content like this.

This video is amazing in every way.

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for this video.

That was awesome! Thank you!!!

You're so funny Max, I love it!! Thank you for this, you're such a good interviewer🥰! And she seems to be very good at her job (just like you!). Kobe is so so cute😍, nice to meet him. All the best to you two🐾❤👣.

This was an awesome idea that definitely made an interesting and educational video. Thank you Dr Max.

Wow. What a fantastic and informative video and great surgical team. It makes me happy to see the pets get such great care there.

Excellent video! The comments on this page from professionals were also very informative. Btw, I absolutely LOVE that very well-behaved, gorgeous Pitbull!!❤

So grateful for the professionals that care for our fur babies! ❤❤❤

I'm always amazed by a skilled clinician.

Incredible. Thank you for sharing.

As someone who knows/works with someone who’s a vet tech for their day job and has surgery days where they help out in the OR this was really fascinating to me to see because it helped me better understand what they do, amazing stuff!

Wow.. that was really cool and informative. My poor pup had to have surgery. I didn’t know that much information about the anesthesia procedure. Thank You for this video.

So glad you got to experience vet med! Hopefully you can get exposure to some other species since anesthesia can vary quite a lot!

This was fascinating! Thank you so much!

It’s really nice next time come to our hospital The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, is near by you in Manhattan!!!

How far do you have to go across in the evolutionary tree before the drugs used start being significantly different? Like, do you still use propofol on exotic birds? Are opioids even effective on snakes and lizards? How do you even provide respiratory support on a fish?

Really amazing how easy it is to see the cords and intubate in dogs!

patient is so patience !! she know she was in proper hands 🙂

Such a sweet pup💗

Cool video Dr Max. You picked the right cap! Thanks for the info. It’s always amazing! 🧢

Great job showcasing this, Max. Interesting differences but lots of surprising similarities to our adult world.

Interesting, in vet school we are failed if we don’t use gloves when placing an IV catheter & we aren’t allowed to flick the catheter into the vein bc it might introduce contaminants into the bloodstream. I love when vets and doctors collaborate and learn from each other!

Fascinating! Thank you very much. ❤️

much respect and admiration for vets and vet techs , they're incredibly knowledgeable and skilled

Dr. Max, this is very interesting. Please do more videos like this one.

Came across ur channel awhile back. I have liked several videos. My brother has his BSN in nursing. Idk how u or anyone can do what u do but THANK GOD for people like u and nurses and drs everyone. Suppose to have my left hip replaced but scared to death have enough health issues. Idk if I could watch this video bc love furbabies but I do through it. Thank u so much for ur videos. I will continue watching as they pop up on my RU-vid on my TV. U do a great job.

Pani Doktor i Pan Doktor Wypart serdecznie pozdrawiam, nie poznałem Państwa osobiście ale pracując w Żoliborskiej wielokrotnie słyszałem ciepłe słowa o Państwu ;) Świetna robota!

This video was great and I always enjoy learning new things especially medical information, whether animals or humans

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing

Excellent facilities, staff, equipment for our furry friends. Nice prep work before inserting cath.... well done... 1st class!!!

Wow! This looks like a top notch veterinary practice. Definitely wish they were located in my area! My dog just had lithotripsy at a local Veterinary school. I hope they were as skilled as these vets!

I'm a military member and nurse anesthesiologist. We learn K9 basics of care for anesthesia and it's humbling to see that side of things

Awesome!!!! Thank you for sharing!

Great video. I have often wondered about this. Much appreciated!

Love it! Very cool show and thank you!!

Great video! I'm a vet student from Germany and I work in an equine clinic. Anaesthesia in horses is in some aspects similar, but also very different to the anaesthesia in dogs. For example, that we use a crane to get horse on the operating table. We also use much larger tubes (in a normal horse size 24 to 32) and have to place them without a laryngoscope. It would be interesting and very cool, if you could do a video about it.

I love this video! As vet assistant, I too find a lot of crossover between vet med and human med. Also, somethings I’ll note when we use our thumb as a tourniquet, we call it rolling off. Sometimes we’ll place the pulse ox on the ear, the skin near the arm pit, or the flank area. Also, sometimes the bp cuff is applied on the tail. In general practice vet med, the patient is often monitored by a vet tech, as the vet is doing the cutting. Sedation is commonly used if a patient is aggressive for everyone’s safety.

Dude this is awesome. Thanks so much!!!

Amazing! I'm currently in vet school right now but I must say most hospitals and clinics I go to don't have an anaestheiologists, it's usually handled by both vets and nurses/techs here. But in most best practice clinics and hospitals a nurse is there with your animal from sedation right to waking up, and yes, labs before surgeries too! Also, never heard about the irritation when inserting temp probes in the oesophagus before, I'll have to take note of that!

As a vet tech since 2006, this is a great video. Thank you all!!

Fantastic!!!! i am an RN and very familiar with human anesthesia and intubation. This was nothing i have ever seen before, it was so informative. a 10 ETT was HUGE!!!

AMAZING. That was the most interesting experience I had. As a pet lover, you don't realize how complex surgery for pets could be. Not much different from human except the fact that in case of human surgeries, the anesthesiologist can talk to the patient and medical records in order to know how much anesthesia they will provide. With dogs and cats there could be unknown issues that need to be carefully monitor

What a cool video! Thanks Doc!

Very interesting, thanks Max!

I love these tipes of videos, please continue the series!! I would love to watch a giraffe being intubated, or a lion being prepared to surgery

Anesthesiologists are very curious about how anesthesia is done in vet practice. At least I surely was. Glad to see you have gone a step further to actually demonstrate it. Nice work

I’m really glad you went with the doggies in scrubs cap vs the zebra one

this was incredible

Wow that was so cool and amazing to see ! I really enjoyed it! Thanks for Sharing that! I really love human Anesthesiologist! That was a good Experience! I love people Anesthesiologist!

Very informative. So much so, I subscribed. I really enjoyed this!

Lovely to watch how animals have value just like humans ❤❤ I hope this world becomes a better place for all creatures 🙏🙏

I never took my eyes off the video!!🤩 As a rescuer of any animal in need, mostly cats & dogs (& a Newborn Deer) THIS VIDEO WAS EVERYTHING!! When having a baby I've rescued who were abandoned, abused, starved, and or disabled, I often get frustrated at the CONSTANT adding on Of this test, or that test to their treatment, bc it's already SO EXPENSIVE.. & I don't want to lose this fur baby 😔 But, this helped my understanding of why.. thank you so much!! I mean it helps to understand, buuuut, as an independent rescuer, it's not helpful on my wallet... But, it will never stop me from rescuing these Angels from horrible, disgusting situations. _PLEASE DON'T GET A PET IF YOU CANNOT FINANCIALLY AFFORD IT, IF YOU GET EASILY AGITATED, HAVE A SHORT TEMPER_ _LOVE THE PUPPY/KITTEN STAGE, BUT THE "CUTENESS WEARS OFF" & YOU DON'T WANT THEM, ANYMORE, THEN DON'T BOTHER...._ _GETTING A PET, BC THEY ARE LIVING BEINGS WHO FEEL PAIN, SADNESS & ALL THE THINGS WE HUMANS DO & IT'S NOT FAIR TO THEM!!_ l

This was amazing! So informative. I’m in absolute awe of what anaesthesiologists (for both humans and animals) do. But also very grateful to those that have looked after me throughout surgeries ❤️

Thank you for including veterinarian medicine in your videos. I hope that dog recovered quickly.

Super awesome video!

That was amazing!

Dr Waypart is the very professional surgeon beacuse i saw his hand movements from opening to suturing the dog and salute to the anesthesialogist she also managed well from providing anestesia to de intibuating the dog and salute to you for making this eye opening video on veterinary surgery and anesthesialogy

Love the parallels and comparisons btw human and veterinary medicine

FASCINATING!!!

This I found so fascinating. I am a nurse of MANY years. In my early years I worked in critical care. Over the years with infants, children and adults. I LOVED every bit of it! I originally wanted to be a vet but sometimes life doesn’t always go as desired. At any rate I quite understand most of what this video explains and shows. Thank you for having videos such as what you make. I like your hand held phone holder. Could you share what it is?

As a human anesthesiologist, this is fascinating

Thank Max , iam Anesthesia gtreating from somalia , your video are fully benefit, congragulation

the similarities between human and dog anaesthesia are so fascinating

This was super interesting!

Great video. I love seeing the similarities and differences between animals and humans. The comments about this being very "advanced" and fancy compared to typical small practice vet practices makes sense.

great video!

Doggy PACU had me rofl lmao. Such an amazing and insightful video, thank you so much for this!

As a retired RN….found it very interesting. I’ve done rescue and trapping wild cats for spay/neuter. My four legged children have had a variety of surgeries too. Your vids are fascinating and much needed in this technological age. Your generation uses a lot of social media. Surgery for two & four legged is scary. The visual look you give can be reassuring. Thanks!

Oh my goodness you have a floof! How cute!

This was very interesting. I just had my 16 yo, 7 lb, Papillon's teeth cleaned, and I had to use a dog dentist and an anesthesiologist. Now I know how they did his teeth.

Love your channel, love pets very interesting👍👍

Very interesting!!

So interesting!

WOW awesome video

This is super cool

This is a first class vet surgery i've ever seen. As in wow!