February 2012
9 posts
TV Segment: Pet dental health month 2012 (More Good Day Oregon) →
kptv.com
Talking about the importance of proper home and veterinary dental care for your cats and dogs. Highlighting the important role anesthesia plays in a thorough and useful dental evaluation and cleaning. Talking about the guest blog posts written by Dr. Heidi Shafford regarding anesthesia in veterinary dental care and the questions all pet owners should ask of their pet’s veterinary team to ensure the safest anesthetic procedure possible.
Guest post: Anesthesia In Pet Dentistry - Part 2
Previously, Dr. Heidi Shafford of Veterinary Anesthesia Specialists discussed reasons for having dental work performed on your pet under general anesthesia. In today’s post, Dr. Shafford continues her discussion of anesthesia for dental patients.
Minimizing the Risks of Anesthesia 1: Role of the Veterinary Team
Anesthesia is like any medical procedure, there are benefits and risks. We previously discussed the benefits of anesthesia for dental procedures. The risk of anesthetic-induced death is uncommon: approximately 1 in 1000 for healthy cats and 1 in 2000 for healthy dogs. While the incidence of anesthetic death is low, it could and should be much lower. Why isn’t it? In part, its because many practices aren’t actively taking the necessary steps to reduce anesthetic risk. One goal of these blog posts is to help you become a more well informed advocate and learn about the ways in which you can help to lower anesthetic risks for your pet.
Anesthesia occurs in several steps, with opportunities at each step to minimize risks for your pet. Below I present a simple outline of the steps involved in anesthesia. Following this outline is a list of questions you might ask your veterinary team to find out what they are doing to minimize and manage anesthetic risks.
Upcoming survey... need pet owner/guardian feedback please!
Hi all. I’ve put together an online survey (SurveyMonkey) to gauge pet owner/guardian awareness of general pet safety and their desire for a comprehensive and practical pet safety resource.
The survey should only take about 10-15 minutes to complete and there are chances to win a prize too. One survey respondent will be selected at random (by SurveyMonkey) to win my sweepstakes prize… a super cool and useful QR code pet ID tag PLUS 1 year Gold level subscription from the innovative folks at PetHub. The person, business, or blog that refers the most people to the survey (who then go on to complete it) will be given a $50 Starbucks gift certificate as a ‘thank you’ for their referrals.
I will post the link to the survey here on the blog tomorrow (2/9/12) and the survey will be open until 11:45pm (PST) on Saturday 2/18/12. So please stay tuned and please help me spread the word. I’m really trying to reach and help as many pet owners/guardians as possible.
Much appreciated!
Be aware, be prepared… be Preventive!™
Jason Nicholas, BVetMed(Hons)
The Preventive Vet™
www.Facebook.com/ThePreventiveVet
www.ThePreventiveVet.Tumblr.com
© 2012 The Preventive Vet. All Rights Reserved.
Guest post: Anesthesia In Pet Dentistry - Part 1
In honor of National Pet Dental Health month, today’s post is an article about Dental Anesthesia written by my friend and fellow veterinarian, Dr. Heidi Shafford, DVM, PhD, DACVA. Dr. Shafford is a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist who owns and operates Veterinary Anesthesia Specialists, a business dedicated to improving anesthesia safety and comfort for pets. Veterinary Anesthesia Specialists provides on-site anesthetic care and support for pets around the Pacific Northwest, and offers consulting and training to veterinary professionals across the country. All of this is to say that Dr. Shafford has a passion for making veterinary anesthesia as safe as possible and for preventing and alleviating animal pain. In other words, she knows a thing or two about veterinary anesthesia. So without further ado, take it away Heidi…
Cat Can't Pee! Feline Urethral Obstruction: Part 3 - Be Preventive
Welcome to the third, and final, installment of this blog series on feline urethral obstruction… Part 3 - ‘Be Preventive’. In this post I’ll highlight the things you need to know and the steps you should take to prevent an occurrence (or recurrence) of this condition.
If you missed the first two installments in the blog series, click the respective hyperlinks here to read them… Part 1 - ‘Be Aware’, and Part 2 - ‘Be Prepared’.
Additionally, and as an aside, if you’ve ever had a cat suffer from a urethral obstruction I’d greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to complete the online survey I created on SurveyMonkey. The survey can be found by clicking here, its completely anonymous and only takes a few minutes to complete. Thanks in advance for your time.
And so, without further ado, lets talk about the things you need to know and do to decrease your cat’s risk for urethral obstruction…
