Home Care Advice After Anaesthesia or Sedation
What to Expect
After coming home from any procedure requiring an anaesthetic or sedation, your pet should be kept in a warm, dry, quiet and ideally indoor location in the 24 hours following discharge from our clinic. Your pet may still be a little bit drowsy after he/she goes home with you. There may also be some irritability or incoordination during this initial 24-hour period.
The shaved area on your pet's front or back legs is the IV injection and/or IV catheter site. Some bruising to this area may be seen when he/she goes home with you; however, if this persists beyond 72 hours, please give us a call at the clinic.
If your pet had received a full anaesthetic during their time at the clinic, the underside of their paw may also have been shaved - this allowed the placement of blood pressure monitoring equipment, so that we could monitor their progress under anaesthesia closely.
Exercise Restriction
Unless otherwise directed by your veterinarian or veterinary nurse at the time of discharge, no change to your pet's exercise regime is usually required. However, we do recommend that dogs are toileted on a lead and only receive light lead exercise in the 24 hours following general anaesthesia or sedation. Cats should ideally remain indoors for 24 hours following anaesthesia or sedation.
Feeding
Unless otherwise advised by your veterinarian or veterinary nurse at the time of discharge, no change is usually required to your pet's diet following an anaesthetic or sedative. A small portion of your pet's diet should be fed in the evening that they come home with you, and then resume feeding normal portions in the morning. It is not unusual for some loss of appetite to occur in the first 24 hours following discharge from our clinic; however, if this persists, please give us a call at the clinic on (06) 3588675.
Should you have any enquiries or further concerns about your pet, please do not hestitate to phone us at (06) 3588675 to discuss.