Rickards is getting neutered in the morning! *update, need help!*

Me too...glad he is doing better...I wanted to check in this morning to see.  Rickards, you have the best "stink eye" ever!  You tell the mama how it is!

 Glad he is feeling better and he does look cute in the onesie

FWIW I did not see Bugsy post knee surgery until the next day so unsure of how he came out of the anesthesia but when he had the xrays he was toast for ages.  The surgeon said Oh he'll be fine in 20 minutes or so.  We chatted and waited.....20 minutes still literally looked dead............30" same............45" same.  We had to carry him to the car.

I drove home (another 20";) and still nothing.  I was near tears as he seemed dead.  He stayed in the car for a couple of hours at which point I was able to sit with him as he seemed to start waking. Another hour later DH came home and lifted him out of the car.  So it wound up taking nearer to 4 hours than 20".  He too was completely parched. 

kpwlee

He too was completely parched. 

That's worthy of noting BIG TIME -- because typically a dog who is "parched" once after anesthesia probably will be every time.  And then it doesn't react with some dogs like that at all. 

Callie, I always love your stories! Theres always something to learn from your stories and alot of them make me laugh I lucked out getting that picture of him sticking his tongue out, it really does say how he feels about things lol.

CoBuHe

Me too...glad he is doing better...I wanted to check in this morning to see.  Rickards, you have the best "stink eye" ever!  You tell the mama how it is!

Lol he has definitely mastered that look! And ya, I might deserve that one lol

kpwlee

 Glad he is feeling better and he does look cute in the onesie

FWIW I did not see Bugsy post knee surgery until the next day so unsure of how he came out of the anesthesia but when he had the xrays he was toast for ages.  The surgeon said Oh he'll be fine in 20 minutes or so.  We chatted and waited.....20 minutes still literally looked dead............30" same............45" same.  We had to carry him to the car.

I drove home (another 20";) and still nothing.  I was near tears as he seemed dead.  He stayed in the car for a couple of hours at which point I was able to sit with him as he seemed to start waking. Another hour later DH came home and lifted him out of the car.  So it wound up taking nearer to 4 hours than 20".  He too was completely parched. 

I'm sorry you had to go through that too with your dog.  I was wondering though is it possible they gave the dogs too much anesthesia and thats why it took so much longer to come out of it, or just a low tolerance?

Awwww, Rickards looks so stinking adorable in his onsie but he certainly doesn't seem to think so.  I really think you need to keep an eye on him because I may just come & steal him one day.  Sky too. :)

I'm wondering what kind of anesthsia your vet used.  Also every dog is different in the way they can react to things just like humans. 

I'm just so glad that Rickards is feeling better & getting back to himself.

 Anesthetics, the ones given by injection (which are what usually cause the grogginess) are given by the weight of the dog. And in most clinics I've worked at, the given "weight" dose is actually on the low side in the calculations. The only time I've seen more given is in a case like a cat neuter, if a cat didn't respond enough to the drugs. Since cats only get injectable drugs, no gas, (it's a very short procedure...like 2 minutes) a touch more is sometimes given. Generally not so in dogs, since if they did not respond enough to sedate them for intubatioin, you'd just use the gas to do so.

Some dogs (just like people) respond differently to meds. I wake up from surgery pretty quickly, not drowsy or ill in the least. I know others who are completely different. 

Kindredspirits

I was wondering though is it possible they gave the dogs too much anesthesia and thats why it took so much longer to come out of it, or just a low tolerance?

Usually -- at least the way my vet does things -- there is a combination of anesthesia (gas) and a sedative (what makes them groggy).  My vet often uses ONLY gas simply because my dogs know him and trust him enough to do that.  But it's often the COMBO of the two that can cause the prolonged grogginess.

ASK THE VET **EXACTLY** what was used.  Also -- TELL the vet that he was groggy SO long because in that case the vet may decide not to use that particular combination again.

It's *not* the anesthesia that causes the grogginess -- it's usually a sedative of some kind.  Usually the gas anesthesia wears off virtually immediately.  (almost as soon as they take the  mask off).

It's not usually that the vet has used too much -- it's a "THIS particular dog" thing -- SOMETIMES it's a breed thing.  But typically it's *this* dog who is overly sensitive to a particular sedative/anesthesia combo.