Anaesthetic complications are a significant source of preventable suffering and death in dogs. Modern monitoring, pre-anaesthetic assessment, and drug protocols have significantly improved safety.
Anaesthetic complications cause preventable suffering and death in dogs. While risks are low in healthy animals with modern monitoring, they increase significantly in older, obese, or systemically compromised dogs. Pre-anaesthetic assessment, appropriate patient preparation, adequate monitoring, and skilled anaesthetic management are essential welfare protections for every anaesthetic procedure.