Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Anesthesia enables pets to undergo surgical and diagnostic procedures safely and without pain. When administered by trained professionals with proper monitoring, anesthesia is considered low-risk for healthy animals. In this webinar, Dr. Andrea Looney, Senior Veterinarian and a board-certified specialist in Anesthesia and Analgesia at AMC, discusses the different types of anesthesia used in veterinary medicine, how risks are assessed and minimized, and how anesthesia is tailored to each individual pet's needs.


00:00 Introduction
03:00 Objectives
03:35 Terminology
05:12 Local Anesthesia
05:57 Sedation, Tranquilization, and General Anesthesia
08:02 Sedation and anesthesia systemic effects (outcomes)
10:33 Goals of Your Pet's Anesthetist
12:10 Who Performs Sedation and Anesthesia for Your Pet?
17:35 What's Involved in an Average Anesthesia Event for a Veterinary Patient?
29:54 Importance of Monitoring
34:21 Recovery/Post-op Period
35:46 Anesthesia (ASA) status
37:24 Anesthesia Risk of Death in Dogs and Cats
37:24 Anesthesia Risk of Death in Dogs and Cats based on ASA status
38:05 Exotic Pet Mortality Rates Based on ASA Status
38:36 What You Can Do to Minimize ASA Status
39:12 Pre-anesthetic Screening of Geriatric Dogs
39:40 What You Can Do to Minimize ASA Status?
41:52 Urgency and Anesthesia Risk
42:18 Stabilizing High-Risk Patients
43:07 Managing High-Risk Patients
43:19 Other Factors Linked to Anesthesia Morbidity and Mortality
46:29 Pre-operative Fear, Anxiety, and Stress
53:09 Species- and Breed-specific Risks
57:40 Brachycephalic Pets
1:01 Q&A