Post-Anesthesia: How Long Until They're "normal"

[NeylasMom]

Sorry for multiple anesthesia questions, but Zuri is taking a much longer time to recover from the anesthesia from his dental today than he did last year. I'm sure it varies for each dog and with each time that they're under, but what do you guys typically see in terms of how long it takes until they recover? He is still very sedate, occasionally a little whining but otherwise sleeping or with his head down and when I took him out about 30 min ago he was still having a lot of trouble navigating the steps. Which makes taking him out awesome since we have multiple steep flights to get out, and he's peeing tons from the IV fluids of course. I've already done one round of laundry, thank goodness for washable incontinence pads.

 

I'm not particularly worried yet, I will be if we wake up tomorrow and he's still like this of course, but I'm just curious what people typically see. There's just such a noticeable difference from last time. Thanks.

[Brandiandwe]

From memory, Paige took about 18 hours from her last one. I brought her home from the vet ASAP and she was still disoriented. Let her pee, put her on a bed beside me, took her out again on a leash, pee, then took her to bed over night. Next morning she was basically back to normal and she seemed to have slept it off. She is 4.

[XTRAWLD]

My boys were back to normal within 24 hours for sure. I know picking them up from the vet around 5pm they were woozy for the rest of the night, but by morning they were back to themselves.

[a_daerr]

Sometimes it's not the anesthesia, but the pre-anesthesia meds that cause problems. Truman has had Ace three times, and each time, it's taken 12+ hours to wear off. The one time he was given Valium before anesthesia, he was back to normal in much less time. If you look on your receipt and discharge paperwork, sometimes it will show an itemization that includes the name of the anesthesia and pre-op meds.

[NeylasMom]

They were actually following OSU's protocol (where he had the last dental) as closely as possible. I provided it to them ahead of time. OSU used Ace and hydromorphone, but my vet didn't have the latter so they used Ace and Buprenex. Both of them used propofol and sevofluorane for the actual anesthesia. So you're right, it's entirely possible that it was the pre-meds. He could have also received different amounts of any of them, although he was under for approximately the same time.

 

It sounds like what we're experiencing is still within normal so that's reassuring. He is doing a bit better. A few minutes ago he just popped up off of the bed he was on and went into the bedroom to put himself to bed, and he acted very exasperated while doing it. I'm going to go wake him to get him out for one last potty and then head to bed and hope I have my boy back in the morning.

[silverfish]

The older dogs can take longer to return to normal too (I think Zuri is older, isn't he?). ACE can certainly affect them for a very long time and make them look really miserable.

 

Jeffie is twelve and had some investigations done on Monday under GA, and he is still not quite back to normal this morning. His appetite is off and he's still a bit whiney. For the first twelve hours I couldn't get him to drink and had to resort to syringing water into his mouth.

 

Bottom line is, if you're worried, give the vet a call. They should be happy to talk it through with you.

 

Footnote: Jeffie is doing OK. The doorbell rang just now and he did his usual mad dash to the front door to bark like a maniac and make sure no Dog Wraiths got into the house.

[a_daerr]

How's Zuri doing today? Back to normal yet?

[EnzaFerrari]

It took Enza almost 24 hours. And now we have this awesome UTI to deal with.

Really, really regretting the MRI that didn't change one damn thing.

[NeylasMom]

How's Zuri doing today? Back to normal yet?

Eh. We went out around 7 am and he was improved some, but still really struggled with the stairs. We went back to bed and just got up a little bit ago. He gets up on his own to change beds, but he's still kind of spacey and whiney. I'm going to see if he'll eat a good bit of food and see if that helps. Thanks for asking.

[Batmom]

Food should help.

 

Likely either the ACE or the Buprenex. I would add a note to his chart re using different meds and/or different dosing next time. I have had a dog who clearly took a couple days to fully recover from anaesthesia, but even that dog was quite steady on feet and well able to do stairs the next morning, just more interested in napping than usual for a couple days.

[NeylasMom]

Food should help.

 

Likely either the ACE or the Buprenex. I would add a note to his chart re using different meds and/or different dosing next time. I have had a dog who clearly took a couple days to fully recover from anaesthesia, but even that dog was quite steady on feet and well able to do stairs the next morning, just more interested in napping than usual for a couple days.

Thanks. The Buprenex seems likely. I'm going to ask the vet to compare dosages/amts used as well, but that seems to be the one obvious difference. In which case I'll request they get the hydromorphone in advance next time.

 

He did eat heartily just a little bit ago and he seems more alert when he's actually got his head up so I think we're on the uphill at this point.

 

He also has some puffiness on his left paw. He had a bump removed from his wrist on that leg. I noticed it last night so I removed the wrap and rewrapped it more losely since the wrap seemed snug, but the foot still looks a bit swollen. Nothing alarming, but noticeable compared to his other foot. So I guess I need to call the vet to ask about that.

[Batmom]

Most of the time my dogs have gone under without use of opioids. Haven't been fond of the results when they were used.

[NeylasMom]

What do you use? I trusted Dr. Kellogg at OSU inherently (and was happy with the results that time), but I did ask Dr. Radcliffe for his anesthesia protocol when I was still thinking I might use my vet last year and he uses Ace, Butorphanol, Ketamine, and Valium! Maybe the use of all of those drugs allows him to use less of the butorphanol (which I am assuming is the opiate) for a better result?

[Batmom]

I would guess Dr. Radcliffe's cocktail does avoid the effects of lots of Ace or Butorphanol. Some of these things are metabolized differently so that may be why he mixes them up. My vets have mostly used ketamine/valium, or sometimes IIRC just a little valium and then propofol for induction. The butorphanol/buprenex would give you some pain relief as well as some sedation but we seem to have had better results from Rimadyl injection. I will admit, we haven't often had things that might involve great pain other than Joseph's abdominal surgery but he was an anaesthesia oddball so they went light on everything with him ...... My big Butorphanol experience involved driving a couple hours on rush-hour interstate with a wobbly, vomiting dog. No harm came but it took longer than most for that to wear off.

[NeylasMom]

Hmm, okay, thanks, definitely something to consider. I'll discuss it all with my vet and see what they think might have caused the difference as well. Although hopefully Z won't need to go under again for a while! It's time to start brushing apparently.

[Batmom]

Assuming a decent vet, I think most dogs do best with the meds the doc is familiar with . Hence putting note on chart. Some dogs have different responses to meds/dosages, so you can't always say "use this, not that" ..... Even tho I think I just said that above re opioids , maybe some other dog of mine would do better with them. Who knows .....

 

I hope your boy is back to himself soon.

[NeylasMom]

Yeah, my vet and I discussed that in advance so we were just going to review OSU's protocol and see how it compared, but in the end we thought it was similar enough. Anywho, we'll see what they think.

 

He's had 2 meals, one late this morning and then one again just a little bit ago that he ate with gusto and we just went out for a potty walk and while he's still a bit unstable at times, he was much better on the stairs. So we're getting there.

 

Thanks for all of the input.

Edited June 11, 2014 by NeylasMom

[jshell]

It's been about 9 hours since Betty had 0.2mg Buprenex and 1u Acepromazine. I don't think it was a full anesthesia, just something to help with her pain and for doing x-rays of her shoulders. She's drinking little, eating nothing, and I think because of the shoulder pain can't even lay down. She's less dopey than earlier, but still... I don't know what's going on. It's strange. (Betty is 11 years old, 55 pounds, for what it's worth).

[duncan41]

The former track Vet here has dogs come in at 7:30 am for dentals and they can usually go home at noon. Had him do my dogs a few years ago (before raw food and turkey necks) and I had to check their mouths before we left the office because they were acting as if they had never been anesthetized! Everyone I know who have taken their dogs to him for a dental has reported the same thing. The dogs are awake, happy and have beautifully clean teeth. One of my older girls had a couple of extractions but you would never have known it.