What to Expect When Your Pet Needs Anaesthesia

From someone who lives and breathes this work, and never forgets who’s on the table.

You’re sitting in the consult room, listening carefully as your vet walks you through what’s ahead. Maybe it’s a procedure you’ve known about for a while. Maybe it’s come up more suddenly. Either way, your pet needs surgery, and even if you trust your vet completely, there’s still that quiet worry sitting under your ribs.

Not just about the surgery itself but also what it means for them to be away from you. Unconscious. Vulnerable. Unable to tell anyone if something feels wrong.

It’s a big thing to hand that over.

And if you’re feeling that weight, whether it’s a soft concern or something stronger, you’re not alone.

As a veterinary anaesthesia specialist, I see that moment often. The pause, the breath, the worry behind the questions. I feel it too, because I’ve lived it as a pet owner. The truth is that anaesthesia asks for something big: your trust. Quietly placed in someone else’s hands, when your animal can’t speak for themselves.

And if it were my dog, my cat, my rabbit?
I’d want to know if someone was holding that responsibility with both hands.

Anaesthesia isn’t just about putting them to sleep. It’s an intricate process, a living, changing puzzle, where everything from heart rate to blood pressure to breathing, temperature, and pain response is measured, interpreted, and carefully adjusted in real time.

It’s not passive or background. It’s active, attentive care, from when they drift off to when they return to you.

And when I say care, I mean it in the truest sense, not just competence but presence, focus, and vigilance. Knowing when things are just slightly off, even before a machine says so, is like reading between the lines of biology and staying ahead of discomfort before it becomes dangerous.

In many clinics, the vet doing the surgery also manages the anaesthesia, and in healthy pets having short, simple procedures, that might be perfectly adequate.

But if your pet is older, has medical conditions, or if the procedure is longer or more complex, that’s where things start to shift.

I don’t perform surgery. I don’t split focus. I’m not called away to other cases or relying on a nurse to watch the monitor while I pop out.

Anaesthesia is all I do. And it’s everything I watch.

When I join your pet’s care team, I bring hospital-grade equipment, decades of specialist training, and one-to-one attention directly into your regular clinic, where your pet already feels safe. There’s no need to transport them to a big, unfamiliar hospital. You stay with your trusted vet. I join quietly, respectfully, and bring another layer of protection to the room.

“Good anaesthesia doesn’t begin in theatre. It begins in the quiet planning before anyone even touches a needle.”

If we’ve had a pre-anaesthetic consultation, which I always recommend, I’ll already know your pet’s medical history, previous anaesthetic experiences, medications, quirks, and breed-specific considerations. We’ll discuss the risks, the plan, and what matters most to you.

When I arrive at the clinic, I bring more than equipment. I bring focus.

While your vet concentrates on the procedure, I’m tuned in to your pet – every breath, every temperature shift, every blip on the ECG. I bring advanced tools like capnography, anaesthetic gas monitoring, invasive blood pressure measurement, point-of-care ultrasound, spirometry, and real-time blood oxygen analysis. Still, the true work lies in knowing how to interpret what’s happening before it becomes problematic.

Anaesthesia isn’t static. It’s not a “set-and-forget” button. It’s a dance, and I never stop listening to the rhythm.
And when the surgery is finished?

That’s not when my job ends. That’s often when the real work begins.

Most pets recover quietly and smoothly after specialist-led anaesthesia.

You might notice they’re sleepy for the rest of the day, which is perfectly expected. Some animals shiver or occasionally moan as they shift position, especially in the first few hours. It’s not pain, it’s the body rebooting after a big physiological event.

They may not be hungry for a meal, and that’s okay, too. A skipped dinner after anaesthesia is no cause for panic. A slight pinkness near where the catheter was placed is also common, like the mark your arm gets after a blood test.

But if your pet seems confused well into the next day, is panting excessively, refusing multiple meals, seems wobbly on their feet, or if anything feels wrong in your gut, that’s when you pick up the phone. I’d rather you call and be reassured than worry alone.

You know your animal better than anyone. Don’t dismiss that inner knowing.

Because this isn’t just “another procedure.”

This is your old girl who still lights up when you grab the lead, even if her hips aren’t what they used to be.
The anxious little rescue who finally started sleeping on the couch instead of the floor.
This is the one who picked you and has trusted you every day since.
They deserve not just to be “put under” but truly cared for in the space where they can’t speak for themselves.

And when you choose The Anaesthesia Vet, that’s what you’re choosing:

• A specialist with over two decades of anaesthesia-only experience, not general surgery, not juggling other duties
• Uninterrupted, one-on-one monitoring from the first sleepy blink to full, stable recovery
• Hospital-grade equipment, brought to your regular vet’s clinic, so your pet stays in familiar hands
• A tailored plan that accounts for every unique variable, from breed to medication to past medical history
• Communication that’s clear, grounded, and respectful of both you and your vet
• And above all, a person who shows up with heart, because this work still matters to me, every time

If your pet has an upcoming procedure, and you’d like to explore whether specialist anaesthesia could help, particularly for those with medical complexity, please contact us today.

Based in Brisbane, I work with trusted clinics across the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
Contact The Anaesthesia Vet to learn more or book a pre-anaesthetic consult.

Let’s ensure they’re not just seen, but deeply looked after, every moment they’re in our hands.