Is twilight anesthesia humane for dog neutering? Are they awake?

It sounds like poor Petie has been through a lot in his young age! Although any anesthetic carries risks, neutering is typically a very safe procedure. It's a surgery that vets do all the time, and it's low risk. There is a very good change he can be neutered without anything happening, but unfortunately I cannot 100% guarantee that everything will be ok (you can never guarantee that with any surgery). I can say that many, many dogs go through this procedure without a problem, and the risks are very low. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

That is a great deal of information that you need, so I'll give you a couple of links with some good information about spay and neutering. The type of anesthesia used depends on the animal (dog or cat) and their particular level of health and sometimes breed. Generally every animal is given a premedication injection that contains a sedative and pain control. The next drugs given are known as an induction agent, which is usually given intravenously (IV) and will cause the animal to go to sleep. The general anesthesia (sleep) is then maintained by an anesthetic gas. After the procedure is done, a post-op medication is usually given to help with pain control. Below are some links to articles that explain why we do the procedure and how it is done: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/spayneuter-your-pet http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/spayneuter2.cfm https://www.mspca.org/pet_resources/ask-a-vet-all-you-need-to-know-about-spayneuter-surgery/ I hope that helps and all goes well with your paper.

I don't blame you for being concerned! You're right that congestive heart failure does increase the risk associated with anesthetic procedures, so we want to be very cautious about going forward with surgery in dogs who have this problem. I would recommend sitting down with your veterinarian to discuss the pros and cons of doing the neuter surgery in Wesley's case. In particular, you may want to ask about his life expectancy with congestive heart failure, and whether it's likely that the testicular tumor will progress enough to cause any serious problems before that. If the tumor appears to be slow-growing and is not currently bothering him, it may be reasonable to leave it alone rather than take the risk of surgery.

I am sorry to hear about Prince. I am assuming your vet did a work-up including urinalysis and imaging (x-ray and ultrasound) to determine that a neuter is the recommended treatment for the hematuria. I am assuming that if they recommend a neuter it is because the issue is due to the prostate. If a work-up wasn't done to be certain this is the issue I would recommend one be done. We do have pets at this age go under anesthesia regularly, often for dental work. While anesthesia does pose risks for pets of any age, most do just fine, but it is recommended that they have pre-anesthetic bloodwork done to ensure that liver and kidney function are normal. I also recommend use of an IV catheter and fluids during anesthetic procedures and good anesthetic monitoring including pulse oximetry, blood pressure, and EKG in older patients. These tools help us keep the pet safe while under anesthesia. If your vet doesn't have the set up for good anesthetic monitoring, you can ask if they can refer you to a hospital that has this capability.

Poor Douglas! This sounds like a difficult surgical recovery. It sounds as though Douglas had not fully recovered from anesthesia at the time of his discharge. It is possible that the reaction that you saw was an excitement reaction from some of the sedative or pain medications he was given at the time of surgery. While this is not a normal reaction, it is also not uncommon to see a brief period of excitement after certain medications. Confirm that Douglas was sent home with some anti-inflammatory pain medications and be sure to find out when his next dose of pain medication is due, as he could be whimpering as a sign of pain. Otherwise, continue to keep him in the crate until he is able to stand and walk normally, and generally restrict his activity until his sutures are removed. Make sure that he is wearing an e-collar (cone) for the next 10-14 days to prevent him from licking at the incision. I hope that the rest of his recovery is uneventful!

If the liver enzymes are elevated but liver function is normal there is probably not a significant increased risk under anesthesia. You could talk to your veterinarian about checking bile acids if it seems like this might be helpful; bile acids can help determine whether or not the liver is functioning normally. Sometimes a biliary mucocele is surgically corrected so you also may want to talk to your veterinarian about rechecking the mucocele if liver enzymes are still elevated.

It can definitely be normal for dogs to be quieter than usual for a few days after a surgical procedure. Moki is probably somewhat sore, and may still be getting some of the anesthesia drugs out of his system. As long as he's eating and drinking normally and still gets excited about the things he normally would, I wouldn't be overly concerned. Most dogs are back to normal by 7-10 days after surgery.