Feline anesthetic deaths in veterinary practice

Abstract

Anesthetic complications appear relatively rare, though recent work suggests they are more common in cats than dogs. Current estimates indicate that approximately 0.11% (1 in 895 anesthetics) of healthy cats die of an anesthetic-related death, which is more than twice as frequent as has been recently reported in dogs (0.05% or 1 in 1849). Most of these deaths occurred in the postoperative period. A number of risk factors have been associated with death, including patient health status, age, weight, and procedure type and urgency. Endotracheal intubation and fluid therapy have been reported to be associated with increased odds of anesthetic death in cats and may reflect higher risk techniques in cats compared with dogs. Monitoring patient pulse and the use of a pulse oximeter were also recently reported to be associated with reduced risk of anesthetic death. These data can help veterinarians care for their patient under anesthesia and address greater attention to patient assessment and management before anesthesia, as well as more careful fluid administration and patient monitoring during and after anesthesia, which could reduce perioperative complications in cats.