There are two types of gas anesthesia typically used, Isoflurane and Sevoflurane. Anesthesia is a risk no matter how you look at it, just like with people. The deciding factpr should be how much the vet clinic is willing to do to make sure your girl does OK. Bulldogs tend to have a problem because of their conformation - elongated soft palate etc. Spay/Neuter clinics may or may not even use a gas anesthetic. That's where the problem is. I would ask what type of injectable medications they use and what type of monitoring they use. Look for a clinic that is AAHA certified. That means they have to use a certain amount of monitoring equipment like ECG, SpO2, Co2, Blood pressure, and someone watching your kid the entire time they are sleeping. It makes a huge difference. The size and age of your dog will make a difference on the surgery. That typically means it will take longer if you have a great big dog. So you want a clinic that knows what they are doing. Make sure she has blood work and set an IV catheter before her procedure. Yeah she may be young, but I have seen lots of young dogs fail from bloodwork. If they have an elevation with a liver or kidney value, we will cancel a procedure, put them on therapy and recheck values later and try again. Sometimes we will simply change the drugs we use or put them on IV fluids before the procedure to give them the advantage. Also, most spay,neuter clinics opt out of pain management. I know dogs are resilient, but having your uterus removed (that is what they do - uterus and ovaries) has got to hurt! There is a good chance she will do fine without all the added equipment, blood work, IV catheter, time and effort, but, if there is an emergency where her blood pressure drops from blood loss or being too deep under anesthetic or her heart rate drops for some unknown reason, that little catheter that has automatic access to the vein will make a HUGE difference. I work as a vet tech (if it wasn't obvious
) and we will leave the brachycephalic breeds (short nosed or smush faced) intubated longer (leave in their trachea tubes longer) to help them with breathing. I would be happy to give you more details on the drugs used if you would like!
