Dogs that go through surgery with anesthesia were found out to suffer hypothermia. This is backed by a study that first documented the incidence of hypothermia in dogs. This research is conducted by Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera where it was found that among 1,525 dogs, 83.6% of them was discovered to manifest the said complication comparing to human cases between 30% and 60%.
According to research, hypothermia is a regular complication of anesthesia in dog cases. To minimize its occurrence, the researcher said that it is important to avoid the loss of heat in these canines before beginning veterinary medications and operations especially that dogs are the most vulnerable. This prevention is certainly important in dogs that show higher percentage of hypothermia.
These are smaller dogs as well as those that go through diagnostic methods that need prolonged anesthesia or those that undergoing thoracic surgery. The researchers made an analysis among 1, 500 cases of animals that are anesthetized in the University Clinical Hospital of CEU Cardenal Herrara and Cordoba.
The factors that are directly connected to dogs’ hypothermia registered at the end of the operation are the duration of the pre-anesthesia and the anesthesia itself, the animals’ posture while undergoing the surgery, and the physical condition of the animal. The posture of the animals while in surgery which are the sterna and dorsal recumbencies showed lower temperature compared to lateral recumbency.
This study is a follow up of the research conducted among cats which showed higher rate compared to dogs. Among those cats that are studied, 96.7 percent of them go through hypothermia in methods that need anesthesia. In the feline’s case, the research showed that orthopedic and abdominal interventions decrease greatly the body temperature of the cat.
These pieces of research show that hypothermia is the most common complication among dogs and cats that go through anesthesia. Thus, after the conducted research, veterinarians are recommended to monitor the temperature of the animals and perform preventive measures to avoid the loss of heat or lower body temperature during medical procedures
The research is the first worldwide study that medically documented the occurrence of hypothermia among dogs. The study was conducted by the university’s professor, José Ignacio Redondo.
