Anesthesia in Shelter Medicine

Shelter medicine presents a unique challenge that is different from veterinary medicine in a hospital setting. The shelter and/or mobile unit environment requires special anesthetic considerations to support high-volume spay-neuter and feral animal programs with high quality of anesthesia/immobilization for surgery and diagnostic procedures. The anesthetic protocols can be tailored to the needs of each specific shelter setting. An ideal shelter anesthesia protocol will have a wide safety margin for animals of all ages. The protocol must also be effective, economical, and easy to use with a small volume for injection, have rapid on- and off-set with a reasonable surgical duration after a single administration, be predictable, and possess perioperative analgesic properties. An anesthesia protocol with a combination of tiletamine-zolazepam and dexmedetomidine in combination with an opioid fits the criteria of the shelter anesthesia protocols. These combinations possess rapid induction of immobilization, unconsciousness, and muscle relaxation with an anesthesia duration of 30 to 45 minutes. Specific and nonspecific reversal agents are also available to facilitate recovery. This article describes the use of these anesthetic protocols as well as monitoring support for these protocols.