Veterinary and human anaesthesia: an overview of some parallels and contrasts

The history of human and veterinary anaesthesia is both intertwined and parallel. Physicians and anaesthetists often first experimented on animals and developments from human anaesthesia have been incorporated into veterinary medicine. Within veterinary medicine, anaesthesia is a specialty discipline as it is in human medicine. Veterinary anaesthetists undertake additional training and rigorous examinations for a diploma or fellowship. In contrast to human anaesthesia in Australia and New Zealand, veterinary anaesthesia is often performed by non-specialists and by veterinary nurses. Veterinary anaesthesia uses many of the same drugs for premedication, induction and maintenance of anaesthesia as human anaesthesia. However, there are species-specific effects of some of the drugs used that differ from the effects in humans. Furthermore, some agents, particularly alpha-2 adrenoreceptor agonists and ketamine, are used very widely in veterinary practice. Also in contrast to most human anaesthesia, in large animal and exotic animal practice the patients can present a physical danger to the anaesthetist. The most notable contrast between human and veterinary anaesthesia is in the reported perioperative complication and mortality rates, with a species dependent perianaesthetic mortality of up to 2% in dogs, cats and horses and greater than 2% in guinea pigs and birds, which is up to 100-fold higher than in human anaesthesia.