Today
was similar—nothing too much besides Tech appointments, a spay, and a couple of
dentals. The dentals were done on two long-haired
Dachshunds named Mamota and Fey. Lauren
taught me how to tube an animal for surgery/dentals today; after the animal has
been given its anesthetic injection (Propofol or Ketamine Valium) and relaxes/slips
into unconsciousness (happens pretty much the second the injection is given),
we sit an animal upright and, while another Tech or doctor opens the mouth and
pulls the tongue out, the person tubing the animal takes an endotracheal scope
(basically a flashlight with a tongue blade), pulls down the epiglottis (the flap
at the back of the throat that leads to the trachea), and slips an endotracheal
tube down. The animal will cough/wheeze
a couple of times when we do this, but that’s a good sign; that means we have
the tube in the right spot down the throat, and it also means that the animal
has a correct/normal reaction to this process (so no problems are arising). The tube is then quickly tied to the animal’s
muzzle or head (so the animal can’t cough the tube out), the cuff is inflated (to
act as a seal between the tube an muscle tissue of the trachea, and to prevent
minimal leakage/exchange of fluids or air [that aren’t in/from the tube/anesthesia
machine] in the trachea during the surgery), and the animal is hooked up to the
anesthesia/oxygen machine; after the anesthetic injection is given, all of this
is done within about thirty seconds. While Lauren performed/showed me how to do the
dental(it’s pretty much the exact same procedure as a human teeth
cleaning/check—scrape off plaque, check for bad teeth, rotted areas, gum problems/pockets,
etc. and then place fluoride on the teeth.
If any problems arise, the Technicians tell the Veterinarian, and the
Veterinarian decides whether the tooth/teeth have to be removed or not. In most cases, teeth are removed), she also
showed me how to set up the tools/machines (something I already sort of knew
how to do from watching past dentals) and let me mix and inject the booster and
rabies vaccines.
Mamota, the long-haired Dachshund I helped work on.
An endotracheal scope (basically a flashlight with a tongue blade), and an endotracheal tube.
An endotrachial tube with a cuff (the bubble-like part towards the bottom end that does into the trachea). All endotracheal tubes need this cuff. The thin tube sticking out of the right side is the sube that all ows the cuff to be inflated and deflated, by a syringe (as shown in the picture). The top plasic part of the tube is connected to the tubes from the anethesia/oxygen machine.
Diagram of a dog's mouth, nose, and throat. The parts circled in green are the epiglottis (from side and top views), which is the flap in the back of the throat that covers the trachea, and needs to be pulled down with the tongue blade of the endotracheal scope so the endotracheal tube can be put in place.
Photo Credit: http://www.veterinerara.com/dog-mouth/
An example of two Technicians tubing a dog. One Tech is holing the top of the muzzle/mouth up and pulling the tongue down so the mouth can be wide open, while another tech pulls down the epiglottis with the endotracheal scope and inserts the endotracheal tube into the trachea.
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