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Objectives: To quantify and explore risk factors in dogs seen at primary care UK veterinary clinics for general anaesthetic (GA)/sedative-related death overall, in addition to neuter-specific procedures., Study Design: A nested case-control study within UK primary care veterinary electronic patient record surveillance programme, VetCompass, including over 300 UK veterinary practices., Animals: A total of 157,318 dogs undergoing GA/sedative events., Methods: Cases included dogs undergoing GA/sedative events between January 2010 and December 2013 with GA/sedative-related death recorded within 48 hours or 2 weeks of the event. Controls were randomly selected from dogs undergoing GA/sedation that did not die within these time periods. Risks of GA/sedative-related death for all surgeries and neuter-specific surgeries were estimated. Demographic and clinical associations with GA/sedative-related death were reported as odds ratios following multivariable logistic regression modelling. Statistical significance was set at 5%., Results: From 157,318 dogs with a GA/sedative event, there were 159 (0.10%) within 48 hours and 219 (0.14%) GA/sedative-related deaths within 2 weeks. Within 89,852 dogs that underwent a neuter surgery, there were eight GA/sedative related (0.009%). Greater age, poorer American Society of Anaesthesiologists health status scores and more urgent procedures were associated with greater odds of death. Compared with mixed breeds, Rottweilers and West Highland White Terriers had greater odds and Cocker Spaniels had lower odds of GA/sedative-related death., Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: The overall risk for GA/sedative related death was relatively low, particularly among the subset of dogs undergoing castration or ovariohysterectomy surgery. Associations and risk estimates may assist shared decision-making in clinical practice and provide benchmarks for audit., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyse avian anaesthesia-related mortality in a UK zoological collection over a 5-year period and identify risk factors for mortality., Study Design: Retrospective cohort study., Animals: A total of 135 individual birds across 37 species, anaesthetized during 206 events in a UK zoological collection between 1 January 2014 and 30 June 2019 (inclusive)., Methods: Anaesthesia records were reviewed and variables such as age, body condition, weight, sex, duration of anaesthesia and health status were collated. Anaesthesia-related mortality was defined as those deaths occurring during anaesthesia and up to 7 days postanaesthesia. Outcome was analysed using multivariable conditional logistic regression. Overall mortality was defined and included birds euthanised during anaesthesia for non-anaesthesia related reasons. Data were summarised as median (range). A value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for the association between risk factors and anaesthetic death where a statistically significant difference was found., Results: The overall mortality rate was 10.19% (95% CI = 6.06-14.3%), while anaesthesia-related mortality was 3.88% (95% CI = 1.69-7.51%). Birds with an abnormal health status had a 15.53-fold (95% CI = 1.95-123.63) increased risk of death compared with those with a normal health status. The duration of anaesthesia was also a statistically significant risk factor (p = 0.021) in the univariable analysis, but not when combined with health status. No other variables were associated with anaesthesia-related mortality., Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Abnormal health status and longer anaesthetic procedures were associated with a significantly increased risk of anaesthesia-related death in this population of birds. It is recommended that anaesthetic duration is minimized, and pre-existing diseases are diagnosed where possible prior to general anaesthesia of birds. Anaesthetizing healthy birds was associated with a low risk of mortality., (Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To characterise common factors after a suspected increase in the incidence of post-procedure acute kidney injury in healthy dogs presenting for non-emergency surgical procedures., Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of the medical records of 12 dogs that presented for acute kidney injury after general anaesthesia for non-emergency surgical procedures., Results: The 12 non-geriatric dogs re-presented with acute kidney injury at a median of 4 days after surgery to four different veterinary centres, including three multidisciplinary referral practices in the UK. All dogs in this case series weighed more than 20 kg and had a median age of 17 months. There was no apparent association with breed, type of surgery, duration of anaesthesia, perioperative drug choice or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug administration., Clinical Significance: Although well-defined in human medicine, there is very little information regarding the association between general anaesthesia and acute kidney injury in animals. No definitive causal link was found in this case series. Clinicians with similar cases are requested to contact the corresponding author so a more representative incidence rate can be obtained., (© 2020 British Small Animal Veterinary Association.)