Quick sedation gains ground as a clinical tool in dogs and cats
CURRENT BRIEF VERSION: A new “How Do You Treat That?” episode from The Cone of Shame puts a familiar clinical problem back in focus: how to achieve fast, practical sedation in dogs and cats when fear, stress, pain, or handling risk make routine care difficult. In the episode, Dr. Andy Roark says he is using brief sedation more often because of time and financial constraints, aiming to “get patients down, get some stuff done in a fear-free, low pain or no pain way, and get them back up,” and guest Tasha McNerney, CVT, VTS (Anesthesia), walks through options for healthy dogs and cats in low-pain, no-pain, and more involved procedure scenarios. Broader guidance supports that same core takeaway many clinics are already working from: rapid sedation is increasingly framed as a welfare, safety, and workflow tool, not a last resort, with common approaches spanning pre-visit oral medications such as gabapentin and trazodone, injectable in-clinic protocols, and selected use of dexmedetomidine-based options. AAHA’s anesthesia guidance includes gabapentin, trazodone, opioids, benzodiazepines, acepromazine, and dexmedetomidine among commonly used sedation and premedication choices, while FDA-approved dexmedetomidine oromucosal gel remains a labeled option for canine noise aversion rather than general in-clinic sedation. (aaha.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, “quick sedation” is really about reducing fear, anxiety, and stress early enough to improve safety, diagnostics, and patient experience. The podcast also grounds that discussion in real-world constraints, including cases where full anesthesia may be out of reach financially and brief sedation may still allow needed wound care or other treatment in an otherwise healthy patient. Recent feline data suggest oral trazodone plus gabapentin can increase sedation scores compared with gabapentin alone, and continuing education materials for fractious patients emphasize that pre-visit pharmaceuticals can lower handling risk and help avoid escalation to forceful restraint. Related Cone of Shame discussions on lunging dogs and technician moral distress add another layer: high-FAS handling affects not just patients and clients, but also staff wellbeing, reinforcing the value of protocols that reduce struggle and repeated restraint. The practical message for clinics is to have protocol-based options, patient screening, and monitoring standards in place, especially for geriatric, cardiopulmonary, or otherwise compromised patients. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: Expect continued discussion around species-specific protocols, home-to-hospital sedation plans, and where newer evidence may refine dosing, combinations, and safety screening for high-stress patients. Just as important, clinics will keep weighing where brief sedation fits between fear-free handling, procedural efficiency, and the ethical need to protect technicians and patients from avoidable distress. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)