Quick sedation protocols move into the clinical spotlight

CURRENT BRIEF VERSION: A new episode of Dr. Andy Roark’s The Cone of Shame podcast puts a practical clinical question front and center: how to sedate dogs and cats quickly and safely for short procedures without defaulting to full-day anesthesia. In episode 386, released March 17, 2026, Tasha McNerney, CVT, VTS (Anesthesia & Analgesia), discusses reversible sedation protocols, multimodal analgesia, and the use of opioids, dexmedetomidine, local blocks, and, in some feline cases, ketamine for brief diagnostics and minor procedures. The conversation is framed around healthy patients without major comorbidities and breaks quick sedation into low- or no-pain situations versus more involved, still time-limited procedures, including examples such as radiographs, wound repair, and dog-fight injuries when full anesthesia may be harder to pursue because of time or financial constraints. (drandyroark.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the discussion reinforces a broader shift toward procedure-specific sedation rather than treating every short intervention like a full anesthetic event. It also ties spectrum-of-care medicine to fear-free, low-pain handling and to real-world access-to-care pressures that can shape what clients are able to approve. That lines up with AAHA guidance emphasizing individualized plans, preemptive analgesia, and the anesthetic-sparing value of local anesthetics and multimodal protocols. In practice, that can mean safer handling, less fear escalation, better pain control, and more workable options for pet parents when time, cost, or patient temperament make full anesthesia harder to justify. (aaha.org)

What to watch: Expect continued interest in clinic-ready, reversible sedation workflows, especially as teams look for ways to expand spectrum-of-care options, reduce forceful restraint in fearful patients, and get short procedures done efficiently without compromising monitoring, analgesia, or airway safety. (goodpods.com)