Quick sedation protocols move into the general practice spotlight

A new episode from Dr. Andy Roark’s “How Do You Treat That?” series is zeroing in on one of general practice’s most common judgment calls: how to achieve fast, safe sedation in dogs and cats for brief procedures without automatically escalating to full anesthesia. Published March 17, 2026, “HDYTT: Quick Sedation in Dogs and Cats” features Tasha McNerney, CVT, VTS (Anesthesia & Analgesia), discussing reversible sedation protocols, multimodal analgesia, and practical drug combinations for short procedures such as radiographs, wound repair, and diagnostics. (drandyroark.com)

That focus lands at a time when many clinics are trying to balance efficiency, patient welfare, team safety, and cost. Over the past several years, veterinary guidance from AAHA and feline-focused organizations has pushed practices toward more intentional sedation planning, not just for major procedures, but also for visits where fear, anxiety, stress, pain, or handling difficulty can derail care. The 2020 AAHA Anesthesia and Monitoring Guidelines for Dogs and Cats emphasize matching anesthetic or sedative depth to the patient and procedure, while the 2022 AAFP/ISFM Cat Friendly Veterinary Interaction Guidelines call out pre-visit preparation and medication as part of reducing distress and improving care delivery. (aaha.org)

In Roark’s summary of the episode, McNerney’s approach centers on reversible sedation and multimodal planning rather than a single “go-to” drug. The episode description highlights combinations of opioids, dexmedetomidine, and local blocks, along with feline-specific strategies and circumstances where ketamine may be added. It also explicitly positions local anesthesia as a major contributor for painful procedures, reinforcing a broader anesthesia trend: using local techniques to reduce the amount of systemic sedation or anesthesia needed. That aligns closely with AAHA guidance, which frames local and regional anesthesia as core tools for lowering overall anesthetic burden and improving analgesia. (drandyroark.com)

The episode also fits squarely within the continued expansion of fear-free and low-stress handling in companion animal practice. In a January 2025 Cone of Shame episode about “leveling up” Fear Free practice, Roark and his guests described how clinics are building workflows around pre-visit pharmaceuticals, repeatable sedation plans, and visit-by-visit tailoring based on fear, anxiety, and stress scores. That same logic underpins quick procedural sedation: if a patient can’t safely or humanely tolerate restraint for diagnostics or treatment, the answer may be a planned sedative pathway, not escalating force. (drandyroark.com)

Industry guidance supports that direction, even if protocols vary by patient and clinic. AAHA behavior guidance notes that medications such as gabapentin, trazodone, benzodiazepines, clonidine, and dexmedetomidine can be used as part of pre-visit planning for fearful dogs and cats, and Fear Free educational materials similarly describe pre-visit pharmaceuticals as a routine tool rather than a last resort. For cats in particular, recent clinical commentary has highlighted multimodal treatment, including pre-visit medication, handling changes, and environmental modification, as essential for patients with veterinary-visit-associated distress. (aaha.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the bigger story isn’t just one podcast episode. It’s that “quick sedation” is becoming a more formalized part of everyday clinical decision-making. When done well, these protocols can reduce injury risk for staff, improve diagnostic quality, lower the need for forceful restraint, and create a better experience for the pet parent and patient. They can also support spectrum-of-care medicine by making short procedures more feasible without the time, equipment, and cost footprint of full anesthesia, although the same standards around patient assessment, airway planning, monitoring, and reversal readiness still apply. (drandyroark.com)

There’s also a workforce angle. Sedation planning is increasingly tied to technician utilization, workflow design, and clinic culture. McNerney’s prominence in anesthesia education, including her leadership of the Veterinary Anesthesia Nerds community, gives the episode added weight because it speaks directly to how teams operationalize these decisions on the floor, not just how specialists discuss them in theory. Inference: that makes the episode less about novel pharmacology and more about standardizing practical, repeatable care in general practice. (drandyroark.com)

What to watch: The next step will likely be more clinics codifying short-procedure sedation pathways by species, temperament, and procedure type, with clearer protocols for pre-visit meds, reversible injectables, local blocks, monitoring, and discharge timing, especially as fear-free expectations and technician-driven anesthesia workflows continue to expand. (drandyroark.com)