I have a poodle. She has a very large wart on her toe that’s beginning to press down on her nail making it difficult for her to walk. Surgery to remove the wart is scheduled for next week.
I’m a bit worried, though. She’s 10 years old, 11 in September. How will an old dog react to general anesthesia? The vet said that the drugs they use now aren’t like those of past years and that the risk isn’t as great, but I’m still worried.
I’m not exactly sure what my question is, perhaps something like “if you were in my place, what would you do?” How great is the risk? Would it be better to live with the wart?
She has a couple other warts, but the vet and I both agree that, as they aren’t in any way bothering her, removing them would be foolish. But this large one on her toe… it’s bound to be becoming painful.
My older dog had general anaesthesia once a year starting at age 12 for teeth cleaning. After 5 years in Europe without a teeth cleaning he had terrible gingivitis and really needed the teeth cleaned and several removed. He never had a problem from the anaesthesia. My vet had a modern setup and she always ran a full health screen on him before he had the procedure done. Until last fall, his bloodwork, etc was as good as that of a much younger dog. He had some heart problems which first appeared then, and he died of a stroke in January, at 17.
If her blood work is good and the vet recommends the surgery for quality of life, I’d go with it.
Yep - my vet does a full panel blood test before putting older animals under. My 13 year old dog was put under for teeth cleaning last week, and he came through fine.
General Anesthesia? Why does he recommend putting him under for wart removal? Wouldn’t something as simple as a wart removal need only general? A simple nerve block should be enough… shouldn’t it???
He said that he did laser removal with just a nerve block, but that this wart was too large for that.
The morning of the surgery he said they’d take some blood and do whatever tests it is they do and say whether he’d recommend continuing.
So, from what Graycat and Boscibo have said, I gather it shouldn’t be a problem, presuming nothing shows up in her blood test. That makes me feel a little better.