Common Errors and Complications during Anesthesia in Companion Animals: A Review of Causes and Preventive Strategies

Background: Anesthesia is essential in veterinary medicine to enable painless procedures in companion animals. However, anesthetic errors remain a major cause of complications and mortality. These mistakes often result from inaccurate drug dosing, inadequate monitoring, or poor pre-anesthetic evaluation. Recognizing and analyzing common errors can help improve anesthetic safety and patient outcomes in small animal practice. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus using the keywords “anesthesia errors in companion animals”, “veterinary anesthesia complications”, “small animal anesthesia mistakes”, “peri-anesthetic mortality”, and “anesthesia safety in pets”. Relevant articles published from ۲۰۱۶ to ۲۰۲۵ were included, and data on causes, types, and preventive strategies of anesthetic errors were extracted. Results: Intraoperative complications such as hypotension (۷–۸.۵%), bradycardia, hypothermia, and respiratory depression were the most frequently reported, while postoperative issues included pain and delayed recovery. Anesthesia-related mortality ranged from ۰.۱۷% in dogs to ۰.۲۴% in cats, rising to over ۱.۳% in ASA III–V patients. Cardiac arrest occurred in ۱.۱% of dogs and ۲.۸% of cats, and studies showed that safety checklists reduced preparation and drug-administration errors. Conclusion: Errors and complications during anesthesia in companion animals are frequently related to preparation, monitoring, and management issues, with some being potentially life-threatening. Most issues, however, are preventable or manageable with systematic approaches, including checklists, accurate monitoring, and following standardized protocols, which collectively enhance perioperative safety, particularly in cats and high-risk patients.

کلیدواژه ها:

anesthesia errors ، companion animals ، anesthetic complications ، veterinary anesthesia ، patient safety