Senior pets are special. Shelter pets are special. And senior pets in shelters need some special considerations when it comes to anesthesia.

Dr. Emily McCobb is a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist and Director of the Shelter Medicine Program at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. At the 2015 ASPCA-Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Conference at Cornell University, she gave attendees an overview of how the physiology of aging affects how senior pets react to anesthetic agents.

Her focus was on assessing the risk of an individual patients. Tips for what to do and not do in managing these patients are included.

Maddie’s Fund^® was on site at the conference, and recorded Dr. McCobb’s presentation; you can view it on our website here.