What precautions need to be taken with Pre-Meds?
Ideally if pre-meding with Ace, it should be administered 1 hour prior to the commencement of Anesthesia for its effect to be adequate. If given 15 minutes before the anesthesia, the animal will often go deeper 30 minutes into the anesthetic when the full effect of the Ace takes place. The original vapouriser setting which was adequate for the initial and subsequent maintenance phase of the anesthetic, will now, due to a deepening anesthetic plane, be too high. If pre-anesthetic agents are used – all settings should be drastically reduced (usually up to 30%).
