In 2008, the risk of death for a healthy dog undergoing anesthesia was deemed to be one in 2,000, according to a study that appeared in the journal Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia. That risk is probably even lower now. Monitoring techniques and anesthetic drugs themselves keep improving. But just as for people, the risk is not zero. Indeed, when researchers included dogs with health problems along with healthy dogs in their 2008 assessment, the risk of death with anesthesia was considered to be as high as one in 600.
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