February 2024 - VETEMCRIT

Hyperkalemia Associated with General Anesthesia in Dogs and Cats

Hyperkalemia has been reported as a complication of general anesthesia in systemically healthy animals with normal renal function. Several case reports and case series are summarized in Table 1. Upon reviewing the literature, several distinct patterns and interesting observations are worth discussing. Some of these observations may be relevant to veterinary practitioners and technicians dealing with anesthetized animals or managing their post-anesthetic recovery.

Intravenous phosphate supplementation in dogs and cats

In animals and humans, phosphorus plays a crucial role in the synthesis of several compounds that are vital for maintaining cellular membrane integrity, energy stores, metabolic processes, and biochemical messenger systems. These compounds include ATP, guanosine triphosphate, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, and phosphocreatine (Yanagawa et al. 1994; DiBartola et al. 2012). Phosphate is a molecular anion that contains phosphorus. Approximately 80-85% of phosphate resides in the bone and teeth as inorganic hydroxyapatite, 14-15% in soft tissues, and less than 1% in the extracellular space (Yanagawa et al. 1994; DiBartola et al. 2012). The body and plasma contain both organic and inorganic phosphates, though blood chemistry analyzers measure only inorganic phosphates.