"Up to and including death": understanding anaesthesia-related anxiety among pet owners in a tertiary-care setting.

Pet owners significantly overestimate anaesthetic mortality risks; providing published statistics may reduce anxiety.

This observational study examined anaesthesia-related anxiety among pet owners at a UK referral centre using an online survey of 432 clients whose dogs or cats underwent general anaesthesia between February 2022 and February 2025. Nearly 70% of respondents reported feeling anxious about general anaesthesia, with 61% expressing specific concerns. The primary concerns were anaesthetic death (31%) and contextual factors (30%). Notably, respondents estimated anaesthetic mortality rates for healthy dogs and cats at 16.2%, substantially higher than the 9.7% estimated for humans and exceeding published UK data. Despite these anxieties, 89.4% were satisfied with pre-operative information and 88.5% reported providing informed consent. When presented with published anaesthetic mortality statistics, 63% found the information reassuring. The findings suggest that owner anxiety regarding general anaesthesia stems from multiple factors beyond mortality risk alone, and that pet owners may significantly overestimate anaesthetic risks in healthy animals, indicating a potential gap between perceived and actual risks.

This summary was distilled by AI and may occasionally misinterpret data. Confirm critical details with the primary literature before clinical application.