Introduction

Hypothermia is a common anesthetic complication in small animals. Several studies indicate that cats that go through a surgery show a prevalence of 96.7%; perioperative hypothermia is associated with multiple complications: higher prevalence of wound infection, increased intraoperative blood loss, presentation of post-surgical tachycardia, and longer anesthetic recovery, among others.

Objectives

Evaluate and compare two methods of external heating to reduce feline intraoperative hypothermia.

Methods

A retrospective study of cats undergoing anesthesia for a year at the Diego Villegas Hospital in Manizales, Colombia, with a total of 16 cats, was performed. Also a research analysis was performed for a year with a total of 35 cats. Heating methods evaluated were thermal blanket and insulated bag. The statistical study was performed using Stata V.14.

Results

The prevalence of hypothermia after the study was 96.07%. The final temperature decreases 1°C on average in orthopedic surgeries compared with soft tissue surgeries. After an hour of surgery, the average temperature in felines without heating method was 31.6±1.4°C. The temperature at the same time for thermal bags method was 35.2±0.5°C, and for the blanket method was 35.4±0.6°C.

Conclusions

Hypothermia is a common complication in cats that go through a surgery. The thermal blanket proved more effective in attenuating hypothermia as surgery progresses.