MMVS provide mobile anesthesia service, with state of the art medical and monitoring equipment (Dräger anesthesia machine, capnography, pulsoxymetry, ECG, oesophageal and rectal stethoscope, etc.).

Anesthesia always comes with a risk – in all species – and especially in pinnipeds. However the experience in anesthetizing pinnipeds has evolved tremendously over the years and the associated risks (among others cardiac arrest or fatal apnoea) have diminished a lot with the gained experience and modern health parameter control devices.

Cataract surgeries, dental work, endoscopies and/or specific surgeries have all become more common. With over 500 pinnipeds anesthesia in her records, Géraldine can help anesthetize your animals for your procedures and surgeries.

We also work with various colleagues specialized in specific medical domains (dentistry, ophthalmology, endoscopy) such as to be able to offer the most up-to-date veterinary service during interventions. A nurse specialized in marine mammals can accompany during anesthesia & surgery visits.

In regards to the limiting age of an animal for some procedures, it is absolutely ethical to perform certain operations (e.g. cataract surgery – dentistry procedures) even at a great age (sea lions can live up to their thirties and seals beyond that) – with some previous health controls – as the purpose of such interventions is to relieve the patient from the pain it lives with. It is our responsibility – having animals in human care – to also take care of them when they are getting older, age at which they are bound to have more problems and cost us more. Even if an animal only lives a year or two after such an operation, once the recuperation time is past, it will have been relieved from the pain for the remaining of its life and in case of cataract, may have regained some vision.