[h=1]Dog dies from heating pad burns received during teeth cleaning[/h] Danielle Leigh, KING 7:52 AM. PDT April 28, 2017
The Washington Department of Health Veterinary Board is investigating a complaint filed against two individuals at Renton Veterinary Hospital after a Terrier received severe burns during teeth cleaning at the facility and died.
Medical records indicate the 9-year-old dog, Zelda, received burns to 90 percent of the right side of her body.
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KING 5 also found teaching materials from Washington State's veterinary school strongly discouraging the devices in favor of other safer options.
"There are heating pads made specifically for anesthesia and any practice ought to be using those," said Lynne Kushner, a veterinary anesthesiologist and the executive secretary of the American College of Anesthesia and Analgesia.
Kushner said electric heating pads like the one used at RVH were more common in veterinary clinics years ago, before new technology was made available to reduce the likelihood of a complication and before new recommendations were released discouraging their use.
Washington state's Veterinary Board has zero rules specific to heating pads, but it does require animal doctors to use "equipment appropriate for the type of patient and surgery performed" and "to keep abreast of new developments."
Still, one out of every five veterinary clinics KING 5 called around Seattle admitted to using electric heating pads....
