A Pulse Oximeter, or Pulse-Ox, measures oxygen saturation in the blood as well as counts the pulse of the patient. All patients have this on when under general anesthesia and is sometimes used on sedated, awake or recovering patients if there is a concern regarding the patient’s ability to get oxygen. This lets the Veterinarians and Vet Techs know if the patient is getting enough oxygen and if it is being circulated properly around the body as it can be clipped anywhere. This gives them an idea of how well the patient’s circulatory and respiratory systems are working. This is the same as when you go to the hospital and the doctors place a Pulse Oximeter on the end of your finger.
“How does it work?”
_____The colour of blood varies depending on how much oxygen it contains. A pulse oximeter shines two beams of light through your finger (or an animals lip, ear, or toe webbing), one beam is red light (which you can see when a pulse oximeter is used), one is infrared light (which you don’t see). These two beams of light can let the pulse oximeter detect what colour the arterial blood is and it can then work out the oxygen saturation.