34th Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings

Objectives:

The environmental impact of breed-specific surgical procedures has not previously been studied, and a protocol for calculating the care pathway carbon footprint has not been reported. 

Methods:

All dogs undergoing breed-specific veterinary procedures at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies were followed up over six months from May 1, 2024. The recorded information included patient breed, surgical procedure, imaging modality, the weight of contaminated theatre and ward waste, the weight of non-contaminated theatre and ward waste, owner mileage, number of surgical kits used, means of kit sterilisation, duration of surgery, and the volume of anaesthetic gas used. 

The carbon factors used allowed for calculating the carbon footprint (kgCO2e) of individual patient care components and the overall patient carbon footprint.

Results:

Data were collected for 29 animals (15 multi-level brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome surgeries, five medial canthoplasties, two screw tail caudectomies, two prophylactic humeral transcondylar screws, two ‘Y’ humeral condyle fracture repairs, and two ‘Y’ humeral condyle fracture repairs with contralateral humeral transcondylar screws for contralateral humeral intercondylar fissures). The mean carbon footprint per patient was 48.54 (range 16.93–115.98) kgCO2e.

Based on the 55 breed-specific procedures that were performed at our hospital from October 2023 to October 2024, the estimated carbon footprint for breed-specific care at the hospital was 2,805.897 kgCO2e/year, equivalent to the carbon footprint of a flight from the United Kingdom to Perth, Australia.

Conclusions:

This study provides a novel protocol for calculating the care pathway carbon footprint for an individual patient and hospital.