N1033787
6.0 Limitations
There were several limitations to the current study. The sample size was considered low, and dogs enrolled were of a heterogenous population, which was not investigated and could have influenced the results. MRI scan sequences differed between patients and was not recorded, which again could have influenced patient’ s body temperatures. Altogether, the study lacked a controlled environment. One major limitation was the inclusion of BCS’ s. The anaesthetic monitoring forms include a box for the nurse to write the BCS of the patient they will be anaesthetising. The data could have been collected in a much shorter period of time if this was filled in for all patients, however on many forms this had been missed, and as such the patient was unable to be enrolled in the study. The BCS of the dogs enrolled in the study was assigned by one of five registered veterinary nurses on the Neurology team at Wear Referrals. This is another limitation to the study, as assigning BCS’ s is subjective and involves the opinions of the observer( Chun et al, 2019), so the opinions of the dogs BCS between the nurses could have differed, which could have influenced the results of the study. The final limitation to the study was that different brands of digital thermometers were used to take the rectal temperatures of the dogs, and it was also not stated whether a thermometer cover was used or not. This could have caused discrepancies and differences in the results, as different thermometers and the use of a thermometer cover or not could have influenced the temperature readings.
ANIM32126 – EBVN Project 32