Following are selected posts to the Holisticat (TM) Mailing List on the subject of anesthesia. There's a lot of information here, and the posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utilize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

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<2 Nov 98 From Tricia Re  teeth cleaning causing problems>

Hi Sharon,

I asked my allo boss about this, and he said that one of the more common kitty sedatives (ketamine--used before hooking them up to the gas anesthesia) is rather hard on the kidneys.  He felt that in Mahogany's case, her kidneys were probably already failing, and that the added stress from the sedative might have pushed her over the edge

I found this excerpt in an article I have on chemical restraint: Compendium for Continuing Education Restraint Methods for Radiography in Dogs and Cats Aug 1996
" The dissociogenic drugs ketamine and tiletamine induce excellent immobilization and provide superficial analgesia. Rigidity of the extremities is produced because of poor muscle relaxation. Such effects as hallucinations, confusion, agitation, and fear have been described by human patients who have received these drugs; similar effects apparently occur in animals. Ketamine or tiletamine should be used only cautiously in patients with severe liver disease. Cats eliminate at least some ketamine unchanged in urine. This agent should therefore be used cautiously if a cat has renal disease. "

I think that part of the risk lies in accurately diagnosing renal disease too...from what I understand, up to 2/3 of the kidney function can be lost before any clinical signs are noted in the kitty.  If you are at all worried, ask your vet about any potential for kidney damage with whatever sedative combo they administer, and about using isoflurane as the gas anesthetic (there is less cardiac depression and potential for damage to the liver with this than with halothane), and ask about doing a small blood
panel before the anesthesia.  This will make the whole procedure more expensive, but I'd say it is definitely worth it.  Lemme know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to ask.

Tricia

It's best not to go for gas only for neutering boys: apparently the nerve supply to the testes is huge, and the anaesthetic has to be very deep otherwise they can feel a lot.  My vet told me in the 'old days' they used to just stuff the cat down an old wellie and do it as quick as poss.  It made my flesh creep, and I could see the vet wanting to cross his legs!

Julia

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this!  :::hugs:::

I have to say though, that the death being a result of an 'allergy' sounds highly suspect to me.  I have sighthounds (yeah, I know DOGS, but it has relevance, so bear with me)  The reason that sighthounds cannot handle the traditional anaesthetics is that they have extremely low body fat in comparison to other dogs.  Normally, when the anaesthetic is introduced to the body the fat cells store it temporarily and let the body rid itself of the stuff in very small amounts very gradually.  With so little body fat,
the sighthounds don't have enough fat to 'store' the anaesthetic and so the body gets a big amount of it dumped on it's system all at once.  It basically overloads the system and death results.  There is a semi-newanaesthetic on the market called Isofluorine (sp?)  It is inhaled in a gas state (like when you have laughing gas at the dentist).  It is the ONLY ONLY ONLY and I cannot stress this enough, ONLY anestethic  that is safe for use in sighthounds.  I will never allow any of my animals, be they cat, dog or other to be put under using anything else.  Period.  If the vet doesn't use Iso. only, I don't go there.  Many vets have switched to this since it is much, much safer than the old kind.  Some haven't because it is a bit more expensive to use.  I would venture to say that cats may not have enough body fat to deal with the old types of anaesthetic simply because they are so
much smaller than the average dog.   What type was used on this baby?

Tea
-----Original Message-----

From: Jane
we have to worry with that with our sighthounds. . .for some reason, they can't handle the anesthesia well. . .I'm leary now of any of my critters going in to be spayed/neutered/whatnot.  . .from what I'm told, gasing them down first is easier on them. . .I'm so sorry. . .:(

Good morning everyone,

I found the article I mentioned yesterday on anesthesia.  It wasn't in the Whole Cat Journal, I was mistaken.  It was in the May 99 issue of Cats Magazine (the one with the snarling Persian on the cover).  So if any of you guys have that magazine, that's where it is.  I am going to type up the article today.  It's pretty interesting, but very long, so if you would like a copy please email me and I will be happy to send it to you.

Debbie