The most common anesthetic complications in companion animal medicine are intra-operative hypotension, cardiac arrhythmias, post-operative regurgitation, aspiration pneumonia, dysphoria, cerebellar dysfunction, and blindness or deafness in cats.
Can anesthesia cause neurological problems in cats?
Neurological signs included mild to severe ataxia of all 4 limbs, intentional tremor, lack of menace response, and delayed hopping. The cats were of different ages when anesthetized and none had shown any prior signs of neural disease.
What happens if a cat gets too much anesthesia?
Common side-effects of anesthesia can be seen during recovery, including a reduced ability to control his/her body temperature (so s/he may seem cold or, less commonly, hot), increased vocalization due to disorientation, and a lack of coordination.
What can cause temporary blindness in cats?
Retinal detachment Abrupt detachment of the retinas is the most common cause of sudden blindness in cats. These can be seen by examining the back of the eyes with an ophthalmoscope. Detachment may be due to trauma, but more often in pets is due to extreme high blood pressure.
What do you do when your cat goes blind?
If your cat is newly blind, or your blind cat is in a new environment, help them out by keeping them in a small space (such as a single room) before slowly being allowed to explore. Remind children not to leave toys around, as they’re easy for an unsuspecting blind cat to trip over.
What is cerebellar dysfunction in cats?
Cerebellar hypoplasia is a developmental condition in which the cerebellum of the brain fails to develop properly. The cerebellum is the portion of the brain that controls fine motor skills, balance, and coordination. The condition is not painful or contagious.
What does gabapentin do for cats?
Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant prescribed by veterinarians predominantly to treat chronic pain in dogs, cats, and other animals. It also is used as a seizure-control agent, either by itself or in conjunction with other anti-seizure medications.
Is it safe to put a 14 year old cat under anesthesia?
General anesthesia in older cats can be safely performed by following the basic anesthetic principles and steps. These steps should include a thorough physical examination, good history taking, appropriate selection and administration of perianesthetic drugs, careful monitoring and watchful post-anesthetic care.
Why are my cats eyes dilated after surgery?
Your pet may still be under the effects of anesthesia and/or pain management medication. You may see dilated pupils, unsteadiness or lethargy, lack of appetite, moodiness or appearance of drunkenness. These are usual reactions when the pet is coming out of anesthesia.
How do you know if your cat has brain damage?
What are the signs of a brain injury? The typical signs of brain injury in a cat include altered consciousness that may signal bleeding in the skull, decreased blood flow to the brain, or fluid causing swelling within the brain itself.
Is it possible for a cat to go blind from anesthesia?
Cortical blindness following general anesthesia in the cat has been infrequently reported in the literature but is anecdotally stated to occur occasionally in small animal practice. Two case reports describe blindness and other neurological signs in cats following dental cleaning ( Jurk et al., 2001, Son et al., 2009 ).
What information should be collected about anesthesia in cats?
Information collected included signalment and health status, reason for anesthesia, anesthetic protocols and adverse events, post-anesthetic visual and neurological abnormalities, clinical outcome, and risk factors. The vascular anatomy of the cat brain was reviewed by cadaver dissections.
How common is blindness in cats with cardiac arrest?
Three cats had had cardiac arrest, whereas in the remaining 17 cases, no specific cause of blindness was identified. Seventeen cats (85%) had neurological deficits in addition to blindness. Fourteen of 20 cats (70%) had documented recovery of vision, whereas four (20%) remained blind.
What happens when a cat goes blind for 2 weeks?
Over the next 2 weeks neurological signs such as circling and head tilt progressively worsened and the cat remained blind. The cat was euthanased and on necropsy multiple areas of ischemic damage were identified in the brain, including the visual cortex.
