​Anesthesia Information and Cats

​Anesthesia Information

​​Ketamine Anesthesia

I'm in many groups for breeders and also from my vet they have said never to use Ketamine.  As it can cause death in cats.  It can also look like Maine Coons have HCM while under this anesthesia. It will cause them to go into heart failure or even enlarge their hearts.  If you try to google this you will either find reports of how safe this stuff is or it's been erased.  I wonder why that is?  Is it because it makes companies too much money to take off the market?  Probably.  Most do not care about the health of animals or even people for that matter.  I wanted to find the proof of what this does and why.  This also affects many other breeds of cats.  I've seen where others have written their own article about it.  I've not come across one for Maine Coons.  If your cat was happy, healthy, and had good blood work, no heart issues or murmurs prior to surgery, a lot of times Doctors will claim it's HCM.  If the kitten came from health tested parents it's highly unlikely.  There are other factors as well.  I know food alone will cause heart failure in cats.  I have that under "Cat Food" if you want to read that.  But a healthy cat or kitten being put under with a needle can have a lot of side effects or allergic reactions.  Gas is the best way to go.  Also the mix of Ketamine and other drugs in combination will cause side effects, allergic reactions, or death in cats.  Good luck trying to finding any science based article on that.  Instead Doctor's like to point at the Breeder instead of looking at the cat in whole.  I've come across some necropsy stories that it did in fact prove the anesthesia was the cause of death.  Once Ketamine is in the system there is no reversal.  They will have to wait it out and in hopes nothing has damaged them.  It can change a cats personality temporarily or permanently. 

Sometimes they will use these 3 together with sedation Hydromorphone IM, Ketamine IM, Medetomidine IM.  There is also Dexdomitor and is similar to Ketamine.  Any injected anesthesia can cause similar reactions to each other.

I'm going to post links to what I've come across. 

​Ketamine, also known by the brand names of Ketaset®, Ketaflo®, Vetalar® or Vetaket®, belongs to a class of drugs known as dissociative hypnotics and is similar to phencyclidine (PCP).

Ketamine insert

​This study was done on embryo animals.  Ketamine predominantly causes cardiac enlargement.

study here

​Persian Breeder

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Savannah Breeder
Gas anesethia
Sevoflurane
One of the newest anesthesias on the market is Sevoflurane. It is fast-acting anesthesia that will result in a quick loss of consciousness.  It has a quick wake-up time also. But, it is pricey and most Veterinarians are already using Isoflurane.
Isoflurane
Isofluorane safety helps veterinarians to administer good anesthesia in the modern day.  Compared to straight ketamine it is head and shoulder above in safety.   Older or compromised patients, pregnant patients, and those with heart problems benefit.  Isoflurane takes a little longer to both lose and regain consciousness.  Also, it is a little more cost-effective.   So it is a good practice to use sevoflurane to induce anesthesia.  Then switch to isoflurane to maintain anesthesia during the procedure.
The gasses are very common in human medicine but few veterinarian practices have both.  The advantage of gas anesthesia is the control of the depth of the anesthesia.  It can deepen it or lighten it as needed during a procedure.  If there is a complication, the veterinarian may wake up the cat almost immediately if it is safe to do so.  While there is no 100% safe anesthesia, gas anesthesia has the fewest associated risks.  Propofol is the injectable of choice for some veterinary procedures.  It is quick-acting, offers a rapid recovery period, and has few drug after-effects.  Yet, for cats with certain liver diseases, propofol is not good since the liver metabolizes it. ​

Read more click here

​USDA euthanised cats used in animal testing with shot of ketamine to the heart.

Click here to read article

​Its mechanism of action is not well understood. (but yet all these scientific articles show testing.)

Click here to read

Ketamine Abuse

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This is the first site I've found that talks about the break down.

click here to read

What are Anesthesia Allergies?
Anesthesia allergic reactions occur almost immediately following the cat’s exposure to anesthesia, which means your cat will already be in the presence of a doctor when symptoms begin to show. Although hearing your cat suffered a complication during a medical procedure is unsettling, as long as the vet was monitoring your cat and treated the reaction quickly, your cat should fully recover.

If your cat is going to the vet for a procedure that requires the use of anesthesia, it’s normal to feel nervous. There are many risks associated with anesthesia, especially if your cat has certain health conditions or allergies. Unfortunately, you can’t tell if your cat has an anesthesia allergy until he has already had a reaction. Cats can be allergic to local or general anesthetics, and symptoms may vary depending on the severity of the allergy. Some cats will only experience a bit of swelling and irritation where the anesthesia was injected or applied topically, while others will begin to go into anaphylactic shock or cardiac arrest.

Symptoms of Anesthesia Allergies in CatsIf your cat is ever given local or general anesthetics during a medical procedure, the vet and his team of assistants will be closely monitoring him to look for signs of an allergic reaction, along with other complications. Some of the symptoms they are looking for can include:

• A drop in blood pressure
• Signs of cardiac arrest
• Swelling or irritation at the injection site
• Anaphylactic shock
  
  

Causes of Anesthesia Allergies in Cats
Some cats will have an allergic reaction to anesthesia, while others will not. Unfortunately, there are no known causes of allergies. Allergy tests can be conducted to determine if your cat reacts to any common allergens, however, anesthesia is not one of the allergens included in testing. Cat owners do not become aware of their cat’s anesthesia allergy until the cat has already had a reaction. 

Diagnosis of Anesthesia Allergies in CatsIf your cat has a surgery scheduled in the near future, you will most likely have to bring him in for pre-op testing to ensure he is healthy enough to undergo surgery. You may be wondering why an allergic reaction can still occur during the procedure if your cat has been thoroughly pre-tested. This is because there’s no way for a vet to test for an anesthesia allergy. 

Prior to a surgery, you should let your vet know whether your cat has any known allergies and if he has ever had any bad reactions to medications in the past. If your cat has been given anesthesia before and had a negative reaction to it, your vet needs to know this before the procedure is performed.

Once a local or general anesthesia has been administered to your cat, the vet should immediately be able to diagnose an allergic reaction based on the observable symptoms. Make sure you ask your vet for the exact name of the anesthesia that was used so you know to avoid this type moving forward.

Treatment of Anesthesia Allergies in Cats
Luckily, anesthesia allergic reactions occur immediately, so your cat will already be in the presence of a veterinarian when the symptoms begin. The treatment will depend on the severity of the reaction. If it’s just mild skin irritation, the vet may not administer any medication unless the condition worsens. Moderate allergic reactions can be treated with antihistamines, which can be given orally or intravenously. If the cat is under sedation from generation anesthesia, the antihistamine will be given through an IV, however, if the cat is awake and reacted to local anesthesia, the medication may be given orally.
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Serious reactions will need other forms of treatment. The vet may administer epinephrine through an auto-injector device such as an Epi-Pen. Epinephrine will immediately enter the cat’s system and begin to alleviate the symptoms associated with an allergic reaction. If your cat’s airways begin to swell because of the allergic reaction, he may be unable to breathe. The vet will need to closely monitor his airways during an allergic reaction, and if swelling is spotted, emergency surgery may be needed to open the airways.

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