Anesthesia Reactions?

jennyjen

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Hi everyone,

Can anyone enlighten me on how cats are supposed to react to anesthesia? My 8 year old kitty had her teeth cleaned today. I picked her up about 3 hours ago. At first she seemed pretty confused, dizzy, and groggy (she fell over quite a few times). After a while, she started walking better and stopped faling over. She's been sleeping for about an hour now, and when she opens her eyes they are more slanty than usual.

She ate almost a whole can of wet food when she got home and drank some water, and she groomed herself for a little while. The vet said they use an injection initially and then stabilize the animal with gas throughout the procedure. I called them right after I got them home to ask if the falling over was normal, and they said that she was still pretty groggy when I picked her up and that she probably would be for a little while.

How do cats normally act after they've been under anesthesia? Thanks everyone!
 

dragonlady

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Yes it is perfectly normal. She was fighting off the effects os the drug. It may take a while to get all the way awake. I'm sure your kitty will be fine.
 

hissy

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It all depends on the cat and the anesthesia used. Some cats can shake it off in a matter of hours, some it takes longer. Did the vet tell you what they used? Did he seem concerned about it when you called?
 
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jennyjen

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Hissy,

The vet didn't sound concerned. They said that some cats take a while for the grogginess to wear off. I'm not sure exactly what type of anesthesia they used. After a little while, she started walking pretty normally. And she was able to jump up on the bed too. She had a loooooooooong day since they were also doing some testing to find out if there might be a health issue that has caused her to lick the hair off of her stomach (they did a skin scrape, plucked out some hairs for a fungal culture, took urine to see if she had a UTI or bladder infection). Also, I noticed her front legs were a bit shaky, so they poked and prodded her legs too. I think I'd be pretty exhausted if I had all that done to me too


Her heart rate and breathing is in the range it should be in, and she ate, drank, and used the litterbox. I think she's alright, but I'm totally neurotic, so I just wanted to see what type of experiences others have had. The only experience I've had with a cat getting anesthesia was a FELV+ kitty who almost died after she was spayed, so I don't have much to go by. If she is still weird in the morning, I'll call the vet again.
 
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jennyjen

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I brought her to the vet today because she was still being funky this morning. The vet said it may be taking a little longer for her to filter out the anesthesia. They gave her some IV fluids since I told them she hadn't been drinking, and they said it should help filter out the anesthesia. I'll be keeping an eye on her and I'll post updates.
 
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