i have a 13 year old Burmese female cat that went in for dental cleaning and they needed to pull 7 teeth. We were able to bring her home the next day and she would neither eat or drink anything. We took her back to the vet the next day because we knew she needed more help than we could provide. We just got her home again after 2 weeks. They needed to infuse water and syringe feed her because she wouldn't eat or drink on her own. Now she is eating a little kibble and drinking some. But still not totally normal. She has peed on our bed twice when we have a litter box 4 feet away. She has gone a few times in the litter box when we place her in it but goes on the bed also. I've read where there can be memory loss and brain damage from anesthesia and am wondering if this could have happened to her. She just acts different. Not as vocal as usual seems somewhat confused. I don't know if she is forgetting about the litter box or just feels she doesn't have to use it. I'm hoping she will pull out of this because she almost died. For the first few days she looked at us and acted like she didn't even know who we were. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Problems With My Cat After Dental Surgery
- Thread starter Greg C
- Start Date
The first few days would be normal for her to not be herself as the anesthetic drugs wear off. Unless the clinic mentioned that there were complications while under anesthesia then it's not likely that she has brain damage. However the urination is concerning. The anesthetic and any drugs afterwards are quite taxing on the kidneys. You should request some bloodwork to make sure that no long term damage has occurred. You mentioned that she ate some kibble. After having extractions she should be on soft food only. Or at least softened kibble. Is she on any pain control? If she is what is it? She really should be on pain control after extractions, and these meds could be making her act less like herself. Also take a look in her mouth. Does it look like everything is healing nicely? Or does it look like there are problems going on?
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- #3
We left her at the vet for all of last week. They were giving her water by infusion and force feeding her also. We had them remove her stitches 2 days ago because she acted like they were bothering her tongue. We brought her home afterwards to see how she would do, planning on bringing he in the next day for infusion and food. We got her to drink some and eat a little which was a first in 2 weeks. We took her in the following day for her food and water infusion and brought her back home. We have kept her home since, continuing to feed her twice a day with a syringe and giving her plenty of water. In that respect she is doing better but she is just not the same as before. Not as affectionate. Not using the litter box all the time. Hiding, not near as vocal as she was, doesn't seem to want any attention when she wanted it all the time before the surgery. She almost acts like a stray cat they you have had a few weeks. Before the surgery she was almost annoying because she would run around meowing because she wanted to be picked up and carried around or wanted to be fed, like every 2 hours. Now I can pick her up and she doesn't even purr, she just looks at me like when are you going to put me down. The vet said her mouth healed up great and all her stitches are out so I don't think she is in any pain
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- #4
The vet did blood work twice while she was there and the said everything looked fine. They took her off the pain meds when we took her back in because they thought she might be having a bad reaction to them which was causing the whole problem. I just think it Took several days to get the anesthesia out of her system.
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I had a similar thing happen with my cat after surgery. She wasn't herself afterward (she almost died as well) and we were heartbroken that maybe we made the wrong choice trying to save her. However, after a week or so of being off the pain meds she returned to normal. I think the anesthesia and the pain meds have a weird effect on them but once they get those out of their system all is good.
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- #6
That is really strange. All the time when she was at the vet did they mention anything at all as to what might be causing it?. If she recovered from the anesthetic well and her mouth was all fine then it almost seems like something unrelated. I'm glad she is starting to fell better. That really is a strange occurrence. I guess some cats just don't bounce back as quickly as others. Good for you for getting her the care she needed to get through it! When she was at the vet and received "water infusion" do you mean they syringed water? Or do you mean water Injected under the skin, also known as sub q fluids? Or perhaps it was iv fluids? I'm curious Cuz iv never heard the term water infusion used. Also do you know the name of the pain control she was on? That would be helpful.
Have you talked to the Vet about how she is acting now that she is home? I think it's definitely worth mentioning to them.
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G Greg C -- I have a question for you... is your 13-year-old kitty very much a homebody, used to the same daily patterns (after 13 years), and used to only being around you (and anyone in your house) but not around a lot of other humans?
Because even though some people don't think this can happen, I believe cats can go through high stress and "loss of hope", depression, & confusion after going through medical emergencies which involve a longer length of stay at a vet's or hospital. It can be very hard for some cats (particularly older ones, or very sheltered cats) to get back out of the stress, fear, and depression they fell into at the hospital. Cats adore routine, their own routine. Hospitals provide an entirely different "routine" altogether! How she is acting, I think, has nothing to do with your love and the great care you are taking of her! She probably just got consistently frightened while there. Sometimes it cannot be helped, but also some cats just do worse than other cats in high stress situations like this. Just being at a vet for the needed intense caretaking, for the tests, around all the strange smells, noises and people and other animals, with none of their daily familiar things present -- it can really do a number on what I call their will to live. It IS confusing for some cats when they get back home. (I don't think she is brain damaged!) Also, her "new" peeing behavior could be something that she picked up doing while at the vet hospital, peeing in her crate, out of necessity or fear. You say she was there 1 week? or 2 weeks?
You just need to help her through it, this aftermath time period -- it will ease up with time.
When my last cat went through what-I-describe-above ^^, back in 2005 after a 5 day hospital stay, what helped her to RELAX and feel at ease again, get her "will to live" back, was a short term approach of subQ Valium, prescribed by what I call, my "old-school vet" at the time. Valium helped her to RELAX, feel less stressed, and she FINALLY used her litterbox and she finally started to eat and drink again. It helped within TWO SHORT DAYS. Once she felt better physically, and relaxed, her mood and will to live rebounded like you wouldn't believe! She only needed valium dosages for a day and a half.
So my advice is to see if your vet might prescribe and show you how to give valium (valium, the "old school" miracle worker for very stressed cats). It is a muscle relaxant. If you both feel comfortable trying this (and many vets do), give it a try!
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- #10
They were giving her fluids under the skin behind the next. We did talk to the vet about depression and if there was a chance she was just giving up. The vet didn't seem to think so. It took 2 days for our other Burmese cat Butch to warm up to her and actually lay with her. I think that has to help. She really seemed to get better when they took out her stitches. She didn't drink anything until they removed them. The vet said this was the one of the strangest cases she has ever seen in terms of reaction to surgery. She has called every day since we took her home to check or her and is very happy she has started to get better. We're still force feeding her twice a day plus feeding her as much as we can get her to eat. She needs to put on 1 1/2 pounds to be back to normal. She is also still weak. She can still jump on our bed but you can tell it's tough for her.
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- #11
She was at the vet for 2 weeks and we brought her home twice in that time for 1 day but had to take her back each time. While she was there my wife would visit her in the morning for an hour and I would visit her after work for an hour or 2 just to cheer her up.
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- #12
They did blood work on her when we took her back in and they said everything was good. When the took on her stitches they said her mouth was healing up great. They took her off the pain meds when we took her back in the first time because they thought she was having a bad reaction to the pain meds. The kibble we are giving her is prescription that she was eating at the vet. She has been using the litter box the last 2 days so she might be getting back to normal
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- #13
Here is another update. We have had her home for 4 days now and she is getting better. She is drinking quite a bit which is good and eating a little. We are still force feeding her twice a day with royal canin recovery which is high in calories and she doesn't seem to mind too much. She needs to gain around 2 pounds or so. She's always been a finicky eater and turns up her nose to food about half the time. We always have 3 kinds of dry food out all the time and feed her fancy feast canned food about 4 times a day.sometimes she eats and sometimes she doesn't. Since we got her back she has peed on our bed 3 times. She has never not used the litter box before. The first time she did it we washed all the sheets, put some Odor neutralizer on the bed in that spot and put a plastic sheet cover over the mattress just in case she did it again. We take her to the litter box several times a day and she goes down on her own to use it. It just seems that sometimes she just doesn't want to go use it. I can't figure it out. She is still not acting right in terms of personality. A lot more distant and she doesn't act like she wants ant attention like she used to. She used to walk around meowing just so I would pick her up and carry her around. Now when I pick her up she isn't even purring she just looks at me like when are you gonna put me down.
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- #14
After another week she has improved a lot. We are still feeding her daily by hand but she is also eating and drinking on her own. We're trying to get as much food in her as we can. Her attitude has improved and she is acting more like her old self. Still acting a little lazy and not doing much but getting better. I think she will eventually get back to normal
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- #16
The vet was feeding her prescription kibble. They took her off the pain meds because they thought she was having a bad reaction to them making her so sick. Now since she has been home she is finally getting back to normal. My wife is still feeding her with a spoon twice a day with Royal Canin recovery which is a high calorie high protein food, so we can get weight on her. We also give her the kibble and feed her fancy feast pate 4 times a day. When she was at the vet she was down to 5 pounds now she is just over 6 pounds. We want to get her back to 7 pounds which is about the highest she ever weighs. She probably was in pain for the first week but they didn't want to give her any more pain meda because it seemed to make her worse. She is now back to normal on using the litter box and seems to have most of her energy back. I just can't believe how long it has taken her to get over this. She must have thought she was never going home again after being stuck in that cage for 2 weeks. Now she is happy again.
