I had a cat that had a very bad reaction from Ketamine, so my present cats get
Iso only.  Drugs like Torbagesic (sp?) can be given for pain.  Personally, if
this was my cat, I would be finding a vet that regularly uses Iso.  My cats
that have had Iso seemed to come out of it really quickly whereas with previous
cats who were given injectibles seemed drugged for a day or two.  Also, I
wanted to mention that my vet has surgeries come in at 8:00 a.m. and the spays
are done before 1:00 p.m.  The cats are allowed to go home late afternoon so
long as they are ready, and since my vet uses Iso, my cats went home the same
day and were just fine.  

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

<< Thanks for the info... >>

Kim, are there other vets in your area?  I agree with Lauren, iso is really the
best.  I don't mean to further alarm you when you are feeling worried anyway
and, yes, odds are your cat will be fine even if injectable anesthesia is used
but one of the main reasons why iso and other newer gases like sevo are
superior to injectable anesthesia is that, if problems develop, the gas can be
shut off but, with injections, it's already in the system and there isn't much
that can be done other than to use some other medication to counteract the
problem.

There used to be a very nice and helpful vet, Dr. Martin, who posted to this
newsgroup.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen him lately but this is a post he
wrote in Sept. 2001 when I was getting ready to have my Abbey spayed:

<<I have read countless times in this newsgroup that the ideal anesthesia in
cats is isoflurane only.  When the topic of anesthesia is brought up people
are encouraged to request their cats be anesthetized with nothing but
isoflurane.  This has bugged me for a long time so I've decided to comment
on it.

Isoflurane only anesthesia involves placing a completely alert cat in a gas
box and running isoflurane gas at maximum concentration for about 5 minutes
until the cat is unconscious, then the cat is intubated and surgery begins.
Isoflurane smells very bad and this procedure is extremely stressful for the
cat.  It's not uncommon for the terrified cats to flail around inside the
small box trying to escape the noxious fumes.  Not only is this disturbing
to witness, it places the cat at risk of self inflicted trauma.  It is this
kind of prolonged intense stress that can cause a cat with asymptomatic
heart disease to decompensate and go into heart failure.  Isoflurane is a
very safe anesthetic at regular concentrations but the high concentrations
used for tank inductions can cause profound, life threatening hypotension
(low blood pressure).  Being in a sealed box the cat cannot be monitored
closely enough during this critical period.  The induction phase of
anesthesia (before securing an airway with intubation) is the most
dangerous. With gas induction we prolong what could be a 30 second induction
to a 5 minute  highly stressful induction.  Also isoflurane provides no pain
control.

In my opinion ideal anesthesia consists of 3 stages.
1) sedation - an intramuscular or subcutaneous injection tha contains a
sedative, an analgesic and sometimes a anticholinergic to maintain heart
rate.  Sedation allows for decreased doses of induction agent (safer). It
also calms the patient to reduce stress and provides preemptive pain
control.
2) induction - an intravenous agent that rapidly anesthetizes the patient so
that an endotracheal tube can be rapidly placed so that we can breathe for
the patient if the patient stops breathing.  These agents act so fast that
they can be dosed to effect - we only need to give as much as needed to make
the patient fall asleep.  In a high risk cardiac patient I may give a small
amount of induction agent to calm and restrain the animal and finish with a
short period of mask induction.
3) maintenance - I agree isoflurane is a desirable agent for maintenace.

I hate the thought of many cats going through the stress and increased risk
of gas induction because people are insisting on this form of anesthesia.

J. Martin DVM>>

He further wrote:

,,If you want safe anesthesia for your cat I would suggest requesting
intraoperative IV fluids.  Intra-op fluids allow for instantaneous venous
access for IV injections of emergency drugs if needed.  Fluids keep the
kidneys perfused and can  help maintain blood pressure even in the face of
excessive blood loss.

Proper monitoring is probably the most important aspect of safe anesthesia.
A technician should keep track of anesthetic depth, heart rate and
respiratory rate.  Monitoring equipment such as respiratory,  blood
pressure, ECG and oxygen saturation monitors can also increase safety.

Hope this helps,

J.>>

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human."  (Loren Eisely)

Kim writes

Please don't just depend on a yellow pages ad as validity on the vet's
qualifications.