poor kitty with heart attack became a vegetable

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dinkmeister - 15 Mar 2005 04:16 GMT

A while back my friends kitty had a heart attack while under general
anesthetic, the poor thing has been a vegetable ever since, it is blind,
it drools, it meows nonstop and it is the equivalent to a cerebral palsey
"victim".
The vet said they will give the kitty another day, if he dont improve
they will euthanize him for free. We got the advice of 2 other vets
and they recommend euthanizing him because they say he won't get any
better.
My friend would really like to know, perhaps from someone that has been
around a lot of cats and came across this sort of thing in the past,
if there would be any chance at all for improvement, because right now
things look really grim.
We would both really appreciate any insight, either way, because
we wouldn't want the poor thing to continue to suffer in this way
for long.

thank you

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Noon Cat Nick - 15 Mar 2005 04:46 GMT

> A while back my friends kitty had a heart attack while under general
> anesthetic, the poor thing has been a vegetable ever since, it is blind,
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> thank you

This is an all-too-common problem in veterinary surgery. Animals can
suffer heart attacks under anesthesia for a variety of reasons, usually
sensitivity to the anesthetic. The result normally is the death of the
animal. But in some cases the animal suffers extreme brain damage, as in
the above case. There is no known way to reverse such damage.

In short, your friend's cat has no hope of any of his quality of life
being restored. It will never again be the animal it was, in any way.
Worse, the poor creature is going through sudden overwhelming misery
which not long ago didn't exist, and has no idea why he now must live
this way. Sad though it is, it would be a great mercy to the poor cat to
give him a peaceful end.

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Alun L. Palmer - 06 Apr 2005 00:43 GMT

>> A while back my friends kitty had a heart attack while under general
>> anesthetic, the poor thing has been a vegetable ever since, it is blind,
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> this way. Sad though it is, it would be a great mercy to the poor cat to
> give him a peaceful end.

And hopefully the president and congress won't intervene! Sorry if that
seems flip, but sometimes it seems like we deal with these issues better
with our pets than with humans.

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