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Vet was rough with my cat.

Species: Cat
Breed: Maine Coon
Age: More than 15 ye
I'm curious as to the process of applying anesthetic to a cat. Namely I witnessed my vet do it a few weeks ago and it seemed somewhat crude, as she took my cat and raised her a bit and quickly stabbed the needle into her and let her go. She was the most agitated I've ever seen and even bit me when I attempted to calm her down. I've not been around for many vet visits and procedures, but the way she did it seemed far too fast and only seemed to make my cat angry and panic as the anesthetic took effect.

Is this common practice, or was my vet simply not caring about my cat?


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

I'm sorry to hear that your cat had a traumatic experience.

There are many ways to administer an anesthetic. It sounds like your vet gave an intramuscular injection.

Usually, for anesthetic we will give an intravenous (in the vein) injection followed by gas anesthesia.

However, if an animal is really fractious then sometimes we can't get close enough to get into the vein. If this is the case then we need to do an IM injection and this can hurt.

I really can't comment on how your vet administered the medication without being there. I can tell you though that I have had many cats that have needed some rough handling in order to administer medication. I know that can be hard to see, but sometimes it is necessary.



---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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Dr. MarieDr. Marie is a veterinarian who practices in a busy animal hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. She created Ask A Vet Question as a resource for good, accurate veterinary advice online. Dr. Marie treats dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rats. She has been a vet since 1999.

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