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Questions about anesthesia

Species: Cat
Breed: DSH
Age: 2-5 years
Hi my name is Jazmin. I'm currently in college now in vet tech school. i have a project due in my surgery class. i'm doing a case study on a 3 yr old male castrated DSH cat who has fallen through a 3-story window 24hrs ago and hasn't urinated since. also non weight bearing on left rear due to tibial fracture. I just want to know what drugs you would reccommend to give this cat. I need to find pre-op meds, induction meds, and post op meds. i need to know maintence and monitoring. i can make up a weight for the cat as well to figure out the dose of the medication. I just don't know what medication the animal will need to help with pain and if the animal goes under anesthesia for surgery what drugs i would be using there as well. Any help would be awesome! thanks! This project is worth a lot I'm having a hard time figuring out the procedure I would like to go through with this male cat. Please help i would greatly appreciate this help sooo much.


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi Jazmin,

While I can't legally discuss drug dosages online, I'll let you know what kind of drugs I would use in a situation like this and then you can look up in your textbooks what the dosage is.

One thing to keep in mind here is that I practice in Canada, so if you are in the US it's possible that the type of drugs you have available are slightly different.

For my pre-op meds for this kitty I would likely be giving a combination of hydromorphone, acepromazine and glycopyrrolate. I would then place a catheter and induce with propofol IV. Next, I would intubate the cat and use isofluorane anesthetic.

Regarding maintenance and monitoring, this is a tough one to "predict. The oxygen level depends on the weight of the cat, but generally for a 10 lb cat I would use about 300ml/min and for iso I would start at about 2 and adjust as necessary.

I'd be monitoring the respiration, pusle, temperature, and blood pressure throughout surgery.

Depending on how long the surgery is I'd likely give hydromorphone after surgery. If I had one, I would have placed a fentanyl patch at least 12 hours before surgery. If I didn't have the luxury of 12 hours I would have put one on as soon as I knew I was doing surgery. This will provide some lasting pain relief in the days following surgery.

I would also continue to give hydro every 2-4 hours as necessary to control the cat's pain.

Hopefully that helps! I debated on whether to answer because I didn't want to do your homework for you, but it sounds like the idea was for you to seek out a vet and ask rather than look it up in your textbooks, right?

I may be online a little bit later this morning and then my internet access will be sporadic as I am doing a lot of traveling today.

Dr. Marie.


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Disclaimer: Although Dr. Marie is a qualified veterinarian, the information found on this site is not meant to replace the advice of your own veterinarian. AskAVetQuestion.com and Dr. Marie do not accept any responsibility for any loss, damage, injury, death, or disease which may arise from reliance on information contained on this site. Do not use information found on this site for diagnosing or treating your pet. Anything you read here is for information only.

Customer reply:

Hi,
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I was also wondering if you could let me know the fluids to give the cat. Like what the drip rate is. Also is a 10lb male cat too small?And is hydromorphine the only drug you would give to the cat. Will the drugs you reccommended help with the cats not urinating problem and his fracture? And do you have any advice on how I would address a client about their cat and what to do. Once again your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you again for your time!

Jazmin


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

Sorry for the delay. I was traveling yesterday and had my flight delayed so it was a late night last night!

I would likely give lactated ringers to this kitty. I'd likely use a surgical drip rate (10 ml/kg/hr) during surgery and maintenance after that.

10 lbs sound like a normal sized cat to me.

If the cat's kidney function was ok I'd also give 0.1 mg/kg of Metacam by injection and possibly follow that up with 3 days of oral Metacam.

I can't really answer what drugs I'd give for the urinary problem because it depends on what is causing it. In some cases, Prazosin would be good to help with urethral spasm. But, if there is a neurological issue then I'd be not giving Metacam and instead giving high doses of steroids. I wouldn't think that you would be expected to know this in a veterinary technician project though.

As far as post op instructions go, that's a whole other discussion. It all depends on what the problems are, what type of surgery was done and a number of other factors. Rest would probably be advised for the fracture for several weeks.





Customer reply:

Alright thanks for all this advice and info. I just have one more question. Since the cat fell from a third story window and hasn't urinated. I'm gonna say that maybe the cat has a urethral obstruction. So what medications would I then use that won't affect the medications i'm using for the tibial fracture.

I've also decided that i'm going to treat the cats condition with intramedullary pinning. I've decided that the cat has a closed complete long oblique minimally displaced fracture of the tibia.

I'm just not sure what to do about the cat not being able to urinate now, and what I should do and what medications i should give. if the cat has a urethral obstruction, then it would also need to go under anesthesia. so i don't know what drugs to use and what problem i should deal with first. should i deal with the cat not urinating or its tibial fracture first?


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

I would be thinking that the inability to urinate would be more likely to be neurological than obstruction, but it's hard to say. I really can't say for sure which medications because there are too many variables. The only conflicts I can think of are if I thought it was a neurological problem then I'd use high doses of steroids and this would mean that I wouldn't want to use an NSAID like Metacam. If I was using something like Prazosin to help with urethral spasm I'd have to look up in my texts to see if there would be any conflict with other drugs but none come to mind.





Customer reply:

thank you. this has been a really great help for me. I really appreciate it. Hopefully I do well.

Again, thank you so much!!


Customer reply:

hi I have another question. it's not related to this case at all. but i was wondering what you would do for a 5 yr old female cat that is going in for a spay that has diabetes mellits What would you recommend on how to give the cat its insulin without affecting the spay surgery. Like from what time frames should food and insulin be given. Please any advice would be great.

thanks again
Jazmin


Online vet, Dr. Marie

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi Jazmin. This would be a whole new question. If you'd like to ask another one, here is the question page.



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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.

Is an online vet visit just as good as a trip to your veterinarian? No! But, many times, asking an online veterinarian a question can help save you money. While Dr. Marie can't officially diagnose your pet or prescribe medications, she can often advise you on whether a vet visit is necessary. You can also ask Dr. Marie for a second opinion on your pet's condition.