Addie's spay...didn't go as planned

Addie was scheduled to go in for her spay surgery today. She had missed a prior appointment after getting into some food while she should have been fasting. So, I got up extra early and dropped her off at the vet's office. A few hours later, I got a phone call from the vet. Addie's pre-op assessment showed she had lost some weight since her last visit and the vet wanted to be sure she hadn't shown any signs of illness. She hasn't and after some discussion of her habits and current state (exam was good, everything normal), we decided to proceed. The vet said she'd call around noon.

At 11am, the phone rang again. The vet said that they had had to abandon the surgery shortly after induction (after Addie was put to sleep). Apparently, once she was under, Addie's heartrate dropped to 100 and her blood pressure went as low as 60, even as the vet and techs turned down and then off the anaesthetic. Once off anaesthetic, her vitals stabalized at that level. She was on IV fluids and her heartrate and bp rose into the normal range. After 7 hours on IV and careful watch, she was alert enough to come home.

The vet seems to feel she is just too lean to tolerate the anaesthetic, so we're to increase her calories, increase the frequency of her feedings, feed her separate from the others, and basically just pack as many pounds on her as possible. Then, we'll redo the pre-op blood work to check things out again, and decide whether to give it another try. If it turns out that weight gain doesn't help, we'll have to look into some other options for her.

Now, she is separated because she is hissing at the other cats (weird, we thought it'd be the other way around, since she'd be the stress-smelling one). Of course, when the door is closed, she cries and cries to be let out with them, the goofball. She seems okay but we're in for a long couple of nights because she will NOT be quiet. She always is vocal, but when she's separated from the others it's pretty much constant.

Can I get some vibes for her? Also, has anyone else had a similar experience?

Oh, I'm so sorry! I hope she gets her weight up and is able to undergo her spay successfully! Poor little girl! Vibes for Addie to gain weight }}}}}}}}

Awwwww poor little sweetheart!! What a traumatic day for you all I'm sorry things didn't go as planned.

Good luck with the weight gain, and trying to feed her separately!

And sending lots of vibes for her settling down and everything going smoothly.

lets hope she can gain some weight!!!!
i worry about heyu as she is way to skinny, but the vet said she is fine

You hear so much about overweight cats, so I never would have thought you'd have problems with one that's too lean. Poor Addie. I hope the new feeding regimen goes down well with her, and that you can get her spayed eventually.

I hate to be a downer, but some cats can't handle the anesthesia. There are just some cats who are EXTREMELY sensitive to it. I worked at a shelter for a while and as long as the kittens weighed 2 pounds they would spay or neuter them. While I was working there, I never saw them lose an animal. Now I work at a vet office and during a routine neuter I saw a cat start crashing. He did the same thing your baby did but his heart actually stopped. We did CPR on him and managed to get him back. Unfortunatly he now has permanent brain damage and cannot see or hear. We refused to spay his sister until she had a complete cadiac workup and complete bloodwork done. We were afriad she'd do the same thing. We used a differant anesthesia for her and she did fine.

I would talk to your vet about it further and see if he offers any other kind of anesthesia and find out if he thinks any other testing should be done. Like I said, I hate to be a downer but I would also hate for anything bad to happen to your baby....

Originally Posted by Shorty14788

I hate to be a downer, but some cats can't handle the anesthesia. There are just some cats who are EXTREMELY sensitive to it. I worked at a shelter for a while and as long as the kittens weighed 2 pounds they would spay or neuter them. While I was working there, I never saw them lose an animal. Now I work at a vet office and during a routine neuter I saw a cat start crashing. He did the same thing your baby did but his heart actually stopped. We did CPR on him and managed to get him back. Unfortunatly he now has permanent brain damage and cannot see or hear. We refused to spay his sister until she had a complete cadiac workup and complete bloodwork done. We were afriad she'd do the same thing. We used a differant anesthesia for her and she did fine.

I would talk to your vet about it further and see if he offers any other kind of anesthesia and find out if he thinks any other testing should be done. Like I said, I hate to be a downer but I would also hate for anything bad to happen to your baby....

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It's not so much her weight, as the amount of weight for her frame. She's underweight, so even though she's over 2 lbs, her BMI is low, which can affect the metabolism and action of some medications.

But it's true that some cats (and people for that matter) can just be intolerant to anaesthetics. I was talking with the vet about that today. We won't be trying that same drug, since we know she didn't react well to it. We'll certainly be dicussing all of that further if and when Addie gains enough wait for the vet to be considering retrying. At this point, we haven't even decided for sure that we'll be going that route at all. For now, we're just going to try putting some weight on her and giving up the spay idea, at least for the next while.

Since her physical exam is normal and she doesn't have any signs of illness or heart trouble, we're just going to keep an eye on her and go for a reweigh and exam in a few weeks. Hopefully, we can pork her up a bit!

Many vibes coming your way!

Aww lots of vibes headed her way.

From time to time, we've taken in quite a few foster kitties who needed plumping-up before they could be ready for adoption, and we swear by KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer). We warm it just a touch and it's a wonderful high-calorie treat for them. You can also take the warmed KMR and mix it into pate-style canned food -- makes a nice soupy consistency that they seem to like. Kitty comfort food!

Sending {{{{prayers and vibes}}}} out to Addie!! I'm sensitive, too - when I had my tubal ligation, I went in for surgery at 5:00 a.m and was scheduled for release at 8:00 a.m., but didn't rouse till mid-afternoon!! At the time, I was also underweight, so maybe the weight is indeed a factor.
I hope that Addies plumps up quickly. I can imagine how relieved you will be when she can finally have her surgery and all this worry will be behind you all. Kudos to your vet & vet team for knowing when to quit - I can still recall the horrible day here at TCS that TWO members lost their kittens during spaying, oh, such tragedy. If only they'd had a vet like yours

Sheba was a cat that my vets were concerned about her weight during her lifetime. She ate wet and dry food (and some human treats) but was always a skinny thing. I agree on using the KMR to add some extra calories to her diet.
Good luck.

I know at our shelter we have requested a differnt anesteshia (SP?) because we were aware that a cat was small.

Sending lots of vibes for you kitty, hope all goes well.

We're going to try her on the KMR. We bought her some wet food, but she just doesn't like it. So, we'll have to try other options.

ugaimes....Amy, is it?
It WAS scary when they first called, because at that point her bp and heartrate had only levelled off and weren't normal yet, but thank goodness it was me they called and not my boyfriend, because he's much more easily freaked out by medical information/trouble. I tend to be much more calm and detatched when it comes to evaluating those types of situations......I think it was all the first aid and emergency training I've done. I'm a very level head in a crisis!

Anyway, good news. Addie seems to be pretty much back to her old self and has even stopped hissing at everyone, so she's been able to play and interact with the rest of our zoo today. She was very snuggley last night when it was just she and I in the bedroom!

I am sorry for your scare, but I am glad to hear that she is alright..Sending many <<vibes>> for continued improving health and weight..

i'm so sorry, i'm glad that no 'damage was done'.......i didn't know there were different anesthesias for cats. . .i'll have to remember that because the last time stoli was under gas anesthesia, he was really really lethargic.....not so much for his bone marrow. . . .

poor addie!!! That's so scary.

I hope that the next appointment for the surgury everything goes well.

Have you discussed with your vet the use of ISO for a anesthetic? Some cats are very sensitive to Ketamine. ISO is more expensive but IMO is worth it. ISO is not hard on the liver and kidneys.

I had a abyssinian go in for a teeth cleaning and he died from the anesthetic that they gave him. It was Ketamine. I learned a very hard lesson in anesthetics that day.

Tommy didn't die that day, he suffered for 3 days in the vets office from this horrible anesthetic till he passed away in a cold cage. It was an heartbreaking experience. He kept going in and out of a coma type state.

I have my vet use only ISO on my cats and they come home the same day not all drugged up.