I wish this day would just be over and tomorrow would get here already. Today was a bit hard for us. Little Kojak almost died today
This morning i took him in to the shelter with me for our spay/neuter day so that he could be fixed. Everything started off normally- i sedated him, vaccinated him, microchipped him, then shaved him and preped him for surgery. (i'm a vet tech, so i'm used to fixing up all the animals so that they're ready when the vet starts on them). The surgery went well actually- just a routine neuter...nothing out of the ordinary. Post op was a different story altogether. We fixed him right before i took my lunch break (i was planning on taking him home on my break if he had woken up by then) however - since he had not woken up yet- i left him there for my coworkers to keep a close eye on him. (sometimes cats take a while to wake up after surgery because we give them their sedation/meds in their muscles rather than in their veins like you would a large dog for instance) an hour later when i had got back from lunch he still wasn't awake. (he had been asleep almost an hour before i had left for lunch- so when i got back it had been 2+ hours. I asked the other staff if they thought he was ok and they said to give him a little longer to wake up.(by this time the vet had gone for the afternoon as everyone was fixed). An hour and a half later- he started breathing weird and his gums went very very pale (NOT a good sign). So we gave him smelling salts/ammonia- still no response. We waited a little longer to see if he'd wake up- Nothing. By that time my coworker rushed in and gave him an injection (i'm not sure what it was
) to counter the affects of the sedative. We gave that some time to kick in (it takes a while for it to get into their systems) and put him on oxygen. I held the oxygen mask on him for almost an hour off and on. Thank goodness the injection finally started to work by then and he started to respond a big with us trying to shake/stimulate him awake. He FINALLY woke up almost 5 hours later- but my little guy almost didn't make it today. I have never been more freaked out.
It really scared me- i'm soooo used to spay/neuters- we do hundreds of them....without ever having a problem. I never would have tought my little guy would have one. We're guessing that he had a reaction to the sedative or something that he was given. So in the future if he needs any medical work done that requires him to be under anestesia- all future vets will be informed of this to try and prevent a repeat of today. Gosh though- i'm just frazzled at the moment. I'm sooo greatfull that he started breathing normal again and woke up. I would have been devestated had he not. He's starting to recover a bit- he's locked up in our guest bathroom at the moment with really soft litter (so it won't harm his incision site) and a nice warm bed/heating pad. He threw up a little bit when i tried to slowly introduce some food/water to him a little while ago- so i will be holding off on that a little longer till his tummy settles down. I am just soo greatfull my little man wound up being ok- i about had a stroke when all this happened. (To make it worse- i was at work so i still had a ton of other animals to care for). On top of this- we had to put down two dogs today- both puppies- they had a horrid case of Parvo
So we've had to bleach out/disinfect the entire dog run (that's a massive job!) And the drama didn't end at work. When i brought Kojak in this morning to be altared- i also brough in my 3-4 week old kittens with me for the vet to do a little vet check on them- she told me to take them to the vets office after i got off work and have them tested for FIP!
I about freaked out- that can spread extremly quickly and can kill. So after work, when i got Kojak settled in at home- i took a litter of my kittens to the other vets office to be seen about- supposedly they are "ok" and it's just a nourishment thing (they were severely malnourished when i first got them- so i've been steadily trying to get them back to health) the vet said i'm doing everything right for them and that they should be better soon- good news!
/ So yea- can we say DRAMA today
All this chaos makes me do bad things- lol i stopped by Sheridans (milk shake place) on the way home and got a drink - not good as i'm lactose intolerant- but hey, sometimes a girl needs a milkshake after a day like today!
/ Could ya'll please keep little Kojak in your prayers that he keeps improving tonight and has no other setbacks- i'm watching my little man like a hawk. I'm going to fix him some baked chicken/rice tonight or whenever he can keep food down. I'm also going out in a few minute to buy him a nice new kitty bed- he deserves it! I feel soo aweful about today
I would have never had him fixed today if i knew he was going to have that reaction- but you just don't know until it happens
Thank goodness though- the staff there with me is wonderful and helped keep him going. I am soo stressed out after all this- but i'm trying to remind myself what a blessing it is that he made it and is ok.
