Sedation for blood test for an old cat?

My cat is 16 year old and I just had him for a year. Due to some trauma while he was young, he gets extremely aggressive at the vet. Last year we took him to the vet due to some diarrhea issue, the vet said he needs to be sedated before they can take any blood or urine sample.
I heard horror story about old cats won't wake up after sedation. I really do not wanna take that risk. So I collected the urine by free catching and the result came back no problem.
He has been constipated the last few days. I am debating about getting him to the vet. He is eating and drinking fine, still urinating, but sometimes do it outside the litter box.
Any thought or suggestion?

Is the vet talking about actual sedation as in anesthetic or just a shot to make him very drowsy?  If the vet is talking about some type of a tranquilizer I think that would be fine.  Senior cats do need to get blood work done on a fairly regular basis just to know where their organ function is at.

Thank you Denice! I will surely check with my vet. I know that he should be checked more often. Just that he is so old and got too stressed after vet's visits. I am torn between getting him healthier and giving him the extra stress ( which could in turn cause more health issues).

for constipation you can try canned plain pumpkin. you wont need much to get effects. it works for both diarrhea  and constipation. its in the baking aisle in the grocery store. you only need 1/2 to 1 teaspoon a day. some cats will lick it off the spoon or your finger. some cats HATE it.

I suggest putting some in a plastic container=add some water-whip it with a fork to pudding like consistency and see if he will lick it off your finger. if he does=that's the easiest way. some people add a tiny bit into their wet food and see if he will eat it that way if he doesn't like it.

or you can do it the way I do=I take a good fingerful and swipe it on the roof of the mouth and let them eating it. luckily my Pumps doesn't need more than a 1/2 tsp to get her pooping in 12 hours. My angel Floey took 24 hours to see effects.

He may have a bladder infection which could cause him to pee outside the box.

do you have feliway spray? some people have had good luck with the spray you use and spray the carrier down and yourself half an hour before departure time. Or take him for mini rides to show that its not always stressful.

I would really recommend getting another urine sample for them to check if it hasn't been checked in the past month-those infections are common in older kitties.

My angel Floey got a raging bladder infection in early July and we didn't catch it until 2 weeks went by. She didn't do the typical in and out the box behavior-she just held her pee as long as she could=and I didn't know it. So I would get him checked. its simple to treat but we need the urine sample.

also have the vet and techs spray felliway on themselves as well. Sometimes they get to be bears at the vet because of the strange smells and sounds.

My cat is younger but when I changed his food to a ground beef at one point he got constipation also. When I stopped that new food he stopped being constipated. I wondered if you have made any changes to his food lately? Also I learned that exercise can help with constipation. If it's possible even a few times a day of some extra activity helps get their system moving. 

And this is just me but my cat is super picky with his litter box and sometimes totally dumping the old litter, washing out the box and putting a few inches of fresh litter makes him so happy he goes poo right then. And even having an extra litter box can encourage them to go. The cats I had in the past weren't quite so picky as this one. 

At the vets is there any way you can hold him yourself while they draw the blood? Or is he too upset even that? Poor kitty. Is he the one in your picture? He's gorgeous! 

I have heard of pet trainers that work with cats on behavior. Though I guess that would take some time. I just wondered if he couldn't learn to be more relaxed more. I used to pay rent at this mans house and so sadly he died (he lived there with his 2 cats). Both were older and one was really fearful and spitting at me. It took awhile but I slowly got him to trust me and then he was fine and I just wondered if even you and a family member that your kitty knows could drive to the vet, just stay a few minutes (just in the waiting room) and then leave. And do that a few times to see if he would get more used to it. I've even seen an older cat get used to other cats. You might need to get his bloodwork done sooner but it was just a thought. 

I will leave all these 3's from my kitty who just came and sat on the keyboard wishing you both well. [emoji]9829[/emoji][emoji]9829[/emoji]

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hahaha that's cute! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

my angel Floey got better and better to handle the more times we did the vets and groomers. she used to spit and hiss. Then somewhere along the way she only growled. Maybe sedation would be easier on him in the beginning? Its hard to say.

Thanks for your input. That's my Lovely Nuinui in my profile picture. I love him so dearly.

He has been having constipation for a while and because I had him for just a year, I thought that was normal for cat! Until lately my pet store gave me sample of the Lotus chicken pate. His poop has been in perfect shape then I knew there was something wrong before. I am guessing it is the oil in the food that facilitate the bowel movement. He is a picky eater. Since his vet visit last Dec, his vet put him on hills K/D wet food and he refused to eat that unless I mixed that with some other chicken flavored canned food. He has been eating Wellness canned but his stools still hard and seems to me he was having a hard time passing them out. But since we changed to Lotus canned, he was doing very well. However, I found that his pee became very smelly and he has been peeing on the floor.

I will try the pumkin to help further with his digestion. Does anyone use probiotics for cat's digestive issues here? Want some advice on that too.

His vet appointment is this Saturday. Since he has not been well and loose some weight since Nov. I will let the vet take the blood sample this time. The nurse said they will not put him under but rather just make him drowsy.
The poor guy swallowed a needle when he was small and the previous owner did not have money to get a vet to properly sedate him and remove the needle. So she ended up going to SPCA and the vet removed the needle without sedatives! Poor kitty, I can relate his phobia to the vet.
Wish is good luck with the vet this time.

Sorry, forgot the explain why he has been constipated even with the new Lotus canned. I have one can of Merrick chicken pate left, so I thought I will let him finish this before moving to the full lotus + KD diet. But after finishing that Merrick can, he has been constipated since. My bad.......
We switched right back to lotus, but damage is done. I have been giving home hairball formula, hairball paste and lots of water hoping to help with his bowel movement and we got some yesterday! Hallelujah! Will monitor him for the next few days.

Update: the vet did not put him on General anesthetics. We got x-way and blood work done. He was not really constipated but he has an enlarged liver. Blood work also shown abnormal liver, pancreas and kidney readings. My poor boy. I have set up another link to gather other's experience. I hope he will be getting better and it is not something serious. I love him so much.