Post anaesthetic cough/wheeze

catsmother

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My baby boy went to be castrated on tuesday.

It's a fairly quick op and he was given Isoflurane anaesthetic. Since the op he's had a gurgle/wheeze in his lungs, which clears if he coughs, then starts again a while later. Although it's improving gradually, it's 4 days now.

The vet said he had no tube down his throat, and was fine during the op. She's given him antibiotic cover "in case this inflammation leads to infection".

Does anyone else have experience of chesty coughs/wheezing in post-op cats? I've had many cats and this is the first time this has happened

catsmother
 

spiritedstef

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I'm sorry to hear that you are having these problems. Poor baby. I've not had this happen with a cat, but I've had various surgeries myself. They always make me breathe really deeply and cough after the anesthesia because there's a risk of pneumonia, I believe. I'm not sure, that's why I figured they did it. I would definitely get a chest xray.
 

xxpunkkittenxx

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If it's something like that, i would definately go to your vet. It could be something from the anestetic, and he is just recovering from it still ( could be?- maybe not...) or he may have caught something from the rest of the hospital. Upper resperatory spreads like a wildfire, and if you are coming down with slight to severe cold symptoms, chances are you caught it from your kitty... still... go to the vet, or call and ask what it could be...
 

plebayo

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Upper resperatory spreads like a wildfire, and if you are coming down with slight to severe cold symptoms, chances are you caught it from your kitty... still... go to the vet, or call and ask what it could be...
Ummm.. I don't think you can catch URI's from cats.

Does anyone else have experience of chesty coughs/wheezing in post-op cats? I've had many cats and this is the first time this has happened
If he had been tubed I would say it's normal... but since he wasn't I would have him looked at. The ISO could have done something depending upon how long he was under, but the anesthetic is really safe. Did they just tank him down, if not whatever they gave him as a preanesthetic could have caused some kind of a reaction.

I would have him checked out just because that is odd behavior.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by xXPunkKittenXx

If it's something like that, i would definately go to your vet. It could be something from the anestetic, and he is just recovering from it still ( could be?- maybe not...) or he may have caught something from the rest of the hospital. Upper resperatory spreads like a wildfire, and if you are coming down with slight to severe cold symptoms, chances are you caught it from your kitty... still... go to the vet, or call and ask what it could be...
She didn't say she was coming down with anything.


Also URI's do not spread between our species, i.e., cats and humans.
 

spiritedstef

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Originally Posted by catsmother

My baby boy went to be castrated on tuesday.

It's a fairly quick op and he was given Isoflurane anaesthetic. Since the op he's had a gurgle/wheeze in his lungs, which clears if he coughs, then starts again a while later. Although it's improving gradually, it's 4 days now.

The vet said he had no tube down his throat, and was fine during the op. She's given him antibiotic cover "in case this inflammation leads to infection".

Does anyone else have experience of chesty coughs/wheezing in post-op cats? I've had many cats and this is the first time this has happened

catsmother
I was checking the Merck Veterinary Manual for pneumonia since that's what ultimately killed my kitty a few days ago.
Anyway, I came across this sentence, which made me think of your situation: "A history of recent anesthesia or severe vomiting indicates the possibility of aspiration pneumonia". Not to scare you or anything, but definitely ask your vet about pneumonia - it's pretty awful.
 

lili2008

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Hi there!

I have two cats which were under anaesthesia for dental care 3 days ago.

One called "Lumi" he has "productive" cough (productive by noise), I am quite worried, because his mom died because of a bacteria on lungs...(also very strange story as my cats are living in the appartemnt and never went out or elsewhere.)

So I called the vet, she told me that's it's normal, he had a tube and he should be fine in few days. But it's still the same. It doesn't happen often, it's not like he is coughing all the time. He also womits once in a day, I don't know if it's because he eats fast or there is something else. He did that also before the op. The vet told me that it was because of his teeth, he had pain and couldn't chew properly, so he couldn't digest it. Now his teeth should be OK and he womits anyway. Otherwise he is very playfull and super crazy boy, he eats well and would like to play 24/7.

Then I have a girl called Minka. She is the most anxious cat ever, but also very loving toward to me. She had her teeth cleaned 3 times already before and she was always fine, almost no sign she was on anaesthesia. This time is very very different. Already she was meowing when I collected her at the vet. Then at home she was tired, but otherwise relatively fine. Next day, she still didn't eat, just drink. She has the same body  "texture" as my dear Lili (+Nov11). Not sure if you ever carried a very sick cat, it's a different body, not the same "tonus". I called the vet, again, it's normal, a cat can be little bit "killed" like that et blah-blah-blah; just basically saying "Don't come here, anyway we don't care". When I mentionned that a cat cannot be without food more then 2-3 days because of the fatty liver, she didn't even know.

Minka couldn't open her eyes, when I looked at closer, she had only that white part of the eye.

So yesterday I went with her to the emergency vet, very nice people, very carring, I think I will switch for my current arrogant veterinarian. It was very helpful that they were both (the vet and his aid/help) so nice to me and to Minka. For the first time I feel that somebody cares and I am not just stupidly panicking. So he gave her IV under the skin, antibiotics and some antiinflamatory drugs. Told me that tomorrow (so today) it should be better. I don't know if it's better. She ate this morning, this is very positive sign. But she is still looking very sick, like she would like to hide somewhere and sleep. Now I don't know what to do. The vet (the nice one) told me that if it doesn't go better I should go to the vet to check her up.

Is it going better enough to not go? Or should I go anyway?

Definitely I am changing the vet. The one I have is good to pull the money from you, I thought that they would at least care. Not in the slightest. Also I am suspecting; she had a vaccination on Monday and Tuesday they took her for the teeth under anaesthesia... Maybe it was too much for her? They should have know, they should have adviced to postpone it. No, they saw only the money and didn't care about the animal.

Sorry for my long story, I needed it.

Hopefully for you guys, you will never experience the same.

Take care

e
 
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2kats

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Hello while I know this post is ages old, did you find out what the problem was? I have the EXACT same scenario here.
 
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