Long term effect of anaesthetic on old cat?

[Akkalia1]

My Birman who's 17 went in for a procedure under anaesthetic in January (needed bowels emptying as he'd got very constipated - a long running problem which he gets lactulose for). The procedure went well and although they picked up a heart murmur prior to the procedure, he was very stable under anaesthetic, came out of it fine and no heart murmur was detected after. Probably was present due to stress and not feeling well beforehand. He's been much better in the bowel respect since returning after increasing his lactulose!

However when he returned the day of the procedure he was a little off balance and twitchy, which I'm sure is to be expected, but it's sort of remained that way. It's not been major and otherwise he's been fine, happy and eating as normal. But when he has a scratch he'll sometimes wobble over a little and be set off balance when he shakes his head, he generally seems less coordinated. He's also retained the twitch, it's like he gets little startles at small things.

On Saturday he had a seizure, never had one before to my knowledge. It was about a minute or two long and he came out of it ok and was basically fine for the rest of the day although I was a nervous wreck waiting for another one. Vet said to bring him in today for checks. Checked over, pronounced ok, bloods taken. He had bloods done in January though and was said to be a very healthy cat for his age and he had heart checks which were also clear. So I'm not really expecting much of note. Vet said basically to just see how he goes and gave us something to give him to bring him out of a fit if he wasn't coming round himself. Didn't say anything about his odd behaviour since anaesthetic.

Has anybody any experience with any of these issues? Specifically any cats that have seemed to be a bit affected by anaesthetic? Or seizures in general, can they just be one off things?? He was due to have a teeth clean which vet said needed done and and so was my other Birman who is the same age, but I was already a bit concerned about another anaesthetic and now I'm even more so. Of course it could all be coincidence, but he showed none of the off balance and twitchy behaviour before. Any thoughts appreciated

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

My vet pointed out general anaesthetic potential problems when they wanted my 17year old cat to have teeth scaled. Liver problems..reduced kidney function etc so as he was able to eat...all the time...I decided not to have the procedure done and hopefully keep his internal organs functioning for longer.

 

[Akkalia1]

My vet pointed out general anaesthetic potential problems when they wanted my 17year old cat to have teeth scaled. Liver problems..reduced kidney function etc so as he was able to eat...all the time...I decided not to have the procedure done and hopefully keep his internal organs functioning for longer.

Having spoken to my vet again when they gave me the blood test results (which were ok) that's the conclusion we came to. I'm just not sure it's worth the stress of an anaesthetic. No more seizures yet so fingers crossed he remains well for a while yet.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Fingers crossed Akkalia1.

 

[honetpot]

I have an old cat and I have a dilemma, he is eating, peeing and pooping, but he is lame but has no apparent injury, heat or swelling. I know the vet will say x-ray, but apart from being lame, he jumps on the worktop no problem, I do not want him to have sedation. It was all so much easier in the past, they would just give them some prednisolone, and something for the pain, my supposedly dying cat lasted another three years with the magic shot of prednisolone and no further treatment. I have already avoided a dental clearance for him, he eats fine, he is just old.

 

[Redders]

Honeypot, while x- rays are useful, I have seen many an older cat where the owners don’t want to go for any investigations that need sedatives but just want to make them comfortable for the rest of however many days they have. I have a full discussion about using NSAIDS at a lower dose without having kidney blood tests, discuss pragmatic treating when no firm diagnosis, and QOL monitoring, there are other analgesics that can be used too. The last cat like this who came to see me was 17, owners didn’t want to do diagnostics but just wanted him comfortable for his limited time left. We had a lovely long chat, and Cat went home with 2 types of analgesia and had 6 more months ‘as if he was a new cat’, which was wonderful, and the owners were brilliant at keeping an eye on his comfort and QOL.
It’s also worth the vet having a good old feel because it could be something simple like a nail/pad issue, small cut on leg etc which may be a very fix.

 

[Boulty]

Every anaesthetic carries risks at any age in any animal (although obviously they are greater with an older animal). If all bloods are normal I wonder if he's had an adverse reaction affecting his brain function perhaps (eg sometimes if they're not ventilating as well as they could be during either the procedure or recovery this can reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the brain or if their blood pressure drops too low it can affect perfusion to various organs, especially if his heart function isn't 100%). Not saying that your vets have done anything wrong, just that yes there are known risks with every anaesthetic, just a case of weighing up the risks & everyone doing the best they can to manage them as much as possible. Can totally understand you being hesitant for him to have another anaesthetic, I guess it would depend on how bad his teeth actually are & whether they are likely to be causing him discomfort & affecting his ability to eat / current QOL (if the answer is yes then it likely would be worth doing, if just trying to prevent a problem further down the line then may be worth delaying)

 

[SOS]

Some valid points above. Just please remember an animal won’t stop eating until it’s in a lot of pain. They know they must eat to survive... if they stop eating due to pain then they would rather not survive. Please don’t put an animal in that position, if you have ever had dental pain it’s all consuming and horrible. Cats are really good at hiding pain so if you trust your vet that the dental is essential then I would have another think.

I also don’t believe animals just act old for no reason and not because they are in low level pain. Ask your elderly relatives how comfortable it is getting up and down off a chair. They are probably on some sort of medication. If a cat is showing it’s age it probably needs some support to help it not be in chronic pain. We see cats with arthritis all the time that improve greatly with pain relief and become kittens. Or skinny older cats that are hyperthyroid and when managed on medication get a new lease of life and gain weight.

Im a vet nurse and I have not seen any animals develop seizures as a direct effect of an anaesthetic. As a previous poster mentioned the anaesthetic can be slow to metabolise in older animals but not months long. But unfortunately with biology you never quite know how the body will react. I hope you find a solution.

 

[Akkalia1]

Thank you everybody for your input! Thankfully he remains ok at the moment and is his normal self, aside from the wee wobbles and startles!

It's hard to decide as one vet obviously said both their teeth need done but the other vet said as long as they were eating happily she probably wouldn't if they were her cats. They are eating absolutely fine, although I take note that they are good creatures at hiding pain. The other cats teeth look worse to my eye than the wobbly one. They are both running around the house and jumping up on surfaces and showing no outward signs of general unhappiness, in fact in the last year or so they seem to have had a new lease of life. And the vets commented that for his age his bloods are remarkably good. It's such a hard decision. They've had their teeth cleaned twice in the past and I suspect with their ages this would be the last time, but well the anaesthetic really worries me, even more so now.

I absolutely don't think anythings been done wrong, but his behaviour only started straight after the anaesthetic, which is why I wondered if maybe there'd been some effect on his brain, or maybe it brought something to the fore that was lurking there anyway. But obviously it's not a documented issue.

Gosh, older animals are hard! And I've had these cats since kittens, they mean a lot to me, making the right decision is tough.

 

[Kay Burton]

I have not encountered such a problem. My cats had anesthesia once in their life at a young age when they were spayed. There were no side effects. As I understand it, this is not your cat's first anesthesia? Maybe the drug really affected the nervous system and because of this, the animal has seizures.