R.I.P. sweet Jessy (death from anesthesia)

[Kirsten]

Jessy was the cat of my mom's friend, as you can see, he was a big guy and really handsome. He was 13 years old and had a kidney disease all his life. I don't exactly what he had, but he was eating a diet food and did very well.

Last week his mommy brought him to the vet because he had problems with one hind leg and couldn't walk. He got an anesthesia to be x-rayed and also get his teeth cleaned at that occasion. The x-ray showed he had arthritis which could have been treated, so his mommy was relieved to hear that, but then, soon after he woke up from his anesthesia, he passed away. The vet said this was the first time it has happened to her.

I know that there is always a risk with anesthesia, but I wonder if his kidney disease would have been responsible for this. Maybe his kidneys weren't able to deal with the drugs in his blood? Otherwise, the vet knew about his disease, so she wouldn't have given him anesthesia for an x-ray shot, right?

However, my mom's friend is devastated now because she did what she thought was the best for Jessy and now he is dead.

R.I.P. sweet Jessy!



Kirsten

[Barbara]

RIP sweet Jessy. What a wonderful guy you are. May you play happily at Rainbow bridge with young legs.

Kirsten: it is possible that Jessy had a heart condition too. I have a friend who has to cats, the sisters Mona and Lisa. Lisa (8 years old) passed away in summer -coming in from outside, starting to cough and dying in less than 15 minutes.

It was a shock. After that she found out that Lisa died from a heart disease and Mona had it too. Mona now gets beta blockers but she will need a tooth cleaning soon and the vet informed my friend that there is a risk of death under anesthesia. As both cats were no teenagers anymore, you couldn't notice that they were a little slowed down or lazier - a cat can be like that and perfectly healthy.

I am so sorry for your mom's friend. The good thing is that not much suffering was involved.

[Kirsten]

Barbara, I'm sorry for your friend! How sad is that? Poor Lisa, RIP little girl!

If there is anything good in that, it is that that way they found out about Mona's heart disease and this has probably saved her life.

Sad thing is that in Germany, it's still not very common to have a regular heart check up, many vets still seem to think heart diseases are rare in cats. At least this is the impression I'm getting. When my Katz got very sick and weak at the age of 14, a heart disease has been diagnosed, but she was in a fatal state already. She passed away 9 days later.

And since my Luna is overweight and also a very lazy girl, I'm insisting on heart check ups at the vet's at least once a year, even though she's only three years old.

I'm worrying about the anesthesias though - especially since Lily will soon be spayed. I know they are necessary, but it's scary to think about the risks.

BTW, Luna's brother Baghira has been neutered today, and his mommy Miss Marple got spayed. I have just talked to their human mommy on the phone and Baghira is already awake, but has just puked. Poor boy!

Kirsten

[Barbara]

Oh good to hear about Miss Marple and Baghira.

Poor little boy -but he'll be ok in no time

And don't worry about Lily -she' ll be fine.

[Kirsten]

I will see them in an hour - helping their mommy to keep the Boxer pups away from the dizzy kitties!

I hope Lily will be alright then, I still think she looks too tiny for such a surgery! :eek Luna was much bigger when she got spayed, and she was only 5 months old!

Kirsten

[bisi.cat]

RIP sweet Jessy!!!
What a hansome black guy...I hope he now enjyos life at the Rainbowbridge being whole and happy again...

[Cataholic]

Kirsten,
I am sorry to hear of Jessy. He was a beautiful boy, and passed too soon. May your friend be comforted by knowing these things do happen, and it is still preferable to seek treatment, rather than not because of the 'risks'. RIP, Jessy.

[catmandu]

RIP Sweet Jessy , and soon you will be with all the Cat Angels , where they havea dinner , planned for you , with all of your favorite Food , and lots of Toys!RIP , Jessy.

[amoore]

That is awful ! Take a pet to the vet and it dies from your own good intentions !

[jazzcat]

How sad. What a beautiful cat Jessy was.

[Russian Blue]

Originally posted by Kirsten

I'm worrying about the anesthesias though - especially since Lily will soon be spayed. I know they are necessary, but it's scary to think about the risks.

I copied this from my new vet's website:

"All of our patients are anesthetized using Isoflurane gas anesthetic, the most modern gas anesthetic available today and widely used in human anesthesia. An important safety feature of Isoflurane is that it is eliminated from the body by simply exhaling. This reduces the amount of work organs such as the liver and kidneys perform in breaking down and eliminating drugs."

...................................

If you can, find out what type of anesthetic your vet uses for surgeries. When Nakita was spayed, they used Ketamine, and I will NEVER allow another vet to give that to her again. Thanks goodness she did recover.She was spayed at 10am and she didn't come out of the anesthetic till 8 am the next day!! When I went to see her she looked like she had brain damage the way she was acting. It was a horrible day for me since the vet even started to worry about Nakita's limited response!

I started researching Ketamine and found many stories of pets having severe problems with it. So please check with your vet and see if they can use Isoflurane for any future surgeries.

RIP Jessy.

[Kirsten]

Thanks everyone!

Russian Blue, OMG that is so scary about Nakita. It would have scared me to death! I'm glad she's okay and it was not as bad as it seemed!

I can ask my vet about that gas, but I never heard they use gas for animals here. I don't know if it' s that Ketamine stuff they're injecting here, but I'll try to find out. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Kirsten

[Steffi N]

How beautiful Jessy was. Its a pity he had to die under such circumstances. Please let your mother's friend know this was not her fault, these things do happen.
Rest in peace, Jessy.

It is good to know that safe anesthesia is available.

[Rooroo]

So sad, sorry to hear about Jesse obviously a very handsome kitty!

[CatDad]

RIP Jessy. I know that you are playing and at the rainbow bridge. He was such a handsome boy, I love black cats.

Please give my condolences to the mommy this is a tough time.

Just my own anesthesia story. At the age of 20 our RB flicka had to have a tooth extracted and the vet gave her a gas. The vet let me know that although the gas was very fast acting, there was still risk due to Flicka's age and her kidney problems. Well, I understood but that tooth had to come out. The vet took her and about 10 miutes later Flicka was done and already comming out from under the anesthesia. I know that the vet told me what it was but I have forgotten the name, sorry.

She was fine after that. My two have to go for teeth cleanings in January and I am definatly going to ask if gas can be used.

I think that the reason that the gas is not used alot is because it is so expensive. I seem to remember that is was not cheap, but I don't care if it is less of a risk.

Anyway, just something to ask about if it every you babies ever need to be put under.