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Stories from Bengal Owners about Ketamine Anaesthetic!!1. He had a BAD reaction to the Ketamine shot. When he came out of the anesthesia he started clawing at his face. I had to restrain him from really hurting himself. The vet gave him valium IV and it calmed him. In almost all cases it is very important to tranquilize the cats before giving Ketamine. Ketamine causes hallucinations. If they are pre-tranquilized they do still paw at their mouths but it is not so frantic. Animals that are agitated when going under are agitated coming out. I have had kittens spayed and neutered early for 4 years and had not seen the violent reaction as you described until last night when I was helping my vet send cats home after surgery. One girl did have a very stressed wake up period. Because she was so nervous at the vet's we were guessing the adrenaline caused her to burn off the tranquilizer faster before the ketamine. Ketamine is better if not used alone. ------- 2. At behavior seminars, it has been pointed out that 20% of all cats will spray... male and female, whole and altered. The difference lies in some do it to be attractive to the opposite sex, some do it to make a territory "their own" and some do it for a variety of reasons. The main reason cats end up in shelters is the marking problem... so as breeders, we need to consider long and hard what it means when one of our cats ends up spraying... and help people to minimalize the possibility. Altered cats often spray or squat, the idea is the same. Cat spray is simply urine... the idea of spraying is to make the highest mark possible showing the world "I am the biggest and toughest around!" Early spay and neuter is thought to help, but has not been proven definitively to my knowledge, though it is a logical step and is well worth the effort. A neutered male in a home with yowling females, might be tempted to try masculine behavior... after all the adrenal glands continue to produce hormones..... so.... ------ |
3. My folder had always stated "isoflorane only" for any of my cats undergoing surgery for whatever reason, not to allow the use of Ketamine. Re: Ketamine: After the near death experience I had from Ketamine the doctors told me it was like a "BAD LSD TRIP." Why they used it on me was because they said having to lie on the stomach in surgery can affect breathing and it was believed Ketamine would have eased that problem. Instead it left me in a deep coma for seven days in hell. And it cause serious permanent damage to my brain waves which has left me an insomniac. And for the three months after surgery, I convulsed. I cannot believe that the public has been denied this info for so many years. But then how many other drugs are used that are known to kill and are still on the public market and prescribed by doctors regularly?? A friend was given chemo for lymphoma, which is a known drug for destroying muscle, heart, and connective tissue. It blinded her. And it is still being used. How many of our animals have suffered from treatments that have hurt them? Sometimes the medical treatments are as challenging or even worse than the illnesses. --------- 4. XXXX..... many thanks for writing the list and informing them of the abreaction your little one suffered from the Ketamine. I had a similar experience. I took one of our male Bengal kittens in to be neutered last year they gave him pre-anesthesia Ketamine before the surgery then gave him Gas on the table during the procedure. well when we picked him up at 4 pm, (surgery was at 9 am and we had to have him in by 7 am) he was so crocked he was rolling like a ball he was so out of it. They told us to keep him in a safe quite place. All the way home in the car he was thrashing and rolling in the carrier he was hitting his head so bad I was afraid of brain damage. So I pulled over and took him out and tried to drive and restrain him at the same time. Not an easy task. Anyway, got him home and put him in a small room, I heard nothing but bang, bang, bang as he rammed into every object in the room making mad dashes or tries to stand up and run. he actually bloodied his nose and forehead from hitting objects. I called my vet who said it will wear off, he needs fluids to flush it thru his system. I said there is no way this cat is going to even know that there is water or food in front of him because he can't even control one movement. It was horrible to watch. My kids were crying and I was upset. Like you, I have NEVER seen this reaction to anesthesia. I was a good 3 to 4 days before he was back to his good ole self. Dear XXXXX.... I nearly died from Ketamine when it was given to me as an anesthesia. 7 days in profound coma. Seriously and dangerously hurt by this drug. Did not know it was used on animals. Lucky kitten he had you for a protector. I wish you had been with me when they nearly took my life with Ketamine. You are a very good kitty mom. -------- |
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5. The Anesthesia used was Ketamine, and apparently young kittens are very sensitive to the dosage. I think that the Isofluorane that most vets currently use is much safer as they don't get a fixed injection, but rather it's a gas they breathe. Someone should do some research and write an article for the Bulletin. Heather would probably really appreciate it. My vet has used Ketamine on my early spay/neuter kittens for 4 years. It is very important to tranquilize them before the Ketamine and I know other drugs are used with it. The problems described on the list have not happened to my or the kittens she does. She is a spay/neuter clinic and does between 8 to 12 a day. When they come out they do paw at their mouths a little bit--none of the frantic and self destructive ways that have been described on the list. Maybe some of these vets need to get out their med. books and reread their anesthesia protocols? -------- 6. According to my
vet, and I printed and showed her some of that thread (names --------- 7. Hi, I am
coming out of lurk mode to set down a few facts about Ketamine.
For those who have had problems either with their kitties or
personally, I am truly sorry. But as all of you know,
there are no perfect drugs/medications/anesthetics out there.
Nothing is totally innocuous. --------- 8. I am sure that
most of you can do a search on the net about Ketamine.
Here is some of the sites that I found. Also, Ketamine is
used as a intra-muscular, pre-operative relaxant. -------- |
| 9. Since this has come up, I am going to share
some experiences with anesthetics and cats. Mr. Claws, my older
neutered male Bengal seemed to stumble around confused for hours
after having gone under anesthetic. it always made me feel
uncomfortable, because it reminded me of how I've seen animals
act after an epileptic seizure. then Jitterbug had one Bengal
kitten with a dip in her back. I decided on the advice of
several people to have her x-rayed to see if there was anything
wrong. she had to go under anesthetic for this, so she would lie
perfectly still. when I went to pick her up in the afternoon
after having to leave her half the day, (the usual occurrence
with general anesthetic) I could hear a cat screaming non-stop
from the parking lot. it was her. they said she had been doing
that since she woke up. I never heard anything like that from
her before or after. they tried everything to comfort her, but
she didn't quiet down until she was in my arms. (boy were they
glad to see me!) even then, if I tried to put her in the
carrier, or stopped petting or talking to her, she started
screaming again. then something else odd happened. I was
standing near a computer printer when it suddenly started. she
almost jumped out of my arms trying to get away. I had to hang
on to her for dear life. it was similar to the printer I have at
home, and I always had to pull her away from mine when it
started, because she tried to chase the paper through, and I was
afraid she would get a paw or her tail caught in the rollers.
what does that stuff do to these animals to make them act so
strange and make them suffer so?
I have a new vet, now. she uses isoflourane gas exclusively. the first experience I had with this stuff was when I took Jitterbug and Mr. Claws in to be blood typed. they had to shave their necks and take a large amount of blood from the juggler veins. my new vet wanted to put them out for this. I was reluctant, but then I thought of them going through all that and the dangers of sticking a big needle in the neck of a squirming, screaming Bengal and decided it would probably be best. my cats were brought back in minutes, not hours or half a day. they were fresh, alert and bright-eyed as though they had just awoke from a cat nap. I am very pleased with isoflourane. it is administered by putting a little mask over the cat's nose instead of an injection and seems to do its job effectively, and seems to allow them to recover very quickly and easily. this is particularly valuable for animals that have serious health problems, such as heart or kidney disease, that would make the normal anesthetic life threatening. talk to your vet. do some research. it's worth looking into. Since I wrote that, I found some info on ketamine. this is the website. http://units.ox.ac.uk/departments/anaesthetics/wfsa/html/u04/u04_010.htm Here's another quote from another site. Ketamine is a racemic mixture containing equal parts of S-(+)-ketamine and R-(-)-ketamine. Their potency relation is approximately 4:1. In early human studies S-(+)- ketamine was presumed to produce the desired anaesthetic effects and R-(-)-ketamine the undesired psychic emergence reactions. Therefore, ketamine was compared in a number of randomized studies in volunteers and patients with racemic ketamine. This review addresses the impact of S-(+)-ketamine on recovery from anaesthesia, incidence and content of vivid dreams, and other side effects. The dose relation applied in the studies was 1:2. With only one exception, the recovery phase was clearly shorter after S-(+)-ketamine compared to racemic ketamine irrespective of its application as a single bolus, a bolus followed by continuous infusion, or an intramuscular injection. However, the incidence of psychic emergence reactions was lower after S-(+)-ketamine in only a single study. In conclusion, S-(+)-ketamine should be always combined with a hypnotic or sedative drug in clinical anaesthesia. So, it appears that a number of vets do not administer it correctly--either do not bother to combine it with the medication that is supposed to counteract the "psychotic inducing" effects or don't use the correct proportions. I also read an article that compared this drug to angel dust. if anyone doesn't remember that stuff, druggies used to sprinkle it on pot or parsley or whatever and smoke it back in the seventies. then they would go around doing weird stuff, like babbling a bunch of nonsense, becoming out of control and violent, or doing swan dives out of 20-story windows. now do you remember? Here's something else I found. You'll like this, too: EFFECTS:
In addition it is also used as a date-rape drug. (how awful!) it is commonly used on children having dental work done. lovely. now the good news: Sevoflurane comes to SCVEC In order to offer our critical patients the safest anesthetic protocol possible, SCVEC is adding in a Sevoflo vaporizer. This latest generation gas anesthetic has a much wider margin of safety than even the very safe Isoflourane we are currently using. We will be able to choose between which anesthetic we want for each patient-- giving us the ability to reserve the very expensive but safer Sevoflo for the critical patients that need it the most. -------- Q. I would appreciate if someone can give me some details on why the anesthesia Ketamine sometimes causes severe reactions and even death in some kittens/cats? Does it cause problems in mixed breeds or is it that Bengals and perhaps other purebreds are more sensitive to it? Any info on this matter would be greatly appreciated and forwarded to a customer. Here's the combination used for the neuter on the 5 month old male which caused the severe reaction: They used Zylazine (2 mg.) as a sedative; then Ketamine to put him under; then Isoflourane as maintenance. Please advise me as to why this combination is dangerous and what combination is the safest? Thanks, ------- A1. avoid - ketamine. prefer - isoflourane ------- A2.My vet has used Ketamine for over 300 spay/neuters for me not to mention shelter cats she does. She has never lost one of mine or the shelter cats using this. It should not be used alone but it is very safe when used properly. I just had 7 kittens done at 10 and 11 weeks today and all were up and around by the time I came to the computer room. --------- A3. You are correct. Generally, ketamine is safe but, if a cat is going to have a reaction typically it will be to ketamine thus making Isoflourane the anesthsia of choice - even the majority of Veterinary references re ESN advise the use of Iso. ------- A4.
Here's a
good site to read : http://www.cpb.uokhsc.edu/ojvr/0700.htm A5. And another : http://www.wakeywakey.com/drugs/ketamine/effects.htm A6.
That was an
interesting site. At last I have a few facts
straightened out in my head about this drug (I hope). Strange isn't it, how two countries can be so different in the results. Perhaps you mix it in different qualities over there (in America)?
Last Updated: 7 September 2001 |
