Reader: What Caused My CH Kitten To Become Vestibular For Days Post-Surgery?
Every so often, a reader will ask a question that leaves me scratching my head too. At times like those, I like to share their comment, in hopes that another reader out there can offer some advice and food for thought.
Photo courtesy notemily
The other day, Lesley, a certified vet tech, shared her story about what happened to her adopted CH kitten after a neuter and declaw surgery. I’ll let her tell the story:
“I’m a CVT in Tempe, AZ at an 11 doctor practice. I recently adopted a stray kitten with CH that was found in our parking lot. I asked every doctor there if they thought he was healthy enough for a neuter/declaw surgery, everyone agreed he was. His blood work and urine were both normal.
While under anesthesia, he did perfectly! He was very consistent with his heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, temperature, and his SP02 was 98-99 throughout the whole procedure. After surgery, he seemed to recover very well, until later on that night when I gave him his pain medication.
We gave the dose of oral buprenorphine, and about 5 minutes after he started becoming very vestibular, very freaked out, and “ketamine-like.” He was head-bobbing, disoriented, couldn’t stand, let alone walk, and was rolling around.
I called the doctor who did the surgery – he was baffled. I took him to work the next morning so a doctor could evaluate him. He was slightly better, but still disoriented and unable to stand. One of the veterinarians I work with said he has seen some cats get “vestibular” post anesthesia and one that lasted for 3 days.
He had surgery on Monday, and it’s Thursday and he is still head-bobbing, dizzy, and trying to walk but is rolling around. He is definitely better than the first night, but still not back to “normal.”
Prior to surgery, he showed very mild signs of CH – he would walk/run with mild wobbling, he wasn’t ever dizzy or disoriented, and he could jump into a litter box and play with the other cats easily.
I’m wondering if anyone else has had this reaction with their CH kitty post anesthesia or post pain medication. I’m worried he’ll never get back to his normal state, and he’ll be this vestibular for the rest of his life.
The doctors I work with are all split in their predictions – half think he’ll recover and just needs time to get any residual drugs out of his system, and the other half think he may stay this way.
Does anyone have any more experience with this?”
From my own experience combined with information from the CH Kitty Club, many of us believe that it is safe to use anesthesia on CH cats. That said, as with all animals with brain conditions, there are some things that need to be taken into consideration during and post-surgery.
I learned much of this first-hand, when nearly two years ago, we had Ellie spayed. She came through the surgery perfectly, and seemed like she wanted to rest and relax – until we brought her home.
Ellie at 4 months.
She then turned into a little firecracker – a ball of energy – that was exponentially more wobbly since the anesthesia hadn’t entirely worn off yet. Her moderate CH was amplified by the anesthesia. So, this moderate CH kitten who had a hard time walking without falling to begin with was literally bouncing off everything. We tried to confine her to a room so she could rest, but then she freaked out even more, jumping at the door.
I wonder if Lesley’s kitten went through something similar. Ellie’s anesthesia wore off by the next morning or so, but as one of Lesley’s coworkers mentioned, it could take up to a few days.
One of the turning points in Lesley’s story is when the kitten receives buprenorphine. I can’t imagine that would make him more “vestibular,” as Lesley puts it, as it’s a painkiller. But, perhaps the experience made him freak out? (Goodness knows many cats hate to be pilled.)
I also can’t help but wonder if some of his behavior changes are also due to the fact that her CH kitty is now declawed. Perhaps he’ll need time to adjust to living without his claws, but that may not be all that’s going on.
So, dear readers, if you have declawed your CH cat, did you notice a change in his abilities post surgery? Have you had any experience with buprenorphine? Or other experiences like hers? How did everything turn out? Do you have any advice you can offer?
Please share in the comments so we can help Lesley and her little CHer!
No real advice, but I think it’s a shame that this CH kitty won’t have his claws. If mine didn’t have claws, there is no way he’d be as mobile as he is today. I have had experience with several CH cats, and none has ever clawed the furniture. Water under the bridge at this point, I know. I hope this little guy gets better soon!
I think it’s a real shame about the declaw. I agree that it might make him less mobile, because he no longer has claws to grip things. Even non-CH cats can have issues with their paws after such a surgery. I can’t understand why a vet tech wouldn’t know not to declaw any cat, especially one with CH. But I don’t know about the vestibular problems.
My view on declawing is definitely split. On one hand, I totally agree with you guys that we shouldn’t declaw our indoor only kitties (or any kitties) and there are ways to deal with the clawing. But on the other hand, I would rather see a cat be declawed then thrown outside or left at a shelter because they were ruining furniture and the owner couldn’t handle it anymore. Regardless, my other cats all came to me pre-declawed and I only saw it fair that he be declawed as well. Trust me, I went back and forth on declawing him for many, many days before finally coming to this decision. Also, and I know this is common although still an excuse, my husband was very reluctant to keeping him with his claws. His thoughts are-if he’s allowing the cat to live with us, then he would prefer them to be declawed. He doesn’t make the rules of the house, but I do have an obligation to consider his wishes, too. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t declawed him because it was the only way he will have ever been able to get on our bed, although he has put many rips and tears in the furniture in such a short time of living with us (not that I’m the one who’s very upset about that :/).
So, I agree with you all about declawing, but in this field you’ve got to be somewhat open-minded and always able to see the good and bad to both sides, and if there is a chance the cat may not have a warm bed to sleep in at night, or is living in a steel cage and placed on the E-list, then living without claws has got to be a better option. If it were totally up to me and me alone, no cats would be declawed and no dogs would have cropped ears or docked tails. But we don’t live in Idealville!
I would not like this to become a discussion on whether or not declawing is ethically, morally, or conveniently right–but more about why my kitten is neurologically recovering so poorly from anesthesia. He’s adjusting quite well to not having his claws and is getting around perfectly fine now, aside from the neurological signs he’s presenting with. The issue is that he is showing vestibular signs. For instance, when he’s sitting still looking at me and I called his name, he turns his head completely 180 degrees from me. He does the same thing when I play with him with toys. He chases the toy for a short period of time, and then out of nowhere he turns his head backward completely. When he hears sounds, its almost like he can’t tell which direction they are coming from. As previously stated, he was not like this prior to surgery and it is coming up on 2 weeks post with only moderate improvement. Only now do I wish I would have taken better videos of him so I could show everyone the difference in his neurological or motor functions from then to now. I drew blood from him today to again test not only his CBC and chemistries, but also testing him again for FeLV/FIV (which he was previously negative for), and now adding FIP(coronavirus) and toxoplasmosis. The veterinarian who performed the surgery is going to call our lab and speak with a neurologist about Burton’s current status. Hopefully he can shed some light on this unfortunately predicament, or at least say that seeing a neurologist in person would be beneficial.
But as always, I would still appreciate hearing advice or ideas from everyone about previous experiences or similar post surgery episodes.
PS. I’ve also noticed that he sleeps an awful lot. Is this a typical trait for CH cats, or is this a sign that something else could possibly be going on? (He’s always been a pretty sound sleeper, but lately seems to be even more so.) Just a side note. As you can tell, I would qualify as one of those impatient, neurotic owners who would bring their human child into the clinic with every sneeze… :/ (At least that’s what I’ve been told…..) I try not to be that way, but I just want a plausible theory about my baby!
Lesley,
Thank you for your post. I understand your concerns and am not here to judge. What is done is done. Let’s move forward. What you have described is somewhat similar to what Michelle in our group has with PJ. It is as if she is autistic. PJ has not yet been completely diagnosed and will be starting some type of physical therapy. The neurologist has suggested an MRI which is something we will be doing potentially in Feb. I would not rule out that there are after affects from being declawed though. There is not much info on what they experience when a neurological kitty is declawed. Again, not judging
We would be very interested in what you find out and will pray it isn’t FIP as that has been the outcome for some of our members kitties.
Kindest regards,
Lisa
Lesley,
As Lisa said, my PJ is similar in presentation to this little one. She has not been spayed yet so hers is not related to anesthesia. However, he could have had a reaction to the anesthesia, Just as with humans, animals can be sensitive to almost anything including anesthesia. There is just no way to determine ahead of time if they will have a reaction. I have to say it is encouraging that there has been even a little bit of improvement. Sometimes it can take time for the anesthesia to be processed out of the body. The one thing I would recommend is to determine which kind of anesthsia was used and how it is processed out of the body (liver/kidney/etc). Then see if there is anything you can do to support that specific system to help encourage it to help process out the remaining anesthesia. For kidneys SQ fluids may help to encourage the processing. He may have something underlying that could have been brought to the forfront because of the anesthesia. I feel that PJ’s symptoms became more prevalent after her vaccine. Which she did have a reaction too.
As far as your question about sleeping alot both of my CH kids sleep a great deal. They spend so much of their energy to just get around.
I do hope he continues to improve. I sure hope that nothing points to FIP. I hate that disease with a passion.
Do keep us informed. We are here to support and offer encouragement and not to judge. But being human sometimes we fall short.
Hugs and healing energy being sent your way.
Michelle
I have to apologize that I didn’t get a chance to read your original post before I posted above. If I had I would have seen your background. I am sure alot of what I said you are well aware of. =) I do hope some of it can be useful. Michelle
I’m in the UK, and we generally don’t declaw cats here. I really think the loss of claws will be contributing to your cats increased wobbliness. Both of my CH cats rely on the traction available from claws when playing, moving and climbing onto sofas etc. Our home does look a bit shredded, but I’d rather they have the aid to mobility claws provide.
Sorry, I’m not judging you either – I can understand why you’d like him to be on a level playing field with your other cats. I missed seeing the previous comments which make the same point about traction. I hope your vet tests give you some helpful pointers as to what’s happened post-operatively.
Sad to Declaw. If more of this happens I suggest a cat behaviorist or a different vet.
Most of the blood work results are in, but the FIP and toxo screens are taking a little longer. Everything so far is looking pretty normal. Hopefully the results will be there tomorrow. I’ve been anxiously awaiting for them!
As for Burton’s symptoms, he’s still pretty much the same. He did finally jump into one of our “normal” litterboxes last night, so that was very encouraging. He had some trouble jumping out, but he did eventually make it on his own. (We use those Rubbermaid-type tubs with large holes in the lids.) He used them prior to surgery without any problems, so its still sad to see him struggle, but I’m glad he’s able to use them again. He seems to be more social tonight and has been following us around all day. His attitude is as sweet as ever–being very loving and affectionate today. He’s always been like that, though, but I’m glad it didn’t go away post surgery!
I feel like I’ve been describing his symptoms in a way that isn’t very clear. He isn’t wobbling around as if it were due to his claws being gone, he more seems to be dizzy or disoriented. For example, when its time to eat and he’s trying to focus on getting to his food dish, he looks at it and wobbles his head around and sometimes goes to the left or right of it as if he’s seeing double. When he is sitting very still, he seems to be able to focus better, but even then sometimes he wobbles his head around. I also feel like if I took a video of him now people may just say that he looks like any other CH kitty, but his symptoms were much, much less exaggerated prior to surgery.
Anyway, I appreciate everyone’s input, and thank you all for replying with constructive answers and suggestions!
So Burton’s test did come back positive for the 7b protein strain of coronavirus with a ratio of 1:160 (which is low, but still….) So I feel like he is exhibiting signs of the dry form of FIP. My vet seems to believe that he’ll still get better, but I’m a little skeptical at this point. Everything seems so cut and dry, and to me it seems like the reason he’s more vestibular now would be due to having FIP. Not sure if I should wait and see like my vet thinks or if I should continue with more testing and whatnot. If I have to put him down in a few months so he doesn’t suffer terribly, I’d like to know now. I feel like my vet may be sugar-coating this a bit so as not to hurt my feelings and stress me out. And since we work together, he has to hear all about it all the time from me…. ugh.