Why is my cat having seizures after dental surgery and anesthesia?

In my experience it is not common, although possible, to have seizures after anesthesia and surgery. However there are many diseases that can cause seizures. Many of them are unrelated to surgery and could be coincidentally be causing your dogs's seizures. Some medications are such as ketamine, acepromazine,and related compounds are known to contribute to seizure potential. It is possible, but fairly rare, that something related to the surgery, anesthesia, or medications precipitated the seizures. You should keep looking into these things with your vet and consider referal to a veterinary neurologist if you and/or your vet are still concerned.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry to hear about Gin. Seizures is a potential side effect of general anesthesia, usually related to blood pressure drop and not adequate oxygen supply to the brain while a patient is asleep. It is often a self-limiting side-effect, so many animals will stop having seizures within a few days after general anesthesia. However, persistent, life-long seizures are also possible. It would be worth to discuss with your local vet using phenobarbital for Gin (this medication prevents seizures while diazepam only stops seizures when they occur). Also, brain MRI should be considered if the seizures are frequent and severe. Good luck. I hope Gin will fully recover soon.

If your vet is not comfortable with performing anesthesia on your pet, ask for a referral to a veterinary neurologist. Jodie may need to start medication for her seizures if they are becoming more frequent, and the neurologist can help you with that and also help discuss risk vs benefit for a dental. Denta disease and broken teeth are extremely painful, and should be addressed if the neurologist thinks it is safe. A veterinary anesthesiologist can also be recommended to perform the anesthesia during the dental if needed. In the meantime, keep a seizure log to monitor what is happening, and if Jodie has a seizure lasting more than 5 minutes take her to the emergency hospital, as this can be dangerous.

I am sorry to hear about Barney. A seizure shortly after the surgery can be related to either recent anaesthesia (and for example some degree of brain injury from the anaesthetics) or to the surgery (for example a blood clot could travel from the surgical site to the brain and produce seizures). Anaesthetic-related seizures often will get better by itself, and in many instances after 4-5 days the dogs are back to normal. Blood clot is often a more serious complication and only MRI or CT can given the answer of the extend of the damage to the brain.

It is a little unusual for seizures to happen during a sleep cycle, but if she seems disoriented after waking up this is probably what is happening. In a cat Cassie's age I would worry that the seizures are due to a primary brain disease and not something more benign like epilepsy. Kidney disease, liver disease, or hypoglycemia can also cause seizures but it would be less likely for Cassie to act like her normal self in between seizure episodes. Infections, some inflammatory diseases or cancer would be most common. Regardless of the cause of the seizures anti-epileptic drugs can sometimes help control the frequency and severity of the seizures, but if the underlying disease is not treated at some point the seizures will progress. I would recommend seeing your veterinarian to discuss testing and treatment options.

Hello, sorry to hear about Minou. General anesthesia and it’s associated side effects can last up to 72 hours in pets especially older pets. I am not surprised that he seems still a little more quiet after his procedure and would allow him up to 72 hrs to recover from anesthesia. You can offer probiotics but they may not be necessary at this time. If he continues to be under the weather or if he is becoming more lethargic, does not want to eat or has other clinical signs such as vomiting and diarrhea then have you veterinarian examine him again. Otherwise, Minou may just need a little longer to recover from his procedure. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Poor kitty. It is very likely the seizure was due to a buildup of toxins when she was obstructed with the toy. If she hasn’t had a seizure for over 2 years now since, then I would say she is likely going to be ok health wide in that regard. I would ask if she had any other seizures since then, and if no, then it is likely not a concern moving forward. : ) Best of luck with deciding on adopting Nellie going forward. Take care.