My cat needs a tooth extraction. Is anesthesia safe for stressed cats?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I think you are between a rock and hard place. I would find a Vet comfortable with Harley's kidney disease and is fast with dental extractions. Specialists aren't always the fastest at removing teeth. Sometimes the general practitioner is quicker and what Harley needs is to NOT be under anesthesia for 3 hours. Your Vet may just not feel comfortable with the severity of his teeth, his age and underlying kidney disease. Who and how they monitor anesthesia is also important. For the sake of his kidneys they need to be sure his blood pressure is stable and doesn't drop too low. I think you can have his teeth done, but there is risk due to his age and kidney disease but you don't have much choice at this point. I would find someone with in your budget that feels comfortable and you need to be willing to accept the risks and go for it. I wish you the best!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Cats with FIV can live a very long and healthy life! If he has dental disease and needs teeth removed I recommend doing it. The dental shouldn't cause progression of his FIV and will likely improve his quality of life. Leaving diseased teeth in the mouth of an immunocompromised animal isn't good either! i hope this helps!

Hi there. I agree having her teeth cleaned it’s a good idea especially if she has tartar buildup.I would start by having your veterinarian run some general bloodwork to make sure her organ function is good and if everything looks good and her heart is healthy and anesthesia is very safe. Having bad dental health can be more detrimental in the long run and getting this taken care of would be a great idea. Also make sure that wherever you have her teeth cleaned has full monitoring devices and that they do intravenous fluids during the procedure. This is a standard safety measure and you want to go somewhere that has that available. Hope that is helpful and have a wonderful day.

If his heart and lungs sound normal with no murmurs and his blood work is other unremarkable (testing liver, kidneys and blood sugar), then most people are willing to pursue anesthesia still to help him. IF there are abnormalities in these areas, they can still anesthesia, however, they often may use different medications to accommodate those problems. It is very common for cats of that age to get sedated for procedures though.

We sometimes do anesthesia multiple times on animals in just a few days or weeks. That is not abnormal. I can never tell you that she will be fine to have anesthesia again after 5 days. No one can tell you that. As long as they are hydrating her (putting her on IV fluids during the procedure) though, I would not be overly worried. Anesthetics we use are the same as in human medicine (in most cases) and are very safe. If she is eating better and you want to wait a couple weeks that may be an option. You should voice your concerns to your vet and go from there. They may agree with you that since she is eating better maybe she can wait a couple weeks. They may have a reason they want the procedure done so quickly. I don't have enough information to know what they are thinking. Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.

Hello and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! As with any medical procedure, complications can occur but when the appropriate precautions and techniques are used complications become much less likely. To make things as safe as possible your veterinarian may do pre-op blood work prior to anesthesia. An IV catheter should be placed and the dental is performed under full anesthesia with an endotracheal tube in place. Dental X-rays are recommended to ensure teeth can be extracted as safely as possible. Post operative pain medications should be used after an extraction. If Benji needs any tooth extractions, it is likely if proper steps are taken everything will go smoothly. And Benji will be much happier when any broken or infected teeth are removed.

Poor kitties can get so scared when going to the veterinarian. Some veterinarians are More comfortable with cranky cats than others. You may want to call you veterinarian and ask for a sedative to give her before you bring her in. This may be enough to allow the doctor to examine her well. If not, they may need to give her a little more sedation once she is there. I find that it is much less stressful to the kitty, and all involved if you use sedation in these circumstances. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.