My senior cat needs surgery. Is anesthesia safe for older cats?

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.

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.

It is very common for elderly cats to take longer to recover form the medications used during anaesthesia. Their liver and kidney function is not as good a cat younger then 7. However, if it has been longer then a week and you are still concerned I would advise mentioning this to the veterinarian who had performed the procedure during Kuzia's postoperative recheck.

Unfortunately, this type of surgery would not be conducive to a local anesthetic only. The ear is very thin....basically 2 thin layers of skin with a layer of cartilage in between and many small blood vessels. Partial removal of the ear can be painful, bloody and is a delicate procedure. I am sure that your veterinarian will adjust the anesthetic protocol to suit her age and additional risks that come with age.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If it is possible, I would recommend having the x-rays done without sedation and depending on how the x-rays look and how her blood work looks, consider removal of the mass under anesthesia. She is not too old for anesthesia but the risk of anesthetic complications rises with age. As long as her heart, lungs and blood work are normal, she should be fine under anesthesia. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hyperthyroidism increases the risks of anesthesia. If possible, I wait for anesthesia until the thyroid level is more normal and well controlled. Some of this depends on how severely elevated the level was to begin with. However, in emergency situations I have taken a patient to surgery who was not well controlled. I would recommend calling and discussing the situation with your veterinarian so you can more thoroughly understand her thoughts, and then together you can decide if you should wait or not. Good luck, and I hope she improves soon!

Hello there, The best way to assess Molly's anesthetic safety at her age would be a physical exam from a veterinarian and bloodwork. They may recommend other testing based on her exam. Physical exams can screen for dehydration, heart murmurs, abdominal growths, or other ailments. Bloodwork ensures that her kidneys and liver are able to process the anesthesia. Based on these results, your vet can determine the safest sedation protocol for her to get her matts removed so that she does not develop skin infections under them. I hope this helps! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.