complications from anesthesia -walking

My cat had a teeth cleaning on Wednesday-it is Friday now, and she still doesn't seem back to "normal". She is 12 years old, with no health problems to date. When we brought her home from her cleaning, she was very unsteady while walking with a difinite problem with her back legs, and would collapse when trying to turn with her left leg.

She has improved quite a bit, but still is not walking well-seems "cramped" in using her back legs. She is eating , and can jump on chairs, then to table for her napping spot, but seems "sad" and just not herself.

Could she have suffered a stroke or some other damage during her surgery? She was fine when brought in.

I am taking her for a recheck this afternoon-would appreciate any information you can offer.

Thanks,

Mary E.

RESPONSE:

Mary,

I believe you are doing the right thing by taking your cat back to the vet to be rechecked. Although a vet does an evaluation on the cat and chooses the anesthesia type and dosage according to the cat's health, weight and procedure being performed...occasionally a particular cat can have an adverse reaction and take longer to recover from the drugs.

I've had a similar experience with one of my cats and I know its certainly disturbing to see your little critter stumbling and weaving around like its drunk. Recovery time varies depending upon a lot of factors like the type of drugs administered and the amounts etc. For a teeth cleaning it took my 11 year old cat a day to stop wobbling and another two days to "forgive me" for putting it through the experience.

Cats communicate to us in different ways because they can't speak. Perhaps your cat is showing sadness to let you know it's not happy with the experience...letting you know it wasn't any fun.

However, it could be a medical issue so the fact that you are having a recheck is the wisest thing to do. To help understand some of the procedures please read the article Cat Anesthesia

Good luck today with your vet visit. Hopefully your little buddy will be fine.