Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / March 2004

To my experience: No.

However, it looks to me as if there was no thing like "state of the
art" for vets. Some do this and some do that.

Very recently, I had a vet give azepromazine to make an x-ray of a
very old, anaemic patient. Well, read about that stuff!

I resent vets, who don't allow the person responsible for the cat to
stay around during procedures, or who do not take the time to handle
the patient gently.

I resent vets, who do not care to explain, what they are going to do,
do not explain risks and alternatives, and do not explicitly ask for
my consent nor give me a choice of alternatives.

There are vets, who, when to do a thing, close all other chapters of
the book, and open only that special chapter. Meaning: Old or young,
sick or not, operation X is performed alike for everybody, regardless.
Very bad!

However, I do agree to pay for the extra time necessary.
Health to your kitty,
H.

In general, no.  That being said, if you have a fractious (read:  mean :-))
cat, and you need to get blood, sometimes you don't have a choice about
sedation.  At my current clinic, if we cannot get blood safely (and that
means safely for both us and for the cat, with regards to stress), then we
will generally mask the cat down with iso to draw blood.  It takes about 5
min of them breathing through a mask, is very safe, and they are awake
within another 5 min, and back to normal in 10.  We'll usually do it while
the owner waits.  And we've done it even on very sick kitties, and haven't
had any problems, although of course that's certainly a possibility.

Deborah, DVM

It depends on the cat, and how bad you need the blood.  For most cats, no.
They don't love having blood drawn, but if you go slow and do a good job of
distracting them, they'll tolerate it.  That being said, if the cat tries to
eat your face, but you really need a chem panel, then you often don't have a
choice.

*Do veterinarians usually sedate a cat before drawing blood? If so, how

Depends on the cat (and perhaps to some extent on the veterinarian. I
have, unfortunately, met a couple of veterinarians more willing to, shall
we say, practically suffocate the poor cat with excessive restraint,
rather than sedate it; I hope there are not too many like that out there
anymore).

*much do they usually sedate the cat? Alot (as if the cat was going to
*have surgery) or a little (just enough to keep the cat from freaking
*out)?

It's going to again depend on the cat, the available drugs, the individual
cat's response to the drugs, and yada yada yada.

*It seems like a vet who sedates all cats and heavly sedates them isn't
*very good.

I'd be curious about why the vet was sedating all the cats, that's for
sure. I suppose he must have a reason. I don't sedate most of the cats I
draw blood from. Some, though. I wouldn't go so far as to say the person
isn't a good vet. Perhaps the vet is a wonderful diagnostician and
excellent surgeon, but just happens to be a bad phlebotomist, requiring an
absolutely still patient to acheive bloodletting.  Who knows? I would ask.
Of course, it sounds like you did ask and got the answer that your cat was
fractious. I don't see how ALL the cats in a practice could be that
fractious. So I would ask the rationale for sedating ALL the cats.

As all the other said, depends on the cat.  Cats are less likely to be calm
during the examination,and the more force you apply, the wilder they are. It
is usually possible to do it without sedation, but sometimes it's
impossible. I find those baby scalp butterfly i.v. catheter especial
suitable for cats.  The problem with cat sedation are the drugs. Vets
usually sedate the cats with the same drugs they would induce anesthesia
with, and it is quite possible to miscalculate it , especially if they don't
weigh the cat.

True, it's more risky in patiens with heart problems, but even with them,
the usual ketamine+diazepam combination is quite safe.

My favorite way to help the technician if
the blood is to be taken from the front leg
is what I call "axillary anesthesia." I tuck
the cat's nose under my armpit while
telling the client how I never wash under
that particular arm so that I can briefly
sedate the cat.  Somehow this seems to
diminish the tension in the room. I believe
that cats are very sensitive to their owner's
feelings and, if they (the owners) have a
merry heart, many cats will relax.  If this
doesn't work, it depends on the purpose of
the blood.  For antibody tests (like FLV),
it probably doesn't matter how excited the
cat is or what other drugs are "on board."
Glucose and probably some of the enzyme
tests are exquisitely sensitive to both
excitement and drugs. If a cat is really
fractious and agressive, I feel it is equally
important to try to find out why, as it is
to get a blood sample.  For feral cats or
the rare nasty domestic one, I like to use
a net to hold them and give acepromazine.
Stephen Dubin VMD

If a vet has to sedate a cat to draw blood, then he either has no assitant
or one that needs a lesson in restraint. We never sedate a cat to draw blood
because we have excellant staff members.   Mary Ellen

(I'm going to pretend I've actually read all the posts in this thread
and hope this isn't too redundant, but:)

If a vet wanted to draw blood, I imagine I would hold the cat myself
(and face a little revenge later), but two other factors may enter into it:

If the cat starts seeing the vet/office as a person/place where he/she
gets stabbed alot, this can create a cat who may need to be sedated for
everything and who may run away from the vet, not good for business or
precedent.

The other possibility is, the blood-sample will be tainted by stress
produced hormones.

Of course, then again maybe the vet's yacht isn't paid off, yet. <g>

Pat