Q: I have a 14-year-old cat who needs surgery. But at that age, will she be able to tolerate the anesthesia?
Haley Pearl
Highland Beach, Florida
Dear Ms. Pearl,
A: “This is a question we get all the time,” says Catnip editor-in-chief and surgeon John Berg, DVM. “It’s probably true that it’s slightly less safe to anesthetize an old cat than a healthy young one. But many cats who need surgery are old. We anesthetize them all the time.”
Consider, Dr. Berg says, that anesthesia drugs can be chosen to get around a cat’s vulnerabilities. For instance, there are anesthesia drugs that have minimal effects on the heart, so for a cat with cardiac disease, an anesthetic will be chosen that doesn’t affect the heart so much. There are also anesthetic drugs for cats who have kidney and liver problems.
“It is extremely rare that we ever have to tell someone their pet can’t have a needed operation because the risks of anesthesia are simply too high,” Dr. Berg says.
