The Cat In The Operating
Room
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
Date:
05 May, 2011 |
 toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
Yesterday I apologised to
the pet transport man for scolding him. 2 days ago, I came
back from my REA lectures and saw him clipping a cat in the
operating room. The cat was anaesthesized with isoflurane gas
via a mask. I was furious as I don't permit such procedures to
be held at any time in the operating room and through all my
30 years of vet practice, I have always got the dirty part
outside the operating room.
"It is not your fault that your cat was not sedated
sufficiently for clipping," I said. "It will be a veterinary
surgeon's fault. Now, a very clean operating room is necessary
in any vet practice. Aseptic techniques in surgery may nothing
to you as you are not a surgeon, but I am very fussy about
making the operation room as clean as possible. By clipping
the cat or dog inside, the room gets contaminated with hairs
and dust and such matters will dirty the environment.
"That was why I was so surprised to see you clipping the cat's
coat and so angry with you. So, I hope you will understand
this."
The transport man had exchanged some angry words with me and
said: "I don't have to come to your surgery (for my cases)."
In reply I said: "Don't ever come again!"
The fault lies with the veterinarian. Xylazine 0.1 ml and
Ketamine 0.8 ml IM just did not sedate a 8.5 kg cat. So the
transport man had to drive back to Toa Payoh Vets to seek
another sedation. Isoflurane gas was given by the vet and when
I arrived, I saw the clipping just being started.
P.S.
Xylazine 0.2 and Ketamine 0.8 ml in one syringe IM would be
excellent in my experience. Half the above dosage in cats less
than 4 kg. As I had said, each vet has his or her own method
of sedation. Some like just IV sedation. In my case, I prefer
IM. The most important thing is not to let the customer feel
frustrated for not having the outcome he desired. As
veterinary medicine is learnt over the years, I did not
comment much to the vet who had provided the service while the
transport man suffered the brunt of my anger.
SOLVING THE TRANSPORT MAN'S PROBLEM.
After chasing the transport man out of the operating room,
I had to bear the responsibility as to help him. He had come
for sedation of this wild cat prior to clipping bald and the
vet did provide him the service. It was unsatisfactory to him
and now the baby was thrown out with the bath tub.
What I did was to get the cat clipped outside in a quiet room.
The cat would be given isoflurane gas 5% by mask for around
1-3 minutes in the operating room. This was sufficient. A big
barking dog in the animal holding area woke up the cat and
therefore I got it into a quiet room to be clipped. There was
no need to put it inside the operating room as isoflurane gas
top up at 5% for 1-3 minutes is extremely effective in a
sedated cat. Obviously, a better practice would be to give
xylazine 0.2 ml + ketamine 0.8 ml in one syringe IM and the
pet transport man would not be frustrated as he had to come
back again. |
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