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Shiva is schedualed for surgery

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kaoticharmony

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Shiva had his big vet appointment today. His bone is infected. Unfortunately its spread a little further than the vet expected. On January 4th he's scheduled to have his entire toe removed as well as some of the bone behind it. The vet seems to think he'll do okay.

At this point his toe is in pretty bad shape. I've noticed recently that he trembles when his bandage is changed. So the vet has given me morphine for his pain. He'll continue on the antibiotics until his surgery. I'm also washing his foot daily with an antiseptic skin cleanser.

The surgery will be intensive and lengthy although he said that Shiva will not have to spend the night.

He's never had any major surgery is there anything that Sphynxs don't do well with, or any drugs to avoid. The only thing I know about Shiva is he can't have petroleum based products in or near his eyes.

Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.

I'm hanging in there trying to be positive. I know how important it is to Shiva that I don't look too worried,but I'm so scared.

I'll post my Monty comics tomorrow, be sure to check it out. It's the Tabinator.. (Fleshy vs the Terminator). Going to go cuddle with my doped up cat and watch tv.
 
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Nofuratu

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kaoticharmony said:
He's never had any major surgery is there anything that Sphynxs don't do well with, or any drugs to avoid. The only thing I know about Shiva is he can't have petroleum based products in or near his eyes.

Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Stay away from Ketamine, something like "propofol" would be better, and make sure she has I.V fluids during, and just after she wakes up. That will ensure I.V access in case of an emergency, and also reduce the feeling of "hangover" post op.
Thinking lots of good thoughts for you!!!
You must be a wreck, try not to be nervous!
Lots of love from Nofuratu and I!!

Adventures of A Naked Cat
 
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marlene

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Nofuratu said:
Stay away from Ketamine, something like "propofol" would be better, and make sure she has I.V fluids during, and just after she wakes up. That will ensure I.V access in case of an emergency, and also reduce the feeling of "hangover" post op.
Click to expand...

Double emphasis on no ketamine. There's also a pain medication that supposedly isn't good, grrr can't remember what it's called. Someone chime in here and tell us what it is!

I hope Shiva does well with her surgery. Sending lots of prayers and purrs her way.
 
susi794

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Will hit my knees today and pray that little Shiva does remarkably well with the surgery and will wake up feeling better already! And while I'm at it, I'll ask for peace and calm reassurance that all will be well for you too.
Susi
 
Gizzymom

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Poor Shiva. We are sending prayers and purrs your way. I hope the surgery goes off without a hitch and Shiva makes a quick recovery. I also hope that you are able to remain strong during this difficult time... We are all here if you need us...:Cry:
 
JacksMom

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Prayers for Shiva for a quick recovery and that he is back to his old self in no time. And for you, for peace and strength. I put Jack in a warm shirt and the vet didn't need to remove it during his neuter AND be sure you leave a warm blanket and have them keep him covered during recovery. My vet was really good about making sure Jack kept warm...I told him please don't remove his shirt and I don't care if any blood gets on anything. My vet told me he most definitely would leave it on and they checked him regularly when he was recovering to make sure he was warm in his blanket! I told them to feel his ears as that's a good indicator for me!
 
NakedNinja

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JacksMom said:
Prayers for Shiva for a quick recovery and that he is back to his old self in no time. And for you, for peace and strength. I put Jack in a warm shirt and the vet didn't need to remove it during his neuter AND be sure you leave a warm blanket and have them keep him covered during recovery. My vet was really good about making sure Jack kept warm...I told him please don't remove his shirt and I don't care if any blood gets on anything. My vet told me he most definitely would leave it on and they checked him regularly when he was recovering to make sure he was warm in his blanket! I told them to feel his ears as that's a good indicator for me!
Click to expand...

Yes! Gabriel's temp dropped to 95 after his mastectomy because the vet techs didn't think to keep a hairless cat warm. Reinforce as you are taking Shiva in: NO ketamine, must be kept warm. Beat it into their heads.

We're all thinking of you guys today, hoping all goes perfectly.
 
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kaoticharmony

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I will call them today and have them note those 2 meds in his chart. I will also bring a note with me on surgery day about the meds. I don't think keeping him warm will be an issue with them as they mentioned several times last night. They asked me to bring one of shirts too to wear in recovery. After he had his x-ray they had me hold him because his foot wasn't bandaged and "they wanted to keep him warm. They had him bundled in a thick towel.

If anyone thinks of what that pain medication is let me know. So far he's had a morphine compound for pain.

They said he can have it every 8 hours. At this point I'm giving it to him around rebandaging time because that's where he really needs it and I can watch him. I don't want him too druged at night when he's on his own. I worry about him falling down the cat stairs getting in and out of my bed. Right now he's snoring comfortably.

Thank you again for the support. Expect me to be a basket case on surgery day.
 
TotenEngel

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Is Metacam the pain relieving drug someone was thinking of possibly??
I asked for Smeagol to have a heat pad post and pre operatively when he went in (and that was just for a castrate! I'm glad my vets already know I'm a crazy cat woman!!)

Good luck with surgery mummy and baby!!
 
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kaoticharmony

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I'm still waiting to hear about his blood work. I expect that the vet doing the surgery will call me when he's back in on Friday.

He said Shiva's diabetes is probably affected by this too.
I have notice recently that his insulin doesn't seem to work as well as it used to. He sleeps alot more and has been drinking tons of water. Hopefully this will help that as well. I miss seeing him play.

One problem I do have with my vet is getting him to read Shiva's records. I didn't have them copied and transferred for nothing. Although I do agree that Shiva's insulin isn't working as well. The vet committed that Shiva needing an unusually high dose of insulin is possibly caused by his infection. Shiva has been this way since he turned diabetic a good 7 years ago. He has always required a high dose. If he even glanced at his file he would know this.

Shiva has a problem with petroleum products used in and around his eyes...Is this a common Sphynx problem? His eyes get all red and swollen. He had a clogged tear duct and they gave us petrolleum based eye drops... poor little guy was a mess!
 
ilovemysphynx

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So sorry the 2 of you have to go thru this. I know in humans that are diabetic bone infection is common on just a small wound. Is there a reason that the vet is waiting until the 3rd? I would think the sooner the better.
Remember we are all here for you hang in there.
 
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kaoticharmony

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The other vet in his office isn't qualified to do the surgery and Shiva's vet is off due to health issues of his own. He made arrangements to be there yesterday afternoon because of Shiva. I wish they had explained all this sooner. I had been upset because he was so hard to get a hold of. I had been trying to arrange for his surgery sooner. The 4th is his first available slot. He said as long as I keep on top of it and keep it clean it won't get any worse. My other choice would be another vet office and at this point with the holidays and all they couldn't do much better and I don't trust the other vet office.

I live in a small town with 2 vet offices and I don't drive. I trust this vet more than the other one. Shiva and I had a bad experience with the other vet. It was a few years ago at this same time of year. He had a diabetic crash and nearly died. They did save his life, but insisted on keeping him over night. There was no reason after he had stabilized for him not to go home. I am qualified to care for him.

So I left him and went home. We were hit with a huge storm. No one contacted me... I didn't know if he were dead or alive... I I didn't hear from them until 3 or 4 days later when I finally got my baby back. He had a huge sore on his stomach. I found out he was locked in a cage with no heat or lights. Once (he needs his food and insulin twice a day) a day he was fed and checked on. I live within walking distance... they could have brought him here. My vet was mad about it too. I had called him because I was trying to find out if Shiva was alive.

My current vet is the best in this city.

....and as promissed I did post The Tabinator in my " MORE FLESHY (WILL KEEP ADDING MORE) "
thread in "SPHYNX CAT TALK". Enjoy!
 
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kaoticharmony

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Dr Stevenson called about Shiva's bloodwork today. He said everything looks good.
I talked to him about Ketamine and Metacam. Thank you so much for the insight because he uses both. I found alot of info on line about Ketamine and Sphynxs. I don't think he could disagree after seeing what I dug up. There isn't much at all about Metacam. Most of what I read said it's okay for a one time surgical use, but bad used more often.

I also came across some health info on one of the sites...Is this right? I always heard their temp is 102 or so?? Heart rate? I hadn't heard Sphynx were different...Isn't a cat usually 150 - 200? Here's what they said....
http://www.sphynxhistory.org/documents/handout_km2009.pdf
1. ...that the normal body
temperature for a
Sphynx is 107.6, or
about four degrees
above other cats?
2. ...that the normal heart
rate for a Sphynx is 240

I want to print out some things for my vet, but I don't want to provide the wrong information.

Aside from these things...Should he have a heating pad during recovery or will blankets be enough?
 
Mews2much

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That info is wrong.
Sphynx do not have heartbeats of 240 or temps of 107 I wonder why it says that .
Gimmie the sphynx on that site was my friends cat.
The temps run a little higher then other cats.
My Coco had the 1 time metacam shot and she died Sept 10th.
Her kidneys were fine until she had that shot then the damage was done.
The oral Metacam is even worse.
I know many people on the CRF list that lost cats to kidney damage even though it was used only once.
Does the vet have a incubator?
My vet puts mine in there after surgery and puts the clothes on.



 
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