Anesthesia Causing Agitation?

[Guest Fasave]

Some of you may remember the story of Thunder (Blunder Thunder)who showed up on greydogs doorstep after biting an off-leash collie. Well, Thunder came to me as a "foster" and during the first snow fall here in Boston, Thunder slipped and took a face plant on the walkway breaking a front canine. Seeing I broke him, I decided I had to keep him Anyway, today I took him to Angell Memorial Hospital to have the tooth removed by a veterinary dentist. I dropped him off at 6:30 a.m. and the dentist called at 10 a.m. to say he was done and aside from losing another molar as well, he was doing fine and would be ready to come home any time after lunch. So wanting to avoid Boston traffic, I decided to pick him up at 1 knowing that he would likely be pretty loopy but I could spend the afternoon with him and have dealt with other greys post anesthesia. At discharge, the vet tech who sat with him while he came out of anesthesia said he was pretty agitated and got a little cut of his nose from hitting it against the cage. She said moderate agitation was "common in greyhounds" but not other breeds. Anyone heard this before?

 

When I got him home around 2, he had a pretty rough couple of hours sitting up and screaming and then lying down and whining. I've never seen this before and he's a pretty quiet guy, however, I've only had him 3 months so I don't know him that well. He did settle if I patted him but I was a little concerned that he might strike out at me just because our relationship is so new and he seemed confused. By 4 I decided to call the vet to make sure this was normal and he said it was what they saw at the hospital even when they had him on some pretty heavy pain killers and to just keep an eye of him. Of course by the time I got off the phone he was asleep and he's now had a small meal and settled back in his bed.

 

I'm just curious if anyone has seen similar behavior or if I should be concerned if he needs to be put under again. It might be that I just haven't had the others home so soon. Any insights would be good to hear.

[Guest jurishound]

Melissa, do you know what he was given for pain relief? Fentanyl caused significant agitation in one of our greys. Hopefully, he is over the worst and will start to improve.

[Guest Fasave]

I don't but I will ask. Good to know. Do you ask for something else instead for your pups? So you think it's more likely the pain meds and not the anesthesia?

[Guest Swifthounds]

Could be the pain meds...the inhalent anesthesia...or the injectable induction agent. I would ask what was used.

[Guest jurishound]

His behavior sounds more like he was experiencing pain. Did they give him any pain relief? My recollection is that Fentanyl caused pacing and whining; no screaming. Poor fella!

[Houndtime]

My vet used to use something special she would order for John E. I am not going to be very helpful, because I don't know the name of the med. She called it a quick release because they had trouble waking him up from anesthesia and when they did wake him, he would panic. Maybe someone else knows what it is called. But, your vet should now make note on Thunder's chart that he did have problems with either, the anesthesia or the pain meds.

[macoduck]

Do you know which anesthesia was used? Once my vet switched to propofol Gracie came home as normal as when she went in.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Some vets use Ketamine. My vet used to use it on Sam--until Sam seizured coming out of it. The vet told me that if Sam needed anesthesia in the future, I should make sure Ketamine wasn't used. (Sam's been fine on two dentals since then--no Ketamine used.) I did a bit of research online, and I found some articles indicating that sighthounds have more problems with Ketamine than other breeds have.

 

Sam now wears--among his other ID--an engraved tag that reads: WARNING--NO KETAMINE

[5blackgreys]

My Phoenix had a problem with Ketamine after her last dental. She came home, would settle down and then hop up as if she were seeing things. She would settle again and then do the same thing time after time. I finally took her in to the bed room, got her up on the bed and turned all the lights out and quietly laid there with her.

 

She continued to be restless even after that but finally settled for good in the middle of the night. I called the vet the next morning and we decided that she was having hallucinations secondary to the Ketamine and that her chart would be marked NO KETAMINE for any future procedures.

[GeorgeofNE]

Angell Memorial is one of the best animal hospitals in the entire COUNTRY. It is where many of the graduates of Tufts Veterinary school do their residency. As we have (had) two active tracks within an hour of Angell, and thus many adopters, I'm sure they've seen many Greyhound patients, and would know the protocols.

 

Every book on Greyhounds I own discusses their sensitivity to anesthesia. However, any well educated vet would know that and proceed accordingly.

 

My own dog had a severe reaction upon waking from anesthesia even given my vet knows Greyhounds well. She said she would use more valium next time to hopefully avoid the wake-up hysteria he had.

[Batmom]

How is he doing this morning?

 

An individual dog can have sensitivity to any anaesthesia or pain control agent. Make sure your vet puts a note in pup's chart about how he reacted this time -- will help them adjust specific agents used or amounts for future anaesthesias. Most of my dogs have done best with Propofol for the induction agent, but Joseph has had some odd reactions even to that so YMMV.

[Guest Gert]

Yep...I was told that General "thrashed around" when he was coming out of anesthesia after his neuter. Poor boy scraped his foot up pretty good on the crate before they could get to him.

 

I didn't notice any weird behavior once he was home that afternoon, though.

[scullysmum]

My girl Sadi has a fairly extreme reaction to a painkiller....like she's having a bad "trip"...so much so that the vet has made a note on her file not to give it to her if possible, only trouble is I can't remember which painkiller it is right now

[Guest Fasave]

Thunder's doing great today so all is well. He had a small meal and tramadol at bedtime and slept through the night. He woke up this morning with tail wagging and gobbled up breakfast (soft for two weeks), and had good poops and pee. We've done a small walk and I think the cool air felt good on his face. He's got a little swelling but otherwise, back to normal. He will have a follow-up in two weeks so I will discuss all the meds with the vet at that time. Bonus, I just realized they trimmed his nails. Yeah! He's been a little funny about his feet so it's been slow going. Now that we've got clean teeth and trimmed nails, we're off to good start. Thanks everyone for your feedback.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Thunder's doing great today so all is well. He had a small meal and tramadol at bedtime and slept through the night.

 

One nice thing about Tramadol is that it is "mood elevating." It's not recommended for people or dogs on other MAOIs or antidepressants (although the only canines I could see this apply to might be the anxiety/phobic dogs on valium and the like). It's nice for greyhounds, who are so often an odd juxtaposition of stoic and sensitive.