Bengal Cat Anesthesia and Bengal Cat and Ketamine

Well, it is hard to find specific information about the dangers of anesthetics to Bengal cats in particular. Anesthesia is dangerous to all animals including people. There is a chance that the cat will die during anesthesia. I heard while talking at a vets that 1% of cats die under general anesthetic.

Bengal cat photo by Helmi Flick with her permission

Please balance the pros and cons before agreeing to have your cat anesthetised for any operation. Dental cleaning comes to mind. The Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook does not give a warning about Bengal cats under anesthetic. Neither does it mention Ketamine in relation to Bengal cats.

However this excellent book states that thin cats without extra weight or fat should be accomodated in terms of the amount of drug used because they have an increased sensitivity. Bengal cats are firm and fit without fat, usually. This might be a factor.

A visitor to my site says that Ketamine should not be administered to Bengal cats. Vets should use Isoflourane instead. She is a breeder I believe and she made a comment on the following page about Anesthesia and Cats, which provides more detail on this subject. Beware of anesthetics, please.

On a related subject tigers can be killed by a anesthetic. This happened accidentally can you believe it. Please read this story.