So while I was at home on my break, work called. They needed a kitty for a blood transfusion and they wanted to know if I would bring one of my cats for the job. Lucky they caught me at home.

Anyway, so I brought Hal since he's the youngest. Hardy young blood is best. Hal of course was not happy, but in any case it was for another kitty that was very sick. The other cat had a mass the size of a grapefruit on it's upper shoulder area. It was pretty gnarly.

I wanted to be present when they drew the blood because they do have to anesthetize them in order to draw enough blood for the transfusion. I held Hal so that they could put the catheter in his arm. Then they induced anesthesia, but the little butt was a fighter. He kept fighting the anesthesia so we couldn't intubate him! (Intubate for those who don't know is when they pass the breathing tube down the trachea) Cats generally are hard to intubate because the back of their throat is very sensitive and the moment they feel the tube at the back of their throat they contract the muscles so you can't pass the tube. When they intubate cats they squirt a dollop of lidocaine into the back of their throat to numb it. Hal, being a fighter, needed two squirts! He also needed additional induction anesthesia (injectable). We even had to mask him down (put the little cup over his face)! Eventually we got him situated. They placed a butterfly catheter (it looks like a butterfly with a tube attached to it and put an anticoagulant into two huge syringes. (35 cc syringes) They then attached one of the syringes to the tube after they hit the jugular vein and the blood started flowing through it (the tube). A tech was drawing the blood out by pulling the plunger of the syringe. They took a total of 50 cc's of blood. To give you a comparison of how much that is, it's approximately a cup (measuring for cooking). It might be slightly more. Anyway, then they directly hooked up the syringes to another separate line and gave it as a bolus. (For those who don't know what a bolus is, it's when something fluid is given directly to the patient as fast as it can be safely injected.) I mean this other cat was really bad, I've never seen gums as pale as this cat's before. See the white on this journal? That's how white! The cat was anemic and had a PCV (packed [red] cell volume: Estimated # of rbcs) of 12%. The normal range for a cat is between 25 and 45%. Not good. I don't know the status of the kitty at this time, but to save a life is a good thing.

Poor Hal is miserable though. The underside of his neck is shaved and his arm is too. He has to wear the elizabethan collar because he won't stop licking his arm where the IV catheter was. He is pouting as I write. He doesn't realize it was all for another kitty's life. If that other cat lives, she'll have Hal's blood with her. :) Besides, how can I resist helping another cat.

Oh, by the way, after we stopped using anesthesia, he woke right up. I know the anesthesia was light, but still, he was completely awake by the time I left for school. I had to go back and pick him up later though, I didn't want to leave him home with Naboo alone. I prefer to watch them, just in case. Anesthesia is anesthesia. He's such a good boy though.