A cat might have dilated eyes after a general anesthetic. This may worry the cat’s owner because anesthetics can harm or, rarely, even kill a cat. However, anesthetics have greatly improved over recent years and are considered safe. Although, I had to sign a consent form before the operation indicating some risk. No doubt, this is standard procedure.
The reason why I am writing this very short post is because my cat has recently undergone dental cleaning and repair together with another procedure – an endoscopy of the intestine – under general anesthetic. When I picked him up his eyes were permanently dilated. Dilated eyes (actually the pupils) look like the eyes in the photo below. This is not my cat. I couldn’t photograph him. I was too concerned about him:
When I saw Charlie’s eyes I immediately notice his dilated pupils. I remarked about it to my vet (the best vet I have employed). She said it was the adrenaline. I didn’t ask a follow-up question that would explain what she meant, despite being interested. I was too wound up.
However my research indicates that adrenaline (also called “epinephrine”) is used sometimes in anesthetics to improve the way the anesthetic works. My research tells me that it increases the nerve block and decreases bleeding as it is a strong vasoconstrictor (it narrows the blood vessels).
The adrenaline effect lasted until the following morning having picked him up in the evening the day before. I presume that adrenaline causes the eyes to dilate as it excites that part of the cat once he is awake. It makes parts of his anatomy more alert when awakened. This heightened state of alertness makes the eyes dilate so they let in more light to see better. I think that is the theory. Or the blood vessels feeding the retina are constricted making the eye less sensitive to light resulting in a compensation through dilated eyes.
My cat is still dopey and not himself but the eyes can be dilated. It looks a bit strange and disconcerting, but things get back to normal in due course.
I wrote this post to reassure some people who might have the same concerns as me after agreeing to anesthetise their cat.
Charlie is back to normal both in voice and with respect to his eyes.
Good luck Layla. I am not quite sure what you are saying but it seemed as though she was put under an anaesthetic and having woken up her eyes are dilate. That correct? I have had about this happening before. It can be quite serious if that is the problem. Please tell me how things develop. Anaesthetising a cat does carry some risk. There is a risk of death and if not death and brain damage. But please don’t be fearful because I’m just guessing as to what has happened from your comment.
At the above comment I am sharing my cat mittens dental experience for the first time I may not make sense on some parts simply because I am worried an while jotting down my thoughts i didnt really pay attention to how I spelled or how I said anything hope you guys can read this experience well
Hello everyone , just would like to share me & my pet cat mittens dental cleaning I was so scared to just leave my animal with strangers I cried an didnt trust them no matter how much they assured me I also don’t like how vets don’t tell you the truth which I feel should definitely be discussed before anything I also believe that all the pets test should be printed our for the owner to see I am seeing lots of reviews of people stating that ” everything” is normal ? But find out later own that its not I don’t get that . Also my 8 yr old baby is my life so to see her with dilated eyes, painful gums, wet in her kennel on her back paws from when they removed an ingrown claw from her back paw pad but I wasn’t informed that it would be like this an the risk cause If I was I would never take a chance I can brush her teeth myself I love my cat too much to chance it with any danger to her life but after bringing her home seeing her with these big eyes running away at every movement had me in fear she never acted nothing like that an it was unrecognizable she also for the first time had problem with fleas but once that problem was fixed she had allergic reaction to the flea saliva causing her to excessively lick & nibble to relieve herself I have tried everything the Vet advised but still no success this anesthesia experience is petrifying an the worst I cant wait until this passes an I get to see my baby with no pain an back to her normal self an below is a pic of her sleeping an she was herself then I am not comfortable taking her picture with her in this condition
Thanks for visiting and sharing, Elle. Good luck to you both.
Thanks for this, Michael. I got my cat home 7 hours ago and he is restless, with dilated eyes and huge appetite. Intuitively, I figured he’d be mellowed out by morning, but still concerned. Your explanation of the adrenaline effect/affect was very helpful.
Thanks Mia for you story. It must be very stressful. Personally it would make me very worried. I don’t know what the vet said about the dilated pupil. I would have thought they would have returned to normal well before now. I wish you both the best of luck.