My 9-months old tomcat had a violent seizure and a cardiac arrest and died. It was supposed to be a routine neutering. The vet described that it happened cca 30 seconds after Zoletil (Telazol) intramuscular injection.
Given the speed of the reaction, how likely do you think that the vet accidentally hit the blood vessel and it was intravascular injection? Zoletil should take 5-12 minutes for an animal to gradually lose consciousness but this happened way too fast.
Could you please share your thoughts on possible causes of such a rapid reaction? For example:
- intravascular or intra-arterial injection
- severe adverse/idiosyncratic reaction
- underlying cardiac issue (e.g. arrhythmia or cardiomyopathy)
- stress/adrenaline-induced event
I understand that it may not be possible to determine the exact cause without a necropsy, but I would really appreciate any professional insight into what is most consistent with this timeline.
Thank you.