Monitoring vitals in blocked cats

Melissa Evans, CVT, LVT, VTS (ECC), owner and founder of Melissa Evans, VTS (ECC) Veterinary Nurse Consulting, discusses patient monitoring during the unblocking process for feline urethral obstruction, a topic she presented on at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, in late August. In this clip, Evans talks about how technicians can assist the veterinarian while also tracking vital parameters such as electrocardiogram (ECG), pulse oximetry, and blood pressure. She also discusses the importance of closely monitoring patients for pain, movement, or increased heart rate. Moreover, Evans notes that she pays particular attention to the ECG, as cats experiencing an obstruction are more prone to electrical conductivity.

Below is a transcript of the video, which has been lightly edited for improved clarity.

Melissa Evans, CVT, LVT, VTS (ECC): During the unblock, when I'm monitoring, sometimes I'm doing 2 things at once, so I'm assisting the doctor as well as monitoring. So, I definitely want to make sure that my patient is hooked up to an ECG. I want to make sure they're hooked up to a pulse oximeter.

Blood pressure can get in the way sometimes of the unblock because we usually put it on a back foot. So if we have the ability to put it on a front leg, then we can get blood pressure on there.

And I'm going to be looking at [the patients] really closely and making sure that they're not showing signs of pain, moving, increased heart rate, anything like that. Because blocked cats can often have electrical conductivity issues with their heart, I'm also going to keep a close eye on that ECG.

And when the doctor doesn't need my hands, I will absolutely put my stethoscope in and listen because I really think that while all the monitoring tools in the world are great, that we are the best tool, and so we should use that as often as we can.