Neutering a cat with Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome and Black cats & Anethesia

[clight]

I have a 61/2 month old short hair black and white kitten, named Sparky. At the age of 31/2 months old, I found him laying limp on the floor for no apparent reason. No accidents, no apparent illness. He had lost all coordination, yet did not exhibit a high fever or any other symptoms. Was given Amoxicillin and within a couple of days he was up and around, however, to this date he still has coordination troubles. The only diagnoses we have been able to come up with is Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome. As of this date, he still holds his head slightly tilted to the right and if I have been holding him and put him down, he has trouble righting himself on all 4s. He also has troubles jumping up onto the bed and such and visa versa leaping off from a surface. Otherwise he is as healthy as can be! He runs and plays FULL THROTTLE!
Apx a month before he became ill, I also had a Siamese kitten, a bit younger, develop the same type symptoms but she also had a very high fever. She was also treated with Amoxicillin and pulled out of it within 3 days yet she does not exhibit any left over coordination troubles. The vet was unable to come up with a diagnosis for her.
Sparky has noticed he is a male kitty now and I would like to have him neutered as obviously he will be one that needs to be an indoor kitty only. I am worried that due to his apparent brain trauma, that he may have troubles with the anesthesia. I had two black cats that almost did not make it due to not coming out from under the anesthesia when being neutered, and I was told by that spay//neuter clinic that for some unknown reason black cats have this problem often.
Sparky is a black and white tuxedo so I do not know if this would be the case for him but I am worried and wonder what shall I do? Thank you for your opinion and also, if you do happen to know why it is that black cats tend to have these troubles with anesthesia, I would appreciate knowing this and am sure many other readers would like to know also.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

I cannot find any information that shows that black and white cats have difficulty with anesthesia.  This must be a local problem with your spay and neuter clinic.

I don't know if your spay and neuter clinic has a different anesthesia protocol for certain individuals.  Many spay and neuter clinics simply have one anesthesia protocol that they use on all cats regardless of risk.  

Please ask your clinic if they use Propofol, and some of the newer, safer anesthesia's?  Propofol is one of the safest anesthesia's and is used in high risk patients.  

Lastly, the good news is that your cat is a male and the neutering procedure is very fast so your cat will only be under anesthesia for a very short period of time.  The highest mortality rates occur when the patient remains under anesthesia for a long period of time.