fluid in crest cavity

Question
QUESTION: the vet suggests draining fluid from chest cavity with a big needle but says cannot use any anesthesia. Why would this be? I don't want to do it if it's too painful for the cat.

ANSWER: I'm sorry I feel like I came in the middle of a conversation here. What exactly are you talking about?

What is wrong with your cat? What was he diagnosed with? I may be able to explain things better if you would give me some details.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: they don't know what's wrong yet; they know she has one collapsed lung, but suggested to drain fluid from chest cavity to alleviate the pressure and help with the breathing.

Answer
OK, I understand now. Believe it or not, this procedure does not hurt the cat. Dogs and cats are more numb to certain pains then we are, and having things poked into their skin is one of them. Now they do have to go into the chest cavity, or maybe it's the abdominal cavity, but either way, they will do it in a sterile manner and make sure all is clean.

This will help her a lot with her breathing. I would let them do it for sure because it will help her.

We once had to drain buckets (not an exaggeration) of fluid out of the belly of a dog once and he slept through the procedure. It took us hours to do it. Once we had the needle in place he just lied down and went to sleep - with us right there of course so that he wouldn't move and disrupt the needle.

So yes, it's very possible to do this. Using an anesthetic at this point with a collapsed lung might be the end of your cat, so he is being cautious and that shows me that he knows what he is doing.