I can't stop thinking and talking about this, and the more I talk to others, the more outraged and hurt I am. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do here. Here's the story.
We had our cat Inky for almost 14 years. He was, literally, the most personable, intelligent cat I think we have ever had. He was involved in every segment of our lives, especially mine. He was my shadow. He was always wanting to play, and/ or be involved in whatever we were doing. If we were playing board games, he'd want to play too. If we were at the dinner table, he had his own place at the table, and he'd sit there politely the whole time. If I was doing laundry, he'd lie on top of my folded laundry so that I would have to pet him. He waited in front of the fireplace on Christmas eve, watching his stocking. We loved him. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
When he was around 11 years old, he developed a hyperthyroid issue. We paid for a radioactive iodine procedure for him at Ohio State University vet clinic, which did slow his thyroid down, but did not correct the problem entirely, so he was still on thyroid meds every day. He had to go in every six months or so, sometimes more, so our vet could monitor his thyroid levels. In the past year, our vet expressed some concerns about Inky's rapid heart rate; he thought it was from the thyroid, but couldn't be sure it wasn't just from the stress of the vet visit. He told me that, at some point, Inky would succumb to his thyroid issues and have organ or heart failure, but that for now, he was fine.
So, last week, we noticed Inky was acting a little odd. We finally noticed that he had several abscesses in his body, obviously from a cat fight or something, they were bites. This is pretty common, but I was worried, as he was obviously ill, so I called our vet last Saturday. They are only open half day on Saturday, but they took him as an emergency. The vet did a nice neat job cleaning and stitching him. He said Inky had a lot of necrotic tissue, and a fever, they'd had him on Iv antibiotics, but that he thought he'd be fine. They were impatient for me to come get him at 11:30, they wanted to leave, the office was packed, they had clients everywhere picking up their animals, it was busy. Inky was sound asleep when I arrived. This vet has never before released an animal to us that was unconscious, and we've been going to him for over 20 years. Inky was in his carrier, covered with a light sheet. The vet came in, uncovered him, and commented that it had been two hours since they did the procedure. He shook Inky a bit and there was a slight response. So he (basically) pushed me out the door, said to give him pain meds when he woke up, etc. My first thought (although I didn't say it) was "what do we do if he doesn't wake up". I took Inky home, and...well, he never woke up.
We are devastated and hurt. I can't help but think that if he had been monitored at the vet's, until he woke up, he might have survived. I did call the following Monday and talked to a staff member who answered the phone. Other than to say she was sorry and that she would tell the vet, there was not much conversation. I have never received any follow up from their office, although it's been a week today. No sympathy card, nothing.
I really don't want to quit using this vet, but I'm just not sure what to do. People have made suggestions from writing a letter to him, going in to talk to him, even going to talk to a lawyer. I What would you do? Anyone? I don't know if monitoring would have made any difference, or if it was just a combination of factors, and I'm not sure how much was actually the vet's fault...maybe i'm overreacting??
Sorry this is so long, I'm just curious to see what anyone else thinks.
We had our cat Inky for almost 14 years. He was, literally, the most personable, intelligent cat I think we have ever had. He was involved in every segment of our lives, especially mine. He was my shadow. He was always wanting to play, and/ or be involved in whatever we were doing. If we were playing board games, he'd want to play too. If we were at the dinner table, he had his own place at the table, and he'd sit there politely the whole time. If I was doing laundry, he'd lie on top of my folded laundry so that I would have to pet him. He waited in front of the fireplace on Christmas eve, watching his stocking. We loved him. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
When he was around 11 years old, he developed a hyperthyroid issue. We paid for a radioactive iodine procedure for him at Ohio State University vet clinic, which did slow his thyroid down, but did not correct the problem entirely, so he was still on thyroid meds every day. He had to go in every six months or so, sometimes more, so our vet could monitor his thyroid levels. In the past year, our vet expressed some concerns about Inky's rapid heart rate; he thought it was from the thyroid, but couldn't be sure it wasn't just from the stress of the vet visit. He told me that, at some point, Inky would succumb to his thyroid issues and have organ or heart failure, but that for now, he was fine.
So, last week, we noticed Inky was acting a little odd. We finally noticed that he had several abscesses in his body, obviously from a cat fight or something, they were bites. This is pretty common, but I was worried, as he was obviously ill, so I called our vet last Saturday. They are only open half day on Saturday, but they took him as an emergency. The vet did a nice neat job cleaning and stitching him. He said Inky had a lot of necrotic tissue, and a fever, they'd had him on Iv antibiotics, but that he thought he'd be fine. They were impatient for me to come get him at 11:30, they wanted to leave, the office was packed, they had clients everywhere picking up their animals, it was busy. Inky was sound asleep when I arrived. This vet has never before released an animal to us that was unconscious, and we've been going to him for over 20 years. Inky was in his carrier, covered with a light sheet. The vet came in, uncovered him, and commented that it had been two hours since they did the procedure. He shook Inky a bit and there was a slight response. So he (basically) pushed me out the door, said to give him pain meds when he woke up, etc. My first thought (although I didn't say it) was "what do we do if he doesn't wake up". I took Inky home, and...well, he never woke up.
We are devastated and hurt. I can't help but think that if he had been monitored at the vet's, until he woke up, he might have survived. I did call the following Monday and talked to a staff member who answered the phone. Other than to say she was sorry and that she would tell the vet, there was not much conversation. I have never received any follow up from their office, although it's been a week today. No sympathy card, nothing.
I really don't want to quit using this vet, but I'm just not sure what to do. People have made suggestions from writing a letter to him, going in to talk to him, even going to talk to a lawyer. I What would you do? Anyone? I don't know if monitoring would have made any difference, or if it was just a combination of factors, and I'm not sure how much was actually the vet's fault...maybe i'm overreacting??
Sorry this is so long, I'm just curious to see what anyone else thinks.
You did what you could do for Inky. It sounds as if he needed the surgery if he was to have any chance of being ok, so you gave him the best chance you could, and although he did not fully come back around, he was able to pass at home with the family.
