We live in Missouri.
On Friday, March 4th, we took our cat to the vet for a scheduled appointment to have her spayed. Our cat is about 18 months old, of which we've had her 10 of those months.
We were referred to this particular vet by P.A.W.S., and so we had not had any previous experience with him.
We followed the pre-op directions to a "T". No food or fluids after dinner, and had her at the vet's office by 8AM friday morning. We picked our cat up at 3PM, friday afternoon.
When we picked up the cat, we were told she was still "out of it" from the anesthesia. By that night, she still had not returned to a normal state of consciouness.
On Saturday (day 1 post-op), she was still incredibly lethargic. She would not move her head or respond to any kind of stimuli (calls, jingling of her bell-toy, etc). She also refused to eat or drink anything.
By Sunday (day 2 post-op) she still had not eaten or drank anything, but her breathing had become very labored, and her stomach and chest began to move in a see-saw like pattern. Because the office was closed that day, we had no choice but to wait until Monday morning to take her back to the Vet.
At 8:30am Monday morning, my husband took the cat back to the vet. They decided they needed to keep her and would be back in touch with us.
Monday evening we were told she did not look good. The vet thought she might have asthma, and that she had fluid on her lungs. When I told him that fluid on the lungs (of a perfectly healthy cat) post-operatively, did not sound suggestive of asthma, but seemed more pneumonia (common complication from anesthesia), he agreed that it could be. When I informed him I was a nurse, he stopped trying to convince me he was it was asthma, and conceded that it could be pneumonia. He also said that Ketamine (which was one of the two drugs used for the anesthesia) is known to cause fluid to accumulate post-op.
He told us that her temp was floating between 97 and 99. He was only treatin gher with Salix (loop diuretic) and a steroid.
My husband and I went to check on the cat at the vet on Wedenday (day 5 post-op) and she was completely lethargic and totally unresponsive. She had not even attempted to groom herself and looked a complete mess.
Finally, on Friday (day 7 post-op) the vet suggested that she wasn't getting better, but she wasn't getting worse. He said that she might respond to coming home with us for the weekend. I agreed and brought her home.
I am so upset. The cat refuses to eat (she has not eaten now in 10 days) and only took a few sips of water as soon as I got her home, and only that one time. She will nto try to eat or drink. She just lays on the heating pad we've been instructed by the vet to leave out for her (her temp is still very low). She won't eat (we've bought 12 different types of cat food hoping she'll eat one of them). She don't even acknowledge that we walk by her, won't meow, stares off with a glazed look continuously, and has absolutely NO purposeful movements or responses.
We really think there has been some serious brain damage to our cat. While the change in her personality concerns us, our main concern is her inability to to eat or drink independently, or her unwillingness to even try.
What do we do????????? We have already paid this vet for her spaying, and now he wants to charge us for the care she's received the past week post-operatively. He also expects us to pay for the meds he's given her.
I really think her condition has been brought on by his negligence and I can't help but wonder if she wasn't given too much sedation during surgery.
Our children are so upset.... and so are we. She has completely endeared herself to us and we love her completely. The thought of losing her hurts and is compounded by her inability to possibly ever recover enough for her to be able to do some basic self care (eating and drinking independently).
What can we do??? Do we have any kind of recourse??? Can he sue us to make us pay for the care she was given this past week due to the complications from surgery?
On Friday, March 4th, we took our cat to the vet for a scheduled appointment to have her spayed. Our cat is about 18 months old, of which we've had her 10 of those months.
We were referred to this particular vet by P.A.W.S., and so we had not had any previous experience with him.
We followed the pre-op directions to a "T". No food or fluids after dinner, and had her at the vet's office by 8AM friday morning. We picked our cat up at 3PM, friday afternoon.
When we picked up the cat, we were told she was still "out of it" from the anesthesia. By that night, she still had not returned to a normal state of consciouness.
On Saturday (day 1 post-op), she was still incredibly lethargic. She would not move her head or respond to any kind of stimuli (calls, jingling of her bell-toy, etc). She also refused to eat or drink anything.
By Sunday (day 2 post-op) she still had not eaten or drank anything, but her breathing had become very labored, and her stomach and chest began to move in a see-saw like pattern. Because the office was closed that day, we had no choice but to wait until Monday morning to take her back to the Vet.
At 8:30am Monday morning, my husband took the cat back to the vet. They decided they needed to keep her and would be back in touch with us.
Monday evening we were told she did not look good. The vet thought she might have asthma, and that she had fluid on her lungs. When I told him that fluid on the lungs (of a perfectly healthy cat) post-operatively, did not sound suggestive of asthma, but seemed more pneumonia (common complication from anesthesia), he agreed that it could be. When I informed him I was a nurse, he stopped trying to convince me he was it was asthma, and conceded that it could be pneumonia. He also said that Ketamine (which was one of the two drugs used for the anesthesia) is known to cause fluid to accumulate post-op.
He told us that her temp was floating between 97 and 99. He was only treatin gher with Salix (loop diuretic) and a steroid.
My husband and I went to check on the cat at the vet on Wedenday (day 5 post-op) and she was completely lethargic and totally unresponsive. She had not even attempted to groom herself and looked a complete mess.
Finally, on Friday (day 7 post-op) the vet suggested that she wasn't getting better, but she wasn't getting worse. He said that she might respond to coming home with us for the weekend. I agreed and brought her home.
I am so upset. The cat refuses to eat (she has not eaten now in 10 days) and only took a few sips of water as soon as I got her home, and only that one time. She will nto try to eat or drink. She just lays on the heating pad we've been instructed by the vet to leave out for her (her temp is still very low). She won't eat (we've bought 12 different types of cat food hoping she'll eat one of them). She don't even acknowledge that we walk by her, won't meow, stares off with a glazed look continuously, and has absolutely NO purposeful movements or responses.
We really think there has been some serious brain damage to our cat. While the change in her personality concerns us, our main concern is her inability to to eat or drink independently, or her unwillingness to even try.
What do we do????????? We have already paid this vet for her spaying, and now he wants to charge us for the care she's received the past week post-operatively. He also expects us to pay for the meds he's given her.
I really think her condition has been brought on by his negligence and I can't help but wonder if she wasn't given too much sedation during surgery.
Our children are so upset.... and so are we. She has completely endeared herself to us and we love her completely. The thought of losing her hurts and is compounded by her inability to possibly ever recover enough for her to be able to do some basic self care (eating and drinking independently).
What can we do??? Do we have any kind of recourse??? Can he sue us to make us pay for the care she was given this past week due to the complications from surgery?