Hey everyone,
Two years ago my fiancΓ© and I adopted a senior cat and she has been the absolute center of our lives ever since. Obviously she had a few issues when we got her including bad joints and some really bad breath. We took her to the vet the first week we had her and the vet said she’d usually recommend dental work but she was too old to be put under and so it probably wasn’t worth the risk (she was 15 at the time). She could still eat and she wasn’t showing any obvious signs of pain like hiding etc. she’d still attack string and play.
About 6-8 months later she was having trouble urinating so we took her to a different vet that had availability same-day. UTI; antibiotics. Easy. The doctor also noticed her teeth and recommended we do dental and advised us that she would be totally fine as her blood-work is great for her age (going on 16 now). We told her we’d discuss and see how she is over time.
About a year passes and all is good, she’s a happy kitty and never forgets to wake us up at the butt-crack of dawn to get her first feeding in. Four or so weeks ago we noticed her bum was looking a bit red and she was licking more often. We figured it could be just a sore so we decided to keep checking on it and see if it gets better or worse. Within two days we could see it was worse and my initial googling led us to anal sac disease. We called the vet and the soonest appointment they had was two weeks out. We called a few other vets and they were all the same so we kept the appointment we had since it’s closest (this is the vet that said she’d be ok for dental).
Her bum continued to get worse but it didn’t prolapse and she was still acting normal aside from the extra attempts to lick. Finally the day of the appointment came and we arrived about 5-10 minutes early and called to check in (they do curbside pickup due to COVID, which I appreciated). After we checked in we sat in the car for about 40 minutes before anyone picked her up. About 25 minutes after that we got a call from the vet saying she was wondering if we were going to show as she had been waiting for our cat (WHAT THE FUCK?!). She informed us she indeed has anal sac disease and she wished we would’ve brought her in sooner π. She informed us that anal sac infusion is necessary and she will need to be fully sedated for the procedure. She recommended doing the dental work as well as she believes our cat would benefit from some extractions and a good cleaning. We obliged and they sent us on our way with some cream for her bottom and an appointment for a week out.
Come surgery day we arrived again 5 minutes early and called the front desk. The front desk couldn’t find our appointment. I was starting to get really frustrated - it’s a vet clinic with maybe 5 vets, how many surgeries could they have going on when the vet were using only does surgery twice a week? After a bunch of back and forth they finally track it down. It was there the whole time... so they take our cat in and told us they’d call when they’re done and it would be around 5PM.
When we picked her up, she was obviously not excited to be in the carrier and she was pawing at her face. The doctor removed both of her top canines and you could tell she was not a happy camper. She still had some blood on her paws which I’m sure was from her pawing at herself. They gave her an anti-biotic shot the last appointment so that day they just gave us pain meds to give her twice a day for 5 days. Other than being a little loopy and having a silly new look when her top lips get stuck, she seemed great.
About 24 hours in we noticed she was starting to sleep a LOT. Like way more than usual. She probably slept 16 hours one day and only got up for food once. We had to wake her up both times to administer her pain meds. Since she wasn’t eating we decided to make another appointment and see what they had to say. Our normal vet wasn’t in so we saw someone else at the same clinic. He told us she was running a fever and had some inflammation. He gave her subcutaneous fluids, an appetite stimulant, and an anti-inflammatory and had us on our way. When we got home she didn’t eat for a bit but then after an hour or so she was a fiend. She ate more than I’ve ever seen! We were finally starting to feel some relief.
After about a day we noticed she was still acting a little weird. We have stairs all over the house so she can climb up on the couch and things without needing to jump; she was up and down and up and down all day. She couldn’t seem to get comfortable and wouldn’t sleep. Worse yet, she was walking a bit wobbly and kept running into things — she doesn’t have the most agile body in the world at her age, but it was different. What really got my alarm bells going was seeing in her eye that her iris was just ever so slightly pale. Again, we called the vet. Neither of the doctors we had seen were in so another vet asked us to send a picture. She said it looked fine but if were worried to bring her in as the vet that did the surgery will be in. We booked it.
Checking in again was a huge pain in the ass and the front desk people were again dismissive but at least they picked her up on time. The vet called us and said she still has a fever and has no idea why and that she doesn’t know why her eye is the way it is. She gave us a prescription for prednisone drops 2x daily and told us to see an ophthalmologist she recommends. This was on Saturday, so we booked an appointment for Monday and gave her the drops in the meantime. The person that then gave the cat back was absolutely horrid with how she treated our cat but I digress.
Today we brought our cat in to see the ophthalmologist who said it’s her opinion that the dental work possibly out bacteria in her blood stream that infected her eye and she has a possible infection in her eye. She wanted to sedate her (not completely though) and take a sample of the fluid in her eye via a needle and send it to be tested. The results can take up to 5 days so we will start an antibiotic tonight. We agreed and left for an hour or so for them to do what they needed to. I explained to the vet that I’m not extremely happy and that I have reservations because everything so far seems be that the vet says everything will be fine, it’s standard procedure, and nothing has turned out quite fine; she assured me she does this all the time and not to worry. An hour later we get a call that even as sedated as our cat is she doesn’t feel she can safely go through with the procedure. The options are to try again another day under even more sedation, or just see how the antibiotic goes. Regardless, she is now likely going to have permanent sight-loss even if we do treat her eye correctly. At this point we’re just trying to keep the eye.
Reddit, I’m fucking frustrated. I feel like the vet should’ve known the dangers of doing a dental procedure on a 17 year old cat and should’ve been able to explain that better. Moreover I feel the office has treated us and my cat poorly and they haven’t acknowledged that any of these issues are anything but mere coincidence. What the hell do I do?
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