Everything happens for a reason. If we weren't waiting for a reference from our existing vets so we can post cats/kittens that need to be adopted on petfinder, I cannot imagine the hell that would have descended upon their practice today.
Gary and I rescued a little white kitten several weeks ago. Some couple dropped her off at our vets but were unwilling to take responsibility for her. She was picked up in a liquor store parking lot. She was so tiny, they thought she was just 3-4 weeks old initially, when it turns out she's 3-4 months old. But she had been attacked by something, probably a cat. She required several surgeries, stitches, etc. She needed to be tube fed. She was badly infected. Her eyes were glued shut. She required surgery on one eye. She was in real bad shape, and the vet was not sure she would make it. Her ears were badly sunburned. (When we first found her, I started a thread in behavior in case she was deaf (which it turns out she is). How to Raise a Deaf Kitty)
Well, she survived.
But we've got our crew here, and we could not bring her into our home until there was no risk of infection to our four. We were first told we could bring her home last Wednesday. Then Friday. Then Sunday.
We picked her up Sunday and brought her home. I posted that a special needs kitty needs a home in S.O.S. (Special Needs Kitten Needs Home).
Bottom line - she's an angel and we love her. But our cats reacted very strangely to her presence here. They weren't mad, they weren't upset, and her being here didn't interrupt their behavior at all. She had a terrible sounding cough, and Gary became worried that there was something seriously wrong with her still. So we made an appointment with a new vet this morning, and we took her there this afternoon.
Well - she's riddled with parasites. There were live roundworms in her feces. It was so bad, the Vet called Gary in to look at the slide. He said in his 20+ years of practice, he'd never seen an infestation this bad.
Mind you - she had been given a dewormer. Twice. Forget what they gave her - the issue is, our existing vet did not even bother to do a fecal smear before they told us it was OK to bring her home.
We fought round worm for seven months. Many of you may not be familiar with the parasite that many ferals have, but it is pernicious. The cysts of eggs can be in a cat's bronchial tubes, so even when you "kill" the adult worms, the eggs can still gestate. Like I said, it was months of treatment to rid our home of this pest. Bleaching litter boxes, pilling the cats, cleaning the carpets - again and again and again and again and again.
When Gary saw that slide, he literally saw red. Like I said, my belief that everything happens for a reason was completely reinforced today. If we didn't need that reference from our vet, there would be no cooling off period happening here.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE WORST OF THE PROBLEMS.
OK. So our vet allowed us to bring home a rescue that could now have potentially infected all of our cats with roundworm. AGAIN.
But our little angel's eye. With the new pics forum, I don't know if I'm supposed to post pics here or not, so I'll go post pics there. But she cannot see well out of one eye - it was so badly infected it's partially closed, like underdeveloped or something. And it appeared to still be infected Sunday night, so Labor Day Gary ran over to the vets AGAIN and picked up more medicine for her. (And he was really sick Saturday and sick all weekend). The vet performed some kind of surgery on her eye and thought she might recoup some eyesight in it.
Well - the inner eyelid was partially up, and Gary asked the vet what was wrong with it - to him, it looked like it was cut or something. After examining it, the new vet said that it is ulcerated and partially rolled back and certainly causing her pain. He recommended surgery to place a "lid" inbetween her eye and the inner eyelid to keep the moisture in her eye and protect the cornea from being scratched while the inner eyelid heals.
But he can't perform the surgery while her bronchial tubes are full of cysts of round worm eggs.
Anyway, she's back in the hospital. The new one. He's going to X-ray her on Thursday to see if her lungs/bronchial tubes are clear enough to give her the anesthetic she needs to have the eye surgery. If so, and her feces show no live pests, we can pick her up Friday morning.
But if we hadn't taken her to the vet and let this go, she could have died within a few weeks, the infestation of parasites was so bad.
How irresponsibe of our Vet was this? The worst of it all is that when we were there Friday, I said, "Oh God, I really want to bring her home now!" And with the Vet there, Gary said - no yelled - "Are you crazy? We have to think of our cats too! We cannot possibly think of bringing her home if there is ANY chance of her passing along any pest or infection to our cats!" And our vet allows us to bring her home with what another vet says is the worst infestation of round worm he's ever seen in his LONG career.
I know - I'm repeating myself.
I pray this little kitty makes it, and that at least she will be pain free in her bad eye. (Right now we're calling her Mitzi. If Gary remembered correctly, the word for Miracle in Hebrew is Mitziyah (spelling?). I hope she gets another miracle!)
I also pray that our gang of kids will avoid being cursed with another infestation of round worm!
Gary and I rescued a little white kitten several weeks ago. Some couple dropped her off at our vets but were unwilling to take responsibility for her. She was picked up in a liquor store parking lot. She was so tiny, they thought she was just 3-4 weeks old initially, when it turns out she's 3-4 months old. But she had been attacked by something, probably a cat. She required several surgeries, stitches, etc. She needed to be tube fed. She was badly infected. Her eyes were glued shut. She required surgery on one eye. She was in real bad shape, and the vet was not sure she would make it. Her ears were badly sunburned. (When we first found her, I started a thread in behavior in case she was deaf (which it turns out she is). How to Raise a Deaf Kitty)
Well, she survived.
We picked her up Sunday and brought her home. I posted that a special needs kitty needs a home in S.O.S. (Special Needs Kitten Needs Home).
Bottom line - she's an angel and we love her. But our cats reacted very strangely to her presence here. They weren't mad, they weren't upset, and her being here didn't interrupt their behavior at all. She had a terrible sounding cough, and Gary became worried that there was something seriously wrong with her still. So we made an appointment with a new vet this morning, and we took her there this afternoon.
Well - she's riddled with parasites. There were live roundworms in her feces. It was so bad, the Vet called Gary in to look at the slide. He said in his 20+ years of practice, he'd never seen an infestation this bad.
Mind you - she had been given a dewormer. Twice. Forget what they gave her - the issue is, our existing vet did not even bother to do a fecal smear before they told us it was OK to bring her home.
We fought round worm for seven months. Many of you may not be familiar with the parasite that many ferals have, but it is pernicious. The cysts of eggs can be in a cat's bronchial tubes, so even when you "kill" the adult worms, the eggs can still gestate. Like I said, it was months of treatment to rid our home of this pest. Bleaching litter boxes, pilling the cats, cleaning the carpets - again and again and again and again and again.
When Gary saw that slide, he literally saw red. Like I said, my belief that everything happens for a reason was completely reinforced today. If we didn't need that reference from our vet, there would be no cooling off period happening here.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE WORST OF THE PROBLEMS.
OK. So our vet allowed us to bring home a rescue that could now have potentially infected all of our cats with roundworm. AGAIN.
But our little angel's eye. With the new pics forum, I don't know if I'm supposed to post pics here or not, so I'll go post pics there. But she cannot see well out of one eye - it was so badly infected it's partially closed, like underdeveloped or something. And it appeared to still be infected Sunday night, so Labor Day Gary ran over to the vets AGAIN and picked up more medicine for her. (And he was really sick Saturday and sick all weekend). The vet performed some kind of surgery on her eye and thought she might recoup some eyesight in it.
Well - the inner eyelid was partially up, and Gary asked the vet what was wrong with it - to him, it looked like it was cut or something. After examining it, the new vet said that it is ulcerated and partially rolled back and certainly causing her pain. He recommended surgery to place a "lid" inbetween her eye and the inner eyelid to keep the moisture in her eye and protect the cornea from being scratched while the inner eyelid heals.
But he can't perform the surgery while her bronchial tubes are full of cysts of round worm eggs.
Anyway, she's back in the hospital. The new one. He's going to X-ray her on Thursday to see if her lungs/bronchial tubes are clear enough to give her the anesthetic she needs to have the eye surgery. If so, and her feces show no live pests, we can pick her up Friday morning.
But if we hadn't taken her to the vet and let this go, she could have died within a few weeks, the infestation of parasites was so bad.
How irresponsibe of our Vet was this? The worst of it all is that when we were there Friday, I said, "Oh God, I really want to bring her home now!" And with the Vet there, Gary said - no yelled - "Are you crazy? We have to think of our cats too! We cannot possibly think of bringing her home if there is ANY chance of her passing along any pest or infection to our cats!" And our vet allows us to bring her home with what another vet says is the worst infestation of round worm he's ever seen in his LONG career.
I know - I'm repeating myself.
I pray this little kitty makes it, and that at least she will be pain free in her bad eye. (Right now we're calling her Mitzi. If Gary remembered correctly, the word for Miracle in Hebrew is Mitziyah (spelling?). I hope she gets another miracle!)
I also pray that our gang of kids will avoid being cursed with another infestation of round worm!
