I don't know where else to go with this story and I need some advice. I have been reading this site a long time and I know if anyone would understand my plight it would be you kind folks.
So please bear with me as I struggle through the story and ask for some kind of solace.
I was given a kitten in 2001 in June. She was an adorable feisty little creature. We weren't supposed to have cats in my building so I snuck her in under my light spring jacket. While in the elevator a neighbor noticed her and took one look at her face and told me she was a "Keeper".
And she definitely was. She was fixed, de-flea'd de-wormed, vaccinated and a generally healthy happy fat cat. Being fairly busy people, she was free-fed dry food and it was available for her 24/7. She always had a clean litterbox and fresh water.
I wasn't aware of the dangerous nature of a purely dry diet and she seemed to like the food (Purina One tuna and salmon) so we let her have it. We liked spoiling her with Whiskas Temptations from time to time and had given her 5-10 snacks daily (pieces).
In January of 2014 I noticed there was a puddle of not quite digested vomit right where she was sleeping. I assumed she regurgitated, so I cleaned it up and didn't think much of it. She had never been sick before (save a hairball here and there) and never showed any need to go to a vet so we just didn't take her.
In all her 13 years she had never been out of the apartment except to be fixed and the early life stuff when she was 6 months old. She had a nice quality of life and I was afraid she'd get freaked out by a carrier so I didn't take her at that point.
By May, just four months later, she was vomiting every other week. It seemed like it was like clockwork. She'd only thrown up on Saturday nights. In March and April there were maybe one every two weeks but nothing spectacular to write home about.
At this point I started to get worried. I thought since she was a heavier cat that maybe she was overeating (because the vomiting seemed to come directly after eating).
I started lowering her portions and hoped after a month she'd be fine.(I read that it takes time after a food switch and change in diet for the system to react to the change)
She started losing weight and vomiting less. In June she vomited maybe once or twice. I again go back to google and see that its no big deal, people have cats that vomit every day with no issues. I'm in complete denial at this point because in all other ways, she was a happy friendly playful kitten like cat.
Because I raised her from a small kitten only about a month old she was a baby to me and she acted like one. There was never any diarrhea, no lethargy, no other physical symptoms. But then things took a turn for the worse.
By the end of July she was back to vomiting once a week and by the beginning of August she was vomiting every other day. I decided to take her to the vet.
She was still very active, talkative and playful as ever. I described the problem she had to the vet and he gave me clavamox and flagyl in pill form and sent me on my way.
She'd never been pilled before. After a week of trying that and getting scratched I called to ask if there were another form of drugs I could give that might be easier on my arms and personal blood loss from being scratched to run away.
I took her back the first week of September which was the first appointment available.It turned out that the prior vet was retiring and someone new had bought the practice. But he seemed nice and cared for the animals so I put my full trust in him.
The first thing he noticed was light pink gums - she was anemic. We took a blood test. It came back that her kidneys were at 20% function (That could explain the vomitting) and he assured me that cats can live a long time with that kind of diminished capacity. Years, he said. There are many causes of anemia so he gave me liquid flagyl, liquid clavamox, and some kidney supplements in pill form (milk thistle and one other I can't remember.)
The very first doses of flagyl and clavamox were a disaster. She threw those up immediately but he said to keep giving them. He then also suspected IBD or pancreatitis so he prescribed prednilisone, a steroid specifically for cats.
Within a day my normal playful hungry cat was projectile vomiting and I noticed a new symptom, she was dizzy. She'd shake her head and fall over. She'd never done that before. I blamed the steroid and wanted to take her off of it. He assured me he'd never seen prednilisone make a cat dizzy and that whatever underlying problem she had (now suspecting IBD or lymphoma) had spread to her brain and was making her this way. He told me to finish the clavamox and flagyl (two weeks worth) and come back to re-up the prednilisone and in the meantime we'd schedule a ultrasound. He prescribed k/d food as well.
Early october we had the ultrasound. She had thickening of the intestinal walls but no tumors visible. Kidneys were smaller than average but we knew this from the blood tests. BUN and all other figures were normal. The ultrasound doctor told the vet there was a 60/40 chance of lymphoma or IBD. 60/40 is a cop out and sounds a lot like 50/50 a big ass shrug of the shoulders. So We continued on the prednisilone and decided to treat for IBD.
By this point we were on week 4 of clavamox and more flagyl and she was still having balance issues and now she was losing her appetite. She wouldn't touch the k/d food so I asked what to do and I just fed her anything she'd eat by that point because not eating is bad. We're still both thinking IBD or an ulcer is causing the anemia. I'm having second thoughts.
By the last week of October she's in bad shape. She's not eating anything, she's dribbling out the oral medications and is now completely dehydrated. Her kidneys are failing quickly and they shouldn't have been. He prescribes an appetite stimulant, pepcid ac and carafate for the stomach. She now also needs SubQ ringer lactate daily 150 ML. Thinking it's the steroid, I read about budenoside which should be absorbed better by the body and have less side effects. She's now on six drugs, is miserable, still dizzy, not eating despite being on the appetite stimulant but at least she's not throwing up.
The last week in October, she is mostly hanging her head over her water bowl, has a distant look in her eyes and is not responding to anything. She doesn't eat. I still give her medicine because I'm still hoping that it's not cancer and we can treat the IBD and she'll get better. She's also now constipated due to the clavamox and the vet recommends an enema. I am distraught because I know a blockage is dangerous so I opt for the least invasive enema. The enema is awful and I bring her back. The orignal vet isn't there so his partner/associate reccomends a blood test. Blood test results come back TERRIBLE. Her BUN and CRE levels are fatal levels. The second vet there told me I can give Sub Q's at home but she needs to be hospitalized. She prescribes all kinds of new medicines for kidney disease, new foods, probiotics, the works. I'm completely distrusting the vets at this point and take her for a second opinion.
On November third a new vet who my neighbor trusts in my building tells me she believes outright that my cat is severely anemic and has cancer and it's time to let her go. She also told me half the stuff the last vet prescribed was completely unecessaryI can't believe my ears and I cry and break down and beg the vet to try and do something to save my cat. But it's way too late. She keeps her overnight and because I was upset a vet who hadn't even really known my cat immediately says the PTS words, I take her BACK to her original vet for hospitalization and prepare for a transfusion. Her blood count is down below 10%. Her kidney function is now next to nil. It's now 9 weeks from original date of bringing her to the first retiring vet and she's overnight November 5th. I brought her back because this new vet at least WANTED to try a transfusion.
He calls me 9am and tells me she's in severe shock and has maybe 30 minutes left to live. I asked if it were his cat what would he do? He said he would put her down.
So on November 6th about 910am my beautiful playful daughter dies at the animal hospital, by my decision...by my hand.
I am distraught and suicidal. I can't stop crying. My house is empty.
Post Script:
We go to the humane society 3 weeks later and adopt two adult 4 year old beauties. Very good playful sisters who are no replacement for Keep but are angels and my new reasons for living.
Over the past few days one of my cats started having blood in her stool and random vomiting events. I'm not thrilled but I go back to the vet who killed my cat and ask his opinion. He thinks maybe worms, even though they've been dewormed...its a possibility. Very small drops of blood but absolutely NO other symptoms, she's playful and affectionate. A fecal smear comes back negative. But he prescribes an antibiotic anyway.
I look on the label and it says "flagyl". This time I'm smarter and I immediately google this horrid drug and see the side effects. Dizziness, loss of appetite, lethargy, leg weakness. It also SHOULD NOT be giiven to animals with proven kidney disease. ALL the things Keep had that this vet kept prescribing MORE medication for. And they were all OBVIOUS side effects of flagyl, not the steroid. SHouldn't he have known that??
I'm in shock. I'm in disbelief. If I had only known it was a bad reaction to the FLAGYL and not the steroid that was causing ALL the other issues my cat was having I probably could have avoided having her put down. If she was diagnosed correctly and been put on leukeran she might have had TWO YEARS instead of two months of life. OF COURSE 9 weeks of FLAGYL would kill her appetite, give her neurotoxicity and all the other terrible side effects.
I'm devastated, I feel like I helped kill and poison my own baby. My daughter, my best friend. Because I trusted a greedy, ignorant vet. If he had KNOWN the side effects of the drugs he was prescribing he'd have known that flagyl was the culprit all along and taking her off antibiotics she didn;t even need would have made her better. But he prescribed new medicine to deal with the side effects of the old medicine.
I feel like the vet was greedy and prescribes medicine all willy nilly for no good reason. But I'm also to blame. I should have brought her in earlier. If it was lymphoma (i believe the last xray before she was so unfairly put down they told me she had a mass in her chest. That could have been a tumor. That wasn't present when we first took xrays. In nine short weeks my poor baby went from lively and hungry and playful to distant, not wanting to eat and just plain DEAD.
One thing is for sure, the new cat isn't getting FLAGYL. That **** has no place in my house any longer. I'm not poisoning another cat.
Here's where I need advice. How do I tell this story to a new vet without getting emotional, without distrust for the entire veterinary practice and with knowledge that if I never even took Keeper to the vet she would have probably lived six months instead of two. If it was properly diagnosed she could have lived two years.
For the sake of my new babies, I beg of you, please let me know where I should go from here. I lost my best friend and what I considered a daughter and I don't want to make more mistakes that will cost more babies their lives.
Any and all advice is appreciated.
So please bear with me as I struggle through the story and ask for some kind of solace.
I was given a kitten in 2001 in June. She was an adorable feisty little creature. We weren't supposed to have cats in my building so I snuck her in under my light spring jacket. While in the elevator a neighbor noticed her and took one look at her face and told me she was a "Keeper".
And she definitely was. She was fixed, de-flea'd de-wormed, vaccinated and a generally healthy happy fat cat. Being fairly busy people, she was free-fed dry food and it was available for her 24/7. She always had a clean litterbox and fresh water.
I wasn't aware of the dangerous nature of a purely dry diet and she seemed to like the food (Purina One tuna and salmon) so we let her have it. We liked spoiling her with Whiskas Temptations from time to time and had given her 5-10 snacks daily (pieces).
In January of 2014 I noticed there was a puddle of not quite digested vomit right where she was sleeping. I assumed she regurgitated, so I cleaned it up and didn't think much of it. She had never been sick before (save a hairball here and there) and never showed any need to go to a vet so we just didn't take her.
In all her 13 years she had never been out of the apartment except to be fixed and the early life stuff when she was 6 months old. She had a nice quality of life and I was afraid she'd get freaked out by a carrier so I didn't take her at that point.
By May, just four months later, she was vomiting every other week. It seemed like it was like clockwork. She'd only thrown up on Saturday nights. In March and April there were maybe one every two weeks but nothing spectacular to write home about.
At this point I started to get worried. I thought since she was a heavier cat that maybe she was overeating (because the vomiting seemed to come directly after eating).
I started lowering her portions and hoped after a month she'd be fine.(I read that it takes time after a food switch and change in diet for the system to react to the change)
She started losing weight and vomiting less. In June she vomited maybe once or twice. I again go back to google and see that its no big deal, people have cats that vomit every day with no issues. I'm in complete denial at this point because in all other ways, she was a happy friendly playful kitten like cat.
Because I raised her from a small kitten only about a month old she was a baby to me and she acted like one. There was never any diarrhea, no lethargy, no other physical symptoms. But then things took a turn for the worse.
By the end of July she was back to vomiting once a week and by the beginning of August she was vomiting every other day. I decided to take her to the vet.
She was still very active, talkative and playful as ever. I described the problem she had to the vet and he gave me clavamox and flagyl in pill form and sent me on my way.
She'd never been pilled before. After a week of trying that and getting scratched I called to ask if there were another form of drugs I could give that might be easier on my arms and personal blood loss from being scratched to run away.
I took her back the first week of September which was the first appointment available.It turned out that the prior vet was retiring and someone new had bought the practice. But he seemed nice and cared for the animals so I put my full trust in him.
The first thing he noticed was light pink gums - she was anemic. We took a blood test. It came back that her kidneys were at 20% function (That could explain the vomitting) and he assured me that cats can live a long time with that kind of diminished capacity. Years, he said. There are many causes of anemia so he gave me liquid flagyl, liquid clavamox, and some kidney supplements in pill form (milk thistle and one other I can't remember.)
The very first doses of flagyl and clavamox were a disaster. She threw those up immediately but he said to keep giving them. He then also suspected IBD or pancreatitis so he prescribed prednilisone, a steroid specifically for cats.
Within a day my normal playful hungry cat was projectile vomiting and I noticed a new symptom, she was dizzy. She'd shake her head and fall over. She'd never done that before. I blamed the steroid and wanted to take her off of it. He assured me he'd never seen prednilisone make a cat dizzy and that whatever underlying problem she had (now suspecting IBD or lymphoma) had spread to her brain and was making her this way. He told me to finish the clavamox and flagyl (two weeks worth) and come back to re-up the prednilisone and in the meantime we'd schedule a ultrasound. He prescribed k/d food as well.
Early october we had the ultrasound. She had thickening of the intestinal walls but no tumors visible. Kidneys were smaller than average but we knew this from the blood tests. BUN and all other figures were normal. The ultrasound doctor told the vet there was a 60/40 chance of lymphoma or IBD. 60/40 is a cop out and sounds a lot like 50/50 a big ass shrug of the shoulders. So We continued on the prednisilone and decided to treat for IBD.
By this point we were on week 4 of clavamox and more flagyl and she was still having balance issues and now she was losing her appetite. She wouldn't touch the k/d food so I asked what to do and I just fed her anything she'd eat by that point because not eating is bad. We're still both thinking IBD or an ulcer is causing the anemia. I'm having second thoughts.
By the last week of October she's in bad shape. She's not eating anything, she's dribbling out the oral medications and is now completely dehydrated. Her kidneys are failing quickly and they shouldn't have been. He prescribes an appetite stimulant, pepcid ac and carafate for the stomach. She now also needs SubQ ringer lactate daily 150 ML. Thinking it's the steroid, I read about budenoside which should be absorbed better by the body and have less side effects. She's now on six drugs, is miserable, still dizzy, not eating despite being on the appetite stimulant but at least she's not throwing up.
The last week in October, she is mostly hanging her head over her water bowl, has a distant look in her eyes and is not responding to anything. She doesn't eat. I still give her medicine because I'm still hoping that it's not cancer and we can treat the IBD and she'll get better. She's also now constipated due to the clavamox and the vet recommends an enema. I am distraught because I know a blockage is dangerous so I opt for the least invasive enema. The enema is awful and I bring her back. The orignal vet isn't there so his partner/associate reccomends a blood test. Blood test results come back TERRIBLE. Her BUN and CRE levels are fatal levels. The second vet there told me I can give Sub Q's at home but she needs to be hospitalized. She prescribes all kinds of new medicines for kidney disease, new foods, probiotics, the works. I'm completely distrusting the vets at this point and take her for a second opinion.
On November third a new vet who my neighbor trusts in my building tells me she believes outright that my cat is severely anemic and has cancer and it's time to let her go. She also told me half the stuff the last vet prescribed was completely unecessaryI can't believe my ears and I cry and break down and beg the vet to try and do something to save my cat. But it's way too late. She keeps her overnight and because I was upset a vet who hadn't even really known my cat immediately says the PTS words, I take her BACK to her original vet for hospitalization and prepare for a transfusion. Her blood count is down below 10%. Her kidney function is now next to nil. It's now 9 weeks from original date of bringing her to the first retiring vet and she's overnight November 5th. I brought her back because this new vet at least WANTED to try a transfusion.
He calls me 9am and tells me she's in severe shock and has maybe 30 minutes left to live. I asked if it were his cat what would he do? He said he would put her down.
So on November 6th about 910am my beautiful playful daughter dies at the animal hospital, by my decision...by my hand.
I am distraught and suicidal. I can't stop crying. My house is empty.
Post Script:
We go to the humane society 3 weeks later and adopt two adult 4 year old beauties. Very good playful sisters who are no replacement for Keep but are angels and my new reasons for living.
Over the past few days one of my cats started having blood in her stool and random vomiting events. I'm not thrilled but I go back to the vet who killed my cat and ask his opinion. He thinks maybe worms, even though they've been dewormed...its a possibility. Very small drops of blood but absolutely NO other symptoms, she's playful and affectionate. A fecal smear comes back negative. But he prescribes an antibiotic anyway.
I look on the label and it says "flagyl". This time I'm smarter and I immediately google this horrid drug and see the side effects. Dizziness, loss of appetite, lethargy, leg weakness. It also SHOULD NOT be giiven to animals with proven kidney disease. ALL the things Keep had that this vet kept prescribing MORE medication for. And they were all OBVIOUS side effects of flagyl, not the steroid. SHouldn't he have known that??
I'm in shock. I'm in disbelief. If I had only known it was a bad reaction to the FLAGYL and not the steroid that was causing ALL the other issues my cat was having I probably could have avoided having her put down. If she was diagnosed correctly and been put on leukeran she might have had TWO YEARS instead of two months of life. OF COURSE 9 weeks of FLAGYL would kill her appetite, give her neurotoxicity and all the other terrible side effects.
I'm devastated, I feel like I helped kill and poison my own baby. My daughter, my best friend. Because I trusted a greedy, ignorant vet. If he had KNOWN the side effects of the drugs he was prescribing he'd have known that flagyl was the culprit all along and taking her off antibiotics she didn;t even need would have made her better. But he prescribed new medicine to deal with the side effects of the old medicine.
I feel like the vet was greedy and prescribes medicine all willy nilly for no good reason. But I'm also to blame. I should have brought her in earlier. If it was lymphoma (i believe the last xray before she was so unfairly put down they told me she had a mass in her chest. That could have been a tumor. That wasn't present when we first took xrays. In nine short weeks my poor baby went from lively and hungry and playful to distant, not wanting to eat and just plain DEAD.
One thing is for sure, the new cat isn't getting FLAGYL. That **** has no place in my house any longer. I'm not poisoning another cat.
Here's where I need advice. How do I tell this story to a new vet without getting emotional, without distrust for the entire veterinary practice and with knowledge that if I never even took Keeper to the vet she would have probably lived six months instead of two. If it was properly diagnosed she could have lived two years.
For the sake of my new babies, I beg of you, please let me know where I should go from here. I lost my best friend and what I considered a daughter and I don't want to make more mistakes that will cost more babies their lives.
Any and all advice is appreciated.
