Question About Animal Control

I recently took our cat to get neutered at our local Animal Control Association,he had to spend the night there.When he came home he fine but about 3-4 days later he started sneezing,then about a day or so after that he wouldn't eator drink and had spit coming out of his mouth..I called Animal Control(where I got him neutered) and asked if I could bring him in so he could be seen and get some medicine,the Vet assistant told me that if he wasn't adopted from there they can't treat him.Well my argument is that he was perfectly fine until he came from there,none of my other cats are sick except for him.So to make a long story short we had to rush him to our Vet yesterday because he was in horrible condition with a dangerously high fever and spend $200 for him to have an I.V. hooked up to him because he was dehydrated and also for medication and a shot(found out he had Upper Respitory Infection).Hopefully he will be fine and none of our other cats will get sick.We have been calling our Animal Control Association for over 2 days to speak with a supervisor regarding this and no response yet!I just find this VERY unfair,our cats are like our children.First priority is to get him better but I think that an apology should be the least they give us.They are acting like it isn't a big deal and we shouldn't be upset with them.Can someone give us advice of what we should do from here?

This can be a common occurance when getting animals spayed/neutered at shelters/animal controls.

They have so many animals coming in and out from god knows where with god knows what that they have a hard, if not impossible time keeping common diseases like URI's at bay.

I ran into the same thing when getting a stray cat spayed before her kittens had been vaccinated and the result was two dead kittens.

But don't get me wrong, I'm all for these places that will do low cost spays/neuters. I will take other animals to the clinic as it's not their fault that illness spread to my house.

KityCity, I'm not implying that you should be happy or satisified with what happened or that it was in any way your fault. I just wanted to let you know that it's common and is a risk that must be evaluated.

I would speak to the director and ask that they either consider a disclaimer that any post spay/neuter issues that come up must be addressed by your personal vet (what the lost cost clinic I use does) or that they make a set amount of funds available to see animals that become ill as a direct result of treatment there.

You're also going to be struggling against an institute that has little funding from the government and little to no funding from the public for inexpensive follow-up care.

I'm so sorry your kitty got sick. I hope he fares better than my kittens.
It sounds like your private vet is taking good care of him!

~Julia

I understand but am still upset that our baby is sick

I would defiantely call a supervisor/manager at the shelter at the least to make them aware of what happened. I hate to say it but I doubt they will be able or willing to do much for you. At least that's been my experience. I adopted a kitten from a shelter then less than a week later she almost died even after getting a clean bill of health from one of their vet 2 days earlier. I took her to my vet and she had to spend a week in the hospital hooked up to IV fluids and antibiotics. I paid the entire bill myself but was told by the volunteer at the shelter to call the manager. I spoke with her an her answer to me was to bring Princess back and they will put her to sleep and I can have another kitten. I nearly fell over when she said that, Princess was getting better at that point and they wanted me to put her to sleep. I pretty much told her she was crazy!!! In the end they gave me back half of the adoption fee.

Good Luck!!! I hope your kitty will start feeling better really soon.