Male cat "spayed" now dead, need advice

[Guitarman5]

My wife found an abandoned cat about 3 years ago and her mom took em to the vet to see if they had a chip and to find out the sex and age etc. Well the vet told us he was a female cat and we just went with it and honestly had no reason to believe otherwise. Fast forward 3 years, we thought he was having signs of being in-heat so we decided to take him to the vet to get him "spayed" Well the surgeon cuts him open and digs around and couldn't find the uterus and discovered it was a male cat, they even had to audacity to charge us for the surgery too. He seemed to be doing fine after the surgery, a little lethargic but nothing out of the ordinary, he didn't poop for the first 4 days but finally had a bm after that. But now the last 2 days my wife calls me (I work out of town) and tells me he hasn't been peeing. So she takes him to the vet today and finds out he has a blockage in his urethra and when they went to put in the catheter the shock of it kills him. Honestly just don't know what to do. Does this happen often? Should we try to take the vet office to court for malpractice? I do believe the actions of the surgery is what caused the blockage and killed him. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Kflowers]

I'm sorry for your loss. What a terrible and inexcusable thing to happen.

Save all the paperwork from that vet. Take your cat to another vet for a necropsise (an autopsy for animals) for so you will have more details and then can make a decision on what you want to do.

You are entitled to copies of every page of your cats' medical records. I suggest you go to the vet and ask for them. Go ask for those records do not talk to the vet when you get the records. Do not agree to anything the vet says if he does talk to you.

 

[fionasmom]

I am so sorry for your loss, unexpected and as fraught with questions as it seems to be. To stick to what you asked......

I had an older dog die during surgery once but it was definitely a "should have known better" situation which is not important here. Never lost a cat, including a feral who had to be TNRed and released quickly, and especially never had a cat die as a result of a spay. Blockages can be more of a problem, but I still see your point about the coicidence of this whole matter.

K Kflowers is right that if you want to pursue malpractice, which is certainly your right, you need to have evidence so records and a necropsy are necessary. All vets are licensed by the state licensing boards and you can go to that site and see if they allow anecdotal reports or where this might take you.

Vet may try to deal with your loss on his own and you need to just get the records and the cat and go. If the cat is not there, as in already disposed of, take the paperwork and get in touch with the licensing board right away.

 

[Willowy]

Sorry for your loss.

What were his "heat-like" symptoms? I'm afraid that if they can say he was showing signs of blockage before the surgery that the blockage was cause of death not the unnecessary surgery.

Also, unfortunately, if you sue for damages you're limited to the monetary value of a standard moggie, which isn't much. So that probably won't pan out. The best way to go, I think, would be a report to the state veterinary board so they can investigate it.

 

[Kflowers]

In all the later issues, do not forget or lose the paperwork where the vet said your cat was a female and attempted to spay him. That, alone, is unspeakable,

 

[Guitarman5]

Thanks for all the replies, as far as the heat-like symptoms, he was making this annoying low bellow meow and wouldn't sit still for anything. I actually googled that symptom and that's what led me to believe it was heat-like symptoms. This vet we took him to that said he was a she was actually a different vet as we didn't have a regular vet at the time so I probably don't have any paperwork to back that up. I honestly don't was to take this to court, but I would like for the vet to admit fault and refund for the unnecessary procedures we had done, but I don't see that happening, Right now my wife is calling around to different vets to see who does necropsy on animals and we may go that route cause who knows what kind of damage they did trying to find a uterus in a male cat.

 

[Kflowers]

You and your wife have suffered enough. Do what you feel comfortable doing, no one will fault you for what you do or do not do. This is such a terrible thing. I'm so very sorry this happened to your cat and you.

 

[bear]

Be careful with search engine results.
They tend to include your prior searches, recent searches and long term interests in the order of the results presented to you.

For instance, I just :Googled "cat making low meow and won;t settle down"
It returned cat health and blockages as the top items listed.

That is likely because I search for feline and human health issues far more than most people.
Just remember that your prior searches influence the order things are retrieved.

An example might be if I search "Best Guitar Player" it would likely return Adrian Legg.
If your search history has others, you might see them favored in the results.

 

[fionasmom]

Your idea that a refund might be forthcoming is not unreasonable. It has happened to me three times when animals passed away and in no case was malpractice involved. It was a goodwill gesture which acknowledged the care that I had tried to give them despite their passing.