How is sweet little Mia today? I hope she can go home soon.
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Vibes for Mia Please
- Thread starter jenny82
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- #82
She is still doing pretty well, but now they are saying they should keep her until Friday or Saturday. They are slowly increasing her food intake in her feeding tube. We saw her again last night and she was very tired.
Her biopsies came back today - all negative. The diagnosis is IBD, which is treatable with steroids. This explains why she was doing better on Friday, after she went in last Thursday for an ultrasound and got a steroid injection. So there was no need for my vet to recommend an ER visit last weekend, which did nothing but give an IV, or go to a specialist on Monday, who botched the exploratory endoscopy and she ended up going into surgery to repair 2 tears in her duodenum. Now we can't start her steroid treatment until at least Monday, since she is still recovering.
We haven't gotten the final bill yet, but based on estimates, I think we are almost at $10,000 for Mia's vet bills in the last 2 weeks (2 visits to our vet, 1 visit to the ER, and 1 visit to a specialist then surgeon). We are really upset about all this. We realize that people make mistakes, so we aren't angry at the endoscopist, but all of this was really not necessary to diagnose and treat IBD. Should we have to pay for the surgery? They've already charged our credit card (it was either that or they put her to sleep after the endoscopy went wrong), so I doubt we'll get anything back. We are going to be changing our vet...we had told her that Mia was doing better on Friday, and she said there was nothing else she could think of to diagnose her.
Thanks for all of your support, it really means a lot!
I'm glad you finally have a diagnosis and that Mia will be coming home soon, even if not today. That is quite a shocking vet bill. Considering some was due to human error, I think it's worth asking to have the total discounted. If the surgery was only to repair the hole in her esophagus, would they subtract the cost of that?
I am so happy that Mia is better and that some of those really bad news illnesses have been ruled out. I too would ask for a discount on some of the vet work that pertained to their mistake. Can you talk to the Vet that did the endoscopy about helping out? It wouldn't hurt to ask, that is a lot of money, but I am certain it is easier to swallow knowing Mia is not seriously ill. Kisses for Mia
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- #85
Thanks. Yes we are very happy that she's not very sick and should be ok. We tried to ask the surgeon about costs and she tried to say they are a different entity, even though they are under the same company...so it might not be easy when we check out to talk to them about it. We will talk to the endoscopist as well, he has been nice. If they say no though I don't think there's anything we can do. We miss her so much, we can't wait to have her home again. She will have to stay in her own room so we cleared space and my husband wants to sleep on an air mattress with her. 
Oh wow, I'm so glad she is doing better and coming home soon! That sucks they made you pay for the surgery already. I don't think my vet would have done that. I can understand wanting to find a new one after all they put you and especially Mia through.
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- #87
We went to visit Mia again last night, and she was doing much better. She was really happy to see us, walking all over her cage, and really wanted to get out! We spent about 15 minutes with her and then closed the cage door and were about to leave, when we saw her rub her body against the side of the cage, and her feeding tube just fell out! They called the surgeon in from home, and she said she has never seen this happen in a cat before, only once in a dog who had jumped off a truck (what?). She said that it had been sutured in 3 places, and the sutures were all still intact, so she's not sure how it happened. I have the feeling that they don't treat cats too often here, since this is the second time this week they have said they've never seen something happen before. The feeding tube had only been in 3 days, so the only option was for Mia to have surgery again to replace it. The surgeon said she would try to replace it in the same hole in the small intestine where it was before and to put in a slightly larger tube and I guess better sutures. She said she could alternatively put a feeding tube into her stomach, but since her duodenum was just repaired, this would be more risky. So we went home and waited for a call that the surgery was finished, which happened just before midnight. She said that everything went well. She also said that it looks like Mia now has a touch of pancreatitis from them manipulating it during the first surgery...what does that even mean? I don't understand how she can have a touch of pancreatitis now. I was half asleep when she called. Hopefully Mia can come home with us on Saturday now.
This cat is such a little troublemaker! LOL. She used to always glare at us and give us attitude, so we think that all of this has been her plan to get more attention, haha.
This cat is such a little troublemaker! LOL. She used to always glare at us and give us attitude, so we think that all of this has been her plan to get more attention, haha.
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I think "itis" literally means "inflammation" but not sure if there is more to it than that. So that could explain "just a touch" of pancreatitis. I know there are PLENTY of folks that have dealt with it though.
I think I would have been going off on the vet last night. My patience would not be worn thin, it would already have a hole in it!
I think I would have been going off on the vet last night. My patience would not be worn thin, it would already have a hole in it!
Poor Mia, all these awful things happening to such a sweet kitty. I hope once you get her all fixed up that you find another clinic. There seems to be too many unusual events taking place there, and the fact that they are not giving you a break on bills for issues caused by their actions. Where are you located ? there might be a few people on this site in your area that can recommend a good vet.
Get better sweet Mia, and get the heck out of that clinic
Get better sweet Mia, and get the heck out of that clinic
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- #90
Yes...we are in the market for both a new vet and a new specialty clinic (should we ever have to go to another one)! We are just south of Baltimore, Maryland if anyone has any recommendations.
Got an update on Mia just now and her feeding today is going well, and they think she will finally be able to come home with us tomorrow!!
Got an update on Mia just now and her feeding today is going well, and they think she will finally be able to come home with us tomorrow!!
I am also just south of Baltimore and will be interested to see what kind of recommendations you get. I've only been here a little over a year and am not sure about my own vet. The vet I had before was fantastic but just outside Washington DC and since I no longer have a car, it's too far away.
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- #92
Would you mind PMing me the vet you had outside DC? We may be able to go that way.
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- #93
awwwww so glad she is back with you guys. She has such a sweet face. When Midi was in emergency a few years ago he too had the bare patch on is paw. "Bare Patch" was one of his nicknames for the longest time. Give her lots of hugs and kisses, but not too many
Great news that she's home! She looks so content.[emoji]128149[/emoji]
Mia is very happy to be home!!! [emoji]10084[/emoji]️ [emoji]10084[/emoji]️
That is such great news that she is home! 
How is beautiful little Mia doing?
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- #98
She vomited once late last night right after using the litter box...which is strange because she still has nothing in her stomach (feeding tube goes into her intestine) and she didn't vomit all week in the ICU. We started looking into the litter because we had changed it a couple months ago when our old litter was out of stock, and there are some claims about the new one being toxic...not sure how valid they are. So I went out this morning and got a natural plant -based no dust litter. She is doing well so far today. The vet said to give her an appetite stimulant this morning and see if she will eat on her own later. He is going to call in steroids for her tomorrow.
Ack, not good hearing about potentially toxic litter! Hope she feels better today.
Many good vibes being sent Mia's way for feeling better!
