Freya has weird neurological/mental issues

Kflowers

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That is certainly something to consider though rather than incompetent, you might want to think inexperienced.

Not to say this happened to Freya, but it made me think about the situtation. Every vet starts with a patient. They don't loan them out to free/low cost clinics, they do their internship at the clinic where they are hired. A new surgeon should have a supervising surgeon. But one assumes in surgery as everything they get better with practice. I think if your pet is one of the first 10 specific surgeries a vet does anything that causes future surgery or medicine should be covered by the clinic. But, I doubt they will even admit that your pet was one of the first ones that vet worked on.
 
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Antonio65

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I was just thinking, because this post reminded me of when SG was in heat and there were 10+ toms who took up residence in the front and side yard. I'm thinking that that first time when Freya raced around the house and you got hurt, maybe what scared her where the tom cats shouting challenges at each other.
No toms around here. I know all cats in the area. There are a few ferals around, and I have three of them in my yard.
All of these cats have been taken care of, they are all fixed.
If any tom was outside my window that night, the cats in my yard would have let me know.
Also, I have never found any trace of sprays around the house.

What I have always thought, though, is that it was the time of Freya's first heat (she was a silent cat during the heats) and that first hormonal storm upset her a lot.
The following cycles gave her lesser and lesser symptoms as she got kind of used to them.
 
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Antonio65

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I think if your pet is one of the first 10 specific surgeries a vet does anything that causes future surgery or medicine should be covered by the clinic. But, I doubt they will even admit that your pet was one of the first ones that vet worked on.
I am sure I can ask them who was the surgeon on both cats. So I can tell if the second was young and inexperienced.
I wonder if any further surgery related to a mistake is covered by the clinic.
I will discuss with them as soon as I have the chance.
 

Kflowers

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That is amazing. When SG went into heat we had toms we'd never seen before. Some turned out to be from 5 or more miles away. I've had friends with toms and they've had to go further to retrieve them when they set up camp to wait for a lady cat to be interested in them.

Your area must have a remarkable neuter rate. Congratulations.
 
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Antonio65

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Your area must have a remarkable neuter rate. Congratulations.
A few years ago I got myself involved in a rather large TNR commitment because the number of feral cats in the neighborhood was unbearable.
I managed to have my town council involved too, and they paid for all fixings (over here in Italy, once a group of feral/stray cats is registered as a colony, the town council is obligated to pay for the neutering).
A few of those cats are still in the area, three of them live outside my home (two girls and a boy), others wonder in the neighborhood, and a couple of people feed them.

I'm rather sure that some cats from this group strayed from the neighborhood and moved about half a mile from here and settled a new colony before I was able to TNR them.
Freya comes from that new group of cats. They all lived in the backyard of a restaurant on a major road (one of those restaurants where truckers stop to eat and park overnight). I rescued Freya and her two siblings when they were 6 weeks old, and their mom too. I also trapped the remaining 9 cats. Some of them were rehomed, the others were taken to the local shelter where they can live far from any danger. Of course I had all of them fixed.

The area is "toms free" 😉
 
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ladytimedramon

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Antonio, my first vet didn't believe me. Second vet did and did the blood work, but his "exploratory surgery" found nothing. The veterinary internist did a sonogram and found the tissue hiding behind Delilah's kidney. He sent us to a specialist surgeon who removed the tissue AND scar tissue from the uterus removal because she thought cells could be hiding in there. Since the specialist surgery no problems.
 
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Antonio65

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Antonio, my first vet didn't believe me. Second vet did and did the blood work, but his "exploratory surgery" found nothing. The veterinary internist did a sonogram and found the tissue hiding behind Delilah's kidney. He sent us to a specialist surgeon who removed the tissue AND scar tissue from the uterus removal because she thought cells could be hiding in there. Since the specialist surgery no problems.
Thanks ladytimedramon ladytimedramon , I remember your story a few pages back in this thread.
I will ask my vets what they plan to do and how they think to spot the tissue responsible for this. What really scares me is that Freya will have to undergo another surgery only because someone else was an incompetent.
I am angry because I kept telling them that I was positive that something could have gone wrong during the surgery and they kept replying that it was impossible.
And I am also concerned that the clinic won't be covering for the extra expense. To be honest, they should also pay for the last blood tests and all the future tests for fixing their mistake.
 

ladytimedramon

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Thanks ladytimedramon ladytimedramon , I remember your story a few pages back in this thread.
I will ask my vets what they plan to do and how they think to spot the tissue responsible for this. What really scares me is that Freya will have to undergo another surgery only because someone else was an incompetent.
I understand that. I was frustrated that Delilah had an extra surgery because the vet couldn't find the tissue. I wish I'd asked my cousin (a vet) for her advice first. That's how I wound up at specialists with the sonogram.

I am angry because I kept telling them that I was positive that something could have gone wrong during the surgery and they kept replying that it was impossible.
If I didn't come here, I wouldn't have known about that possibility at all. The problem is it only takes a few cells left behind to regenerate enough tissue to cause problems.

And I am also concerned that the clinic won't be covering for the extra expense. To be honest, they should also pay for the last blood tests and all the future tests for fixing their mistake.
I know how you feel. I was lucky that the shelter I adopted Delilah from had received a grant, and I was able to split the cost of the surgery with them. I had to pay up front, but they sent me a check to reimburse half the cost of the surgery.
 
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Antonio65

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If I didn't come here, I wouldn't have known about that possibility at all. The problem is it only takes a few cells left behind to regenerate enough tissue to cause problems.
This is exactly what I said when they told me that if some tissue had been left behind during the surgery, an ultrasound scan should have seen it. But a scan can only see macroscopic tissues, not a small group of cells.
The posibility of an incmplete surgery always scared me, but in so many years, this is the first time it happens.

I had three cats of mine spayed before Freya, plus all the girls in my colony (at least 20).

I know how you feel. I was lucky that the shelter I adopted Delilah from had received a grant, and I was able to split the cost of the surgery with them. I had to pay up front, but they sent me a check to reimburse half the cost of the surgery.
It is unfair, you shouldn't have paid anything. It wasn't your fault.
 
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Antonio65

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Anyway, before I'm sure they will have to do another surgery, I think I will have to wait for the other test (hormonal stimulation) to be done.
I will call them again at the end of the week, I'm waiting for the results of a blood test for my other cat.
 

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Where do you think?
I wonder if false heats can lead to the same issues as the normal heats, namely potential cancers.



As far as I know, in the US vets spay cats when they are very young (as young as 4 months old), hence tiny cats. This could cause lots of similar cases.

Freya was 6.3 lbs and 10 months old when she was spayed.

I think it's more common with incompetent vets. I suspected that something could have gone wrong when I brought Freya back home and saw the incision. It was longer, not straight and less precise than the one my other cat had the year before, and I thought it was made by an inexperienced vet...
Hector came from the shelter already spayed so I don't know who spayed her.
 

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Not necessarily. With my cat the tumour didn't show up until he had a kind of fit. By the time we drove him to the vet he'd come out of it and seemed to be back to normal. However, a few weeks later he collapsed and we didn't think he was going to survive the night but he did. That was on the Sunday afternoon. By evening, he had come from death's door to meowing for food. The next day, my husband had not long gone to work when Snowy had another episode. I was able to rush him to the vet while the symptoms were still present and that's when the vet diagnosed a brain stem tumour. She explained that a pocket of fluid builds up around the tumour, bursts then dissipates relieving pressure on the brain for a while. Where the tumour was, it was inoperable and heartbreakingly Snowy had to be PTS. It had been a slow growing tumour until it became big enough to cause serious problems.

Some tumours can be removed either by surgery and/or chemo/radiotherapy and that is why it is imperative to have the MRI. That way you get a definitive answer and can treat accordingly.

Going back almost 50 years, my mother-in-law's cat displayed similar behaviour to your cat but it wasn't until she was hit by a car that the tumour showed up - it was big enough to be seen on the xray. The vet said she had been born with it - explained why her mother rejected her at birth and my brother-in-law who the mother cat belonged to managed eventually to get the mother to accept the kitten.

This is probably what you don't want to read and I apologise for that but your cat's welfare is paramount.
I am so sorry for your loss :c
 
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