Merlin has pneumonia 😿

[Margot Lane]

Also, this is the first time ever my cat has died without me there. I was always there with them because I knew it was coming, and I made it there if they were in hospital and I wasn’t there. That just proves to me what this place is clueless even more because even though I told them he looked terrible last night. They were trying to say it wasn’t that bad I think. I mean I know these things can be touch, and go, but really I should’ve listened to my best and instinct and just done it when I visited and could still be with him, so maybe he wouldn’t have been alone & terrified

O I agree w/ Kauzmo, please don’t beat yourself up! You did your utmost! Just so much to process in such a short time! I appreciate your courage and honesty in posting so much information as you were going through it: surely that will help others here. In a lifetime of cat ownership, I too have never experienced feline pneumonia. Thank you for being so brave. I can tell from your other posts that Merlin was a very loved cat indeed.

 

[Meowmee]

I'm so so sorry. I lost my soul mate kauzmo last Thursday and have a lot of guilt on how I didn't do things correctly with a clueless vet and by the time a competent vet looked at him it was too late and who's to say anything would have changed with how much time my Kauzmo had left but I understand the feeling you have and how it would be easier if you at least had a thorough and correct diagnosis by a competent vet to make the decisions.
I've replayed moments over and over on making different decisions and what might have been, to the point where I was researching ways I could have fixed him, as if I can still change what happened.
Don't beat yourself up, we do not have crystal balls no matter how hard we want them. Grief is the small price we pay for having these amazing companions in our life. All we can do is honor their memory and help give the best life to the next companion when we're ready. I am wishing you the best during this time and you did all you could with what you knew in that moment, that's all any of us can ask for from someone who loves us.

I’m so sorry for your loss of Kauzmo
I know we can never know what might have happened, and the what ifs etc. But Merlin was only 8 years old and he was ok just two weeks ago, it’s not like I knew he had cancer or some condition that was going to cause his death. I don’t even know for sure if he had pneumonia now to be honest with you. Whatever was going on in the lungs looks like it could’ve had some other cause, and I’m even thinking of doing a necropsey now, but I think it’s going to be too expensive and two hard in my mental & physical state

With Angie, I did that and I did get answers. It gave me some comfort.
So there was negligence here I know that on the part of Dvm, one doing sedation on him at the beginning for the xray, not telling me how serious this was right away, verbally abusing me and blaming me when I called him out on that, and trying to get me to leave etc., and the stuff at the hospital with bad treatment.

But I also made a lot of mistakes. Right now the thing that hurts me the most is that I tried to save his life when he was obviously going to die, just hoping that by some miracle he would make it out of it all, and when I went to see him the first night I should have made the decision right away because he was suffering a lot…I pretty much hate that I made that mistake because I’m the one that is supposed to protect him and help him. I don’t get the feeling any of these people really cared about him. I mean that Dr at the regular DVM was not concerned about Merlin or me. He was concerned about me accusing him of killing Merlin so it’s obvious he’s only worried about protecting himself, not his patients.

I’m gonna post a video from just two weeks ago of Merlin and Zena eating a treat together and you’re gonna see what I’m talking about. There’s no way your cat that was healthy that was not immunocompromised, and had perfect blood work suddenly got pneumonia, bw work was good with the pneumonia, just dropped dead like that in that space of time… it all happened in about a week. It’s not like he had hcm, and he died from a blood clot or something that I could understand.

yeah, it’s a price that we pay but in my opinion it’s not a small price because this pain is unbearable and I’ve been through this many times before with my human family and my cat family and my dog and I will say this is absolutely the worst time, even though there were times, when I knew for sure they caused the death. I feel worse this time than I have ever felt in my life

Picking him up at DVM did not go well. First of all I went over the bill because I thought they had charged me for things they didn’t even do. It seems like they didn’t but they had charges on there that were ridiculous like today they did one pulse ox on him today, and they charged $49 for that Which is outrageous.

Then I told her I’m not happy with how this went down and the doctor last night was rude and dismissive and couldn’t of cared less when I came to see him, so the receptionist said to me: Oh, I’m sorry you feel that way, and I said I feel that way because it’s the truth.

Then I read the report she gave me that Merlin had taken a turn for the worse according to what the doctor wrote, started panting, and they put an endotracheal in him. Called the owner to confirm that she did not want to resuscitate, which was already written in the record, and then he died not long after that I guess they removed it or something.

But when she called me on the phone, she said to me, Merlin took a turn for the worse, Started breathing very fast and panting and we put a tube in him and I want to check with you if you want him resuscitated because you said you didn’t want that. And I’m thinking to myself what?

So I said is he dead and she said yes. And I said I didn’t want him resuscitated. I didn’t say much of anything else and I called them back later to say that I was going to come to pick him up after I made arrangements for him to be cremated tomorrow .

So I didn’t really think about it very much until I read that
when I went to pick him up, and now I know she lied. I am not sure why.

Because she told me he was already dead on the phone, but the record says that he died after they took the tube out of him, and the owner didn’t want him resuscitated. so if he was already dead, why is she calling me up to ask me if I want him resuscitated?

OK, so can you please explain to me what is wrong with these people?

I told them that when I went there, dnr, and it was written in the record that I didn’t want him resuscitated so. He starts gasping and panting, and instead of helping him to go as peacefully as possible in the oxygen tank they yank him out of there and stick a tube down him and call me up on the phone supposedly, who knows what actually happened. I’m never gonna be able to get over that knowing now that he suffered even more because I left him with those vile people. Knowing they disregarded my wishes for him and made him suffer in terror even more.

what the hell are they doing sticking a tube down at all when I told them he was not to be resuscitated and then why is she lying to me about all this and writing that in the record- she told me he was already dead when she talked to me on the phone. As far as I know, a dead cat cannot be resuscitated after a certain amount of time and why even lie about all this. The act of doing all of that is just disgusting in another itself.

I haven’t read what happened to your Kauzmo yet but I hope you can come to terms with all of it and get some peace. Hugs to you

 

[silent meowlook]

I know nothing can be said to make you feel better. But, please try to understand that had you put him to sleep sooner, you would be beating yourself up, thinking you had not tried enough and that you could have saved him.

We always regret what we did or didn’t do when the outcome is losing the ones we love. But honestly, it isn’t in our hands. We sometimes can’t control what happens in our world and that is so hard to accept.

Merlin was very sick. I fo feel you and he were done a disservice by the veterinarians and their staff. I don’t think even with a good vet he would have survived.

Of course you are in a state of shock right now and that may last a while. When I had my Mare euthanized, I said to the vet. “ I don’t know how to live without her” and, honestly, I still don’t. It hurts like no other pain. But you will learn to function, you have your cats that depend on you.

This is all so devastating, and I am so sorry. Please be kind to yourself and know you did the best you could. That’s all we can do is our best.

The guilt is hard, I know. With Rusty, my orange boy, I let him suffer for far too long. I didn’t want him to die, so I did all I could to keep him alive. Looking back at photos I see that he was just skin and bones and looked so sick. I couldn’t see it then.

I am truly sorry for all that you and Merlin experienced. I hope in time you can realize that you did give him a beautiful life and he knew he was loved. That is so much more than many cats ever have. But I know it still doesn’t seem like enough. It was and is as you will continue to love him, and I think that somehow, somewhere, he knows that.

 

[Meowmee]

I know nothing can be said to make you feel better. But, please try to understand that had you put him to sleep sooner, you would be beating yourself up, thinking you had not tried enough and that you could have saved him.

We always regret what we did or didn’t do when the outcome is losing the ones we love. But honestly, it isn’t in our hands. We sometimes can’t control what happens in our world and that is so hard to accept.

Merlin was very sick. I fo feel you and he were done a disservice by the veterinarians and their staff. I don’t think even with a good vet he would have survived.

Of course you are in a state of shock right now and that may last a while. When I had my Mare euthanized, I said to the vet. “ I don’t know how to live without her” and, honestly, I still don’t. It hurts like no other pain. But you will learn to function, you have your cats that depend on you.

This is all so devastating, and I am so sorry. Please be kind to yourself and know you did the best you could. That’s all we can do is our best.

The guilt is hard, I know. With Rusty, my orange boy, I let him suffer for far too long. I didn’t want him to die, so I did all I could to keep him alive. Looking back at photos I see that he was just skin and bones and looked so sick. I couldn’t see it then.

I am truly sorry for all that you and Merlin experienced. I hope in time you can realize that you did give him a beautiful life and he knew he was loved. That is so much more than many cats ever have. But I know it still doesn’t seem like enough. It was and is as you will continue to love him, and I think that somehow, somewhere, he knows that.

Yes I understand that. Believe me. Please reread what that I wrote because I added some other things in there about the details of what was done and maybe you’re going to understand what I’m talking about.

I can never know what would’ve happened I agree. Had he gone to a better doctor, but I do know that these people messed up big time- did they totally outright kill him, no because somehow he got into that condition when he was brought there to the hospital, ( partly from the sedation and partly from them telling me he was ok at first and acting like it wasn't serious, and not doing their job, and me not getting to a better place sooner and from whatever was going on etc.

but that doesn’t excuse what they did. it doesn’t excuse them, disregarding what I told them to do and making him suffer more at the hospital and lying about it. In my father’s case they outright murdered him, and there’s gonna be zero accountability for that. I won’t even go into the details of that here but that is another thing I will never recover from.

When I saw how bad Merlin was when I visited him I should’ve let him go because I should’ve known. There’s no way he’s going to make it out of this whatever is going on with him and to be honest with you, I’m not even sure if it was pneumonia at this point.

so you see I feel like I got conned by these wackos because I am a good person and I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want to feel guilty that I didn’t do everything that I could’ve done but this was not a case of wasting away like with your , and it was not even the case where I even had a definite diagnosis or an explanation for all of this.

But that doctor at my clinic told me that he thought he had a good chance to survive after doing the x-ray and the bloodwork, which was again pretty much normal, except for a slightly low red blood count so I thought maybe there was a chance.

I should’ve known better than to listen to that fool. That was after him panicking and trying to get me to leave there and telling me I’m gonna accuse him of killing my cat. Geez, I don’t think you could make this stuff up. I wish I had recorded all of it. Just imagine being treated like that by someone who’s supposed to be a professional when you’re in the middle of being in shock that your cat is probably going to die for no reason when he was fine a few days before.

We are not talking about a cat who was slowly wasting away from some disease, or who died suddenly from heart disease or something we’re talking about a cat who was pretty much healthy, who was running around and eating and then within a week he’s dead. In part due to medical errors.

and I would’ve felt terrible, no matter what happened, you’re right, but that does not excuse any of the behavior or the actions of any of these people. And the way they treated me.

And I’m sorry, but a person who is a veterinarian who has to sedate a cat who they were told was having breathing problems in order to do an x-ray shouldn’t be a veterinarian.

a person who’s going to start accusing the cat’s owner of trying to accuse him of killing their cat is mentally ill and has no compassion and no care for his patient.

These people are all told to talk the same way now too, he actually said to me during that time that he knows it’s frustrating that they can’t figure out what’s going on and I said it’s not frustrating for me. It’s heartbreaking for me because this is my cat and I love him I said it’s frustrating for you, maybe.

They all talk the same way even in human hospitals and it’s a way of covering up for their incompetence and their negligence… we are now living in a society of a bunch of ignorants who don’t know how to do anything properly. Some of them were already that way for years. But the problem with these younger ones is they have zero compassion- zero….

and they think they know everything when they don’t seem to be able to even diagnose anything properly. The condescension is unbelievable…

so they think I’ve never been through this before. I’ve been taking care of cats for 30 years. I’ve been through it so many times I don’t know if I can go through it anymore to be honest. part of that is because of all of this bat shit craziness that I seem to encounter nearly every time one of my cats becomes ill. I said to myself that’s the worst part of it is having to deal with these people and that I’m at their mercy because I can’t do a lot of this stuff myself.

Almost all of the older doctors who were good at what they did have now retired. I don’t know who trains the new doctors but they are most of them just a joke in my opinion and on top of that they have zero compassion and they’re nasty.

People in the medical profession really have a lot of answer for, there’s a lot of sadists and nut cases in it. I’ve known that for years. I come from a family of scientists, and doctors so I know something about it.

I do know I gave Merlin a good life. I know that he would’ve been gone a long time ago like his poor brother Marlon probably is if I hadn’t cared for him and taken him in.

But that doesn’t make this pain any easier, it doesn’t make living without him any easier, and the worst thing is I know I’m gonna have to go through this again with my other cats probably with these same awful people…. it just makes you feel like you’re getting beaten into the ground after a while.

I can’t figure out why they feel the need to attack the people who one are paying them exorbitant prices, and two keeping them in business and who are the ones who really care about their animals.

by the way, the woman who lied to me about what happened with Merlin and putting a tube in his trachea, is the same woman who failed to diagnose that Fred had anal cancer.

I talked to her on the phone last week when I first took Merlin to my regular Dvm because I called them to ask them a question after hours, and I finally told them what happened with Fred. The receptionist told me to call back and talk to the office manager, but she must’ve told the doctor and the doctor got worried and phoned me back that night.

And she was giving me excuses for why she didn’t figure out that he had a tumor. Never an admission from these people. I told her I’m telling you this because I would think if you want to be a good doctor, you would want to not make that same mistake and consider that when treating other patients. It’s just always denial and condescension and excuses from this type of person.

I remember you telling me about Rusty and I’m very sorry for that and your other cat and I’m glad that you have found some peace with it. You know it took me a long time after they murdered my Byron to get over that, but I think I never really got over it. It just got numbed by time and then my other cats helped me to heal to some degree. Maybe that will be what happens now. I don’t know.

 

[Meowmee]

O I agree w/ Kauzmo, please don’t beat yourself up! You did your utmost! Just so much to process in such a short time! I appreciate your courage and honesty in posting so much information as you were going through it: surely that will help others here. In a lifetime of cat ownership, I too have never experienced feline pneumonia. Thank you for being so brave. I can tell from your other posts that Merlin was a very loved cat indeed.

Thank you yes, I am trying not to, but there was a lot to beat not just myself up for here but all of those people.

I’m still in the state of shock obviously and it’s not going to go away soon. It feels so quiet in the house without Merlin, even though I have still three other cats, because he was always the noisy one screeching at me to feed him all the time… he seemed like he was happy when he has lost weight because he was running around like crazy and playing with the other cats. He was always so good natured and happy and purring was rubbing on my legs all the time. He loved to sit on me a lot these past couple of years and give head butts. he would lie on me in bed, and when I had Covid pneumonia, he and Quinn slept on the bed with me and nursed me back to health, I will never forget that, how and loving he was..

at this point we are not even sure if he did have pneumonia. I guess I’m never gonna know because I don’t think I can get him ready in time to do a necropsy and get them to write a report, etc. And I’ve already made the appointment for his cremation.

I mean if I could get some type of answer of what was really wrong with him I know that would make me feel better. I’m the daughter of a scientist and I like to know the reasons why. I would like to know how my relatively healthy guy who is running around, and eating and playing with his brothers suddenly got pneumonia or whatever was going on and died in about the space of a little over a week. that would be something I would wonder even without the addition of all these nut cases who did the medical aspects of it.

I certainly hope that something I will say here, and I will come back into a more detailed assessment of what happened medically, will help somebody. At the very least I think I’ve maybe impressed on people who don’t know that pneumonia is very serious or any type of thing that looks like pneumonia, and that you should not try to treat this at home. And that your cat could die, even if he gets to a hospital and I think these are things we have to take into consideration. To try not to let them suffer, etc.

and as mentioned that most hospitals, don’t seem to know that the stress factor for cats is enormous with pneumonia and other respiratory conditions, and that they have to treat that first as meow looks, was saying they should put an O2 first, and then give them that sedative….because Merlin‘s respiration was much worse in the hospital than it was anywhere else.

However, it’s very hard to deal with that in the very short space of time that that happened along with all of the things done wrong.

 

[Meowmee]

So we have read over some of the records and have some observations. One, Merlin was given telazol to sedate him for the first xray which is not supposed to be given to cats with respiratory problems, really no sedation was needed or should have been used whatever it was. Two, the younger dvm on the first day told me that he gave Merlin a steroid shot. I assumed that was depo maybe. But in fact the records say he was given Onsior which again he should not have been given for pneumonia. We can’t find any mention of it being used for pneumonia. It can cause stupor, lack of appetite and other gastro issues.

Here is the weird part. I only found this out because when I took him to the hospital, the first doctor asked me about Onsior and I said I don’t know I couldn’t remember if he was given that but he had told me he gave him a steroid shot that first day. I wasn’t sure what onsior was.

So it turns out that it was written in the records and I guess she was wondering why he was given that. She even asked me which doctor gave him that because she knows at least the head doctor there I think and she knew the name of the other doctor too.

In addition, at some point the day before he went to the hospital, I called up the office and I asked if they could give him some Lasix because the younger doctor had told me there was a lot of fluid in his lungs. I’ve had two cats with HCM and congestive heart failure who were on Lasix so I thought maybe that could help him clear out the fluid in his lungs. I wasn’t really sure about that or even if it was used for pneumonia.

So, at that point, the receptionist talked to the head doctor and called me back, he had looked at the x-ray and said there was no fluid in the lungs. which I wrote about above in this post- that I got very confused at that point because I was wondering if he even had pneumonia, and asked for his opinion on what was going on here.

So he said he wouldn’t RX the Lasix because it wasn’t needed or something and he RX prednisone liquid instead which I gave him the night but which seemed to make him worse.

This was something the doctor at the hospital asked me about too. She asked me what about Lasix was he on that? I said no and I explained to her what happened but she showed me that Lasix was written in the records as rx for 20 pills with a dose, and I said I don’t understand that because they told me he wouldn’t give me Lasix and they never gave me any Lasix.

So, clearly, something very peculiar is going on here. I don’t know, if anybody can figure this out let me know. Either everybody’s very confused over there. Their records are very inaccurate. They don’t know what shot they gave somebody… who knows.

I’m starting to believe now this was the worst treatment that Merlin could’ve received in the beginning of having pneumonia or whatever was going on with him. We’ve been reading about pneumonia, and my brother found out that a large percentage of cats who have pneumonia also have some type of systemic disease, which was not investigated for Merlin, and they don’t always have the typical pneumonia symptoms.

In addition, I’m remembering other things of that whole crazy conversation with the younger doctor that occurred when I took Merlin back there. And there’s some really crazy stuff which I will have to write about later because I’ve been up all night doing things and I have to sleep.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. When you are feeling up to it, you need to report both of these hospitals to the veterinary medical board. It won’t help Merlin, but it may help someone in the same situation as you in the future.

A horrible injustice has been done. I can’t for the life of me understand the incompetence.

 

[Margot Lane]

Hi. When you are feeling up to it, you need to report both of these hospitals to the veterinary medical board. It won’t help Merlin, but it may help someone in the same situation as you in the future.

A horrible injustice has been done. I can’t for the life of me understand the incompetence.

Totally agree here, something doesn’t add up. Also I don’t know anything about pneumonia but shouldn't there be fluid in the lungs when that occurs? I am glad you are listing all these different things as calmly & objectively as you are able, b/c I think it will help your case. I wonder too, how big and busy your hospital is…no excuse, but if so, I bet that had something to do with these vets & the lack of communication. Lasix written on the records and not used? That’s very odd. Hope you get some deep sleep—- that always helps a lot.

 

[fionasmom]

I am very sorry for your loss of Merlin, and especially under these traumatic and confusing conditions. It would be enough of a loss if he had passed in a more explainable manner, but there is so much that is not clear.

As others have said, please do not blame yourself. It see it over and over here on TCS and with others I know personally who lose pets. We blame ourselves for not being psychic if anything which is the least unclear happens. While we all try to advocate for our animals, it is not our job to make a quick run to vet school so that we know the things that we are supposed to be able to trust our vets to do and know for us.

If you feel up to this, get the records assembled as soon as you can. They are your property and have to be given to you.

Veterinary state board websites
This website has the licensing boards for each state, if you are in the USA. Find your state and, while they are not all in the same format, there should be an area to begin a complaint or a phone number you can call for information on doing so.

 

[Margot Lane]

I am very sorry for your loss of Merlin, and especially under these traumatic and confusing conditions. It would be enough of a loss if he had passed in a more explainable manner, but there is so much that is not clear.

As others have said, please do not blame yourself. It see it over and over here on TCS and with others I know personally who lose pets. We blame ourselves for not being psychic if anything which is the least unclear happens. While we all try to advocate for our animals, it is not our job to make a quick run to vet school so that we know the things that we are supposed to be able to trust our vets to do and know for us.

If you feel up to this, get the records assembled as soon as you can. They are your property and have to be given to you.

Veterinary state board websites
This website has the licensing boards for each state, if you are in the USA. Find your state and, while they are not all in the same format, there should be an area to begin a complaint or a phone number you can call for information on doing so.

And make sure they list what they tested for with the blood work. When you mentioned in your very first post he was mousing and sneezing in the garage, it made me wonder if he could have picked up something there… but I wouldn’t know what, just a stray thought.

 

[Meowmee]

Totally agree here, something doesn’t add up. Also I don’t know anything about pneumonia but shouldn't there be fluid in the lungs when that occurs? I am glad you are listing all these different things as calmly & objectively as you are able, b/c I think it will help your case. I wonder too, how big and busy your hospital is…no excuse, but if so, I bet that had something to do with these vets & the lack of communication. Lasix written on the records and not used? That’s very odd. Hope you get some deep sleep—- that always helps a lot.

There are a lot of conditions that can cause fluid in the lungs and in different places. I realized after reviewing it again now, the fluid buildup that happens in congestive heart failure is different than the pneumonia. You can actually tap the fluid out of the lungs, actually usually I think it builds up outside of the lungs between the heart and the lungs and they can just stick a needle in and suck it out to give them relief which was done for Sybil and for my father when they had congestive heart failure.

However, the fluid buildup in pneumonia I think is usually in the small interstitial tissue and it’s not caused by the same thing as heart failure. So it can’t be tapped out.

Lasix helps people and animals with congestive heart failure because it stops the buildup of fluid that’s caused by the heart failure. You wouldn’t want to use it for pneumonia because it won’t help with that fluid in the small tissues in the lungs and it will cause more dehydration- dehydration can be a serious side effect of pneumonia, and it can cause tachycardia and other problems.

I think sometimes you could have pleural effusion even with pneumonia though, I remember reading that somewhere. So pleural effusion is when the fluid is surrounding the lungs & is leaking out of the heart chambers because the heart can’t pump properly, I think, and that can be tapped out but that can also happen in severe pneumonia.

So, I still don’t have a straight answer of why one doctor told me there was a lot of fluid and the other doctor told me there was no fluid. None of this makes any sense

Anyway I’m giving you this website link below.

So I understand now why he did not want to give Lasix because it was not that type of fluid buildup that he saw on the x-ray. And although it was not sure whether he could have a heart involvement too it might’ve actually hurt him to do that so he gave him prednisilone liquid instead, but that actually seemed to make him worse.

In addition he wouldn’t get on the phone with me or talk to me when I went there about what he thought was causing all of this, or say if he thought it was pneumonia or not. So it’s kind of weird that the young doctor said there was a lot of fluid from the pneumonia and he said there was no fluid. I don’t know if he means there was no fluid like he would see for heart failure, or if there was no fluid for pneumonia either, because he never discussed it with me, in spite of the fact that Merlin is also his patient because he’s head of the clinic.

The woman I spoke with, who was some type of receptionist maybe, said that he was too busy with other patients but when I was there waiting an hour, when I first went there with Merlin, and had I told them he had weird breathing the night before, they had no trouble fitting in other patients who were emergencies who were dogs who did not even have an appointment. I really get the feeling this place is anti-Cat and or just not great with cats even though the head veterinarian told me he has two cats of his own as well as dogs.

But none of this explains why they wrote that they RX Lasix by that veterinarian in their records. And it doesn’t explain all of the other crazy stuff obviously.

To answer your question about the hospital. The hospital is not a true hospital. It’s a tiny little place with a very small back room, and there weren’t very many patients there that I saw when I went there, maybe they were at the back of the cages. I only saw a large dog that was being given an IV, which was next to the oxygen cage that Merlin was in.

So there’s no excuse of them not being able to communicate with each other because it’s not a really large hospital or anything. I decided to go there for a number of reasons- one they had treated Sybil for heart failure and she survived it. Two, the younger doctor told me that he would be separate from dogs there because they don’t have an open room but that turned out not to be true. And three, it was closer and after he told me, Merlin could die on the way there I thought maybe it was just better to go straight to the first place I could get to fast, but obviously it was a mistake.

I don’t know I think I should’ve just let him go right away, because my gut feeling was he’s not gonna make it out of this but obviously I wanted to try, but I just ended up making him suffer even more.

ultimately from what I know now that they did initially I think that gave him almost no chance of surviving whatever was going on between the sedation & the injection of onsior. I don’t know why I allowed them to sedate him. I guess because I didn’t realize that he was already in bad condition then, but I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, and I should’ve realized and just said no I’m gonna hold him down for you because then maybe he would’ve had a chance who knows.
It also makes me think something wrong with these people because I once brought Marilyn there for an ultrasound from a traveling doctor, and I was worried that he was gonna need to be sedated. He had only been seen once there, and the head doctor did not even try to touch him. It was not long after he had come inside. But this woman was great. She used to be part of that practice. She did not have to sedate him and she said he was great. He just lay there and let her do the ultrasounds. So I don’t think Merlyn liked men very much maybe, and also she obviously loved animals a d was good with them, and he could sense that.

In terms of reporting all of this, I have done that before, with what happened with Byron. I met some people online whose cats and dogs had received negligent care at the same place, and we all made a group report together. one of them invited me to join it, to the board in our state that regulates veterinary care.

And nothing came of it. The board just said they didn’t do anything wrong. people are all in each other’s pockets, these regulatory boards and the veterinary boards in my state and I would guess it’s pretty similar in other states too.

I’m not saying that I won’t do that again this time but I’m not going to have any hope that it will have any effect. The main thing you can do is you can write reviews online about what happened and try to warn people and I have done that in the past. I did many years later get an online apology from the clinic that treated Byron at least that they were sorry for what happened to him and me and they then said that none of those doctors were there anymore and it was a long time ago so we were kind of trying to excuse it. However, they were still getting very bad reviews so I don’t really have any faith that that place really improved. And the only reason they did a public online apology was because I reposted my review which should’ve been shuffled to the bottom of reviews that were not seen.

The only thing you can really do is just try not to get into that situation and not let them do this stuff to your cats/ dogs, and for that you have to have a lot of knowledge, and you also have to have the emotional capacity and not get upset even when they’re abusing you when your animal is really sick and to say no to things that you realize are not going to be safe.

You don’t have to go to veterinary school to be able to realize this. After Angie was given convenia, I told myself I’m never gonna allow them to give medication without discussing it with me, but I was not feeling well when I took Merlin in, and then I was so worried that I let all of that slide.

The problem is that these veterinarians often give medication without consulting you, so you have to make that statement to them right away- do not give any medication at all without talking to me about it first. Or don’t give x meds etc. For instance, he had given the shot of onsior without even talking to me, and then he told me he gave him a steroid, which is not true if he, in fact, gave him a shot of onsior. I’m at the point where I’m wondering now if he gave onsior to some other patient and wrote it in Merlin‘s record and gave Merlin the steroid. I guess I will never know for sure.

But anyway, if I do make a complaint, I have all these records to show that what they did was not accurate in their records by comparison, but the thing is these people will just probably believe the veterinarians over me-

for instance, I don’t even know if the doctor that I first talked to at the hospital believes me when I told her Merlin never got any Lasix because it’s written in the record she’s probably likely to believe those doctors more than me.

The fact that she was questioning me about all of this also was very strange to me because she asked me what about Onsior did he get that and I said, I don’t remember him getting it just that he had told me and gave him a steroid shot, and I wasn’t even sure what on or was. Then I was remembering another time he was treated when he had an infection on his paw when he came inside and I was thinking, maybe somebody gave him onsior for that because she said it was a painkiller.

I’m so paranoid now about all these people especially that doctor at my clinic that I’m wondering if he badmouthed me before I brought Merlin over there…supposedly he was on the phone every day with them. I don’t know what to think anymore really. All of this is enough to make you go crazy and not trust anybody ever again.

I also saw when I was reading the records that a receptionist, wrote a bunch of nasty stuff about me. I wasn’t even aware receptionists are allowed to write things in medical records. She wrote that I yelled at her. I went there with a poop sample after I fractured my spine because I had talked to someone in the office and they told me I could just drop off the sample since I couldn’t bring my cats in, and they would test it for me because Zena had runs.

But when I got there this woman was there And she started giving me a real attitude, being condescending and nasty. She said I can’t do that because this cat wasn’t treated here within a year even though we had just been through the pandemic and everything. And then she found Merlin apparently had been there within a year which I didn’t remember. I was getting very upset because I was in a lot of pain with my back and my fracture. I was on painkillers then for it. And I had driven all the way over there with a poop sample which I never would’ve done unless somebody told me they would test it.

She asked me who told you that, and I said I don’t remember so she writes all this in the record as if I am lying. Saying that I was yelling at her, which I wasn't. I couldn’t believe that she was allowed to write that in a record.

As far as I know, she’s not working there anymore because I’ve never seen her there since. This is the first time I’ve been there since then probably though.

They used to have a bossy loud receptionist there that yelled at you in front of everybody in the room if you were 10 minutes late for your appointment, and meanwhile, you have to wait there sometimes an hour to be seen.Lol. She’s not there anymore either as far as I know.

I don’t know I just don’t know what’s to think anymore. I just feel like every time I go to the Dvm now I don’t know what they’re gonna be writing, one about me and two about what I told them about what’s going on with my cat.

Because almost nothing is accurate a lot of the time- for instance I told them that Merlin was mousing in the garage and was spending a lot of time there, and the younger Dr wrote that he was hiding in the garage and that he was not eating which wasn’t true.

I think in the future I’m going to have to write down a typed statement of what I am going to say to them and insist that they put that in their record along with whatever they want to write so I have evidence that they have not properly recorded what I told them.

Fluid in the Lungs in Cats - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Recovery, Management, Cost

Fluid in the lungs in cats is also referred to as pulmonary edema. Excess of fluid inside the lungs can cause a myriad of symptoms and potentially damage the lungs.

wagwalking.com

Here is another one that talks about plural effusion

Pleural Effusion in Adults—Etiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Pleural effusion is common in routine medical practice and can be due to many different underlying diseases. Precise differential diagnostic categorization is essential, as the treatment and prognosis of pleural effusion largely depend on its cause.This ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

.

 

[Margot Lane]

That’s a good idea…write it all down. It’s just so hard to have all your thoughts together when you’re dealing w/ a beloved animal. Thank you for the links and hope you find some kind of peace and answers to it all.

 

[Meowmee]

That’s a good idea…write it all down. It’s just so hard to have all your thoughts together when you’re dealing w/ a beloved animal. Thank you for the links and hope you find some kind of peace and answers to it all.

Thanks. I often used to do that. When I went to the doctor I took my father there or whatever. And I used to do it for my cats too. Which really impressed the best doctor around here ever who is now retired when first took Wizard to him. I guess with everything going on I got more and more exhausted and I stopped doing that but now that I have seen this happened not just on this occasion, but on other occasions that they don’t properly record what they were told, it is obviously a necessity.

I’m going to start doing it again and I’m going to insist that they keep that in their record along with, whatever nonsense they want to write in there. they’ll probably refuse to do that, some of them, but at least I’ll have my own record of it. One thing is for sure I’m never gonna trust any of these people ever again.

 

[Meowmee]

Here is Merlin sharing a treat with Zena 2 weeks before he died, and one week before I took him to the dvm. I wish I had not taken him there. He looks fine.

IMG_6578-compressed.mov

Merlin and Zena sharing a treat on March 12 about 2 weeks before he died on March 28th.

thecatsite.com

 

[Meowmee]

I am very sorry for your loss of Merlin, and especially under these traumatic and confusing conditions. It would be enough of a loss if he had passed in a more explainable manner, but there is so much that is not clear.

As others have said, please do not blame yourself. It see it over and over here on TCS and with others I know personally who lose pets. We blame ourselves for not being psychic if anything which is the least unclear happens. While we all try to advocate for our animals, it is not our job to make a quick run to vet school so that we know the things that we are supposed to be able to trust our vets to do and know for us.

If you feel up to this, get the records assembled as soon as you can. They are your property and have to be given to you.

Veterinary state board websites
This website has the licensing boards for each state, if you are in the USA. Find your state and, while they are not all in the same format, there should be an area to begin a complaint or a phone number you can call for information on doing so.

Thanks. One thing I’m not confused about is these people are terrible and very negligent. I don’t know if I’m ever gonna find out what happened but I’m considering in necropsy now will probably give me more answers and anything else. Problem is I have to get one of them to write a report to do it at Cornell, it will be the second time I’ve done this.

I have in the past reported negligence along with a bunch of other people about a clinic where Byron was killed negligently. But it came to nothing because I think all of these agencies are in each other’s pockets. However, I think I am going to do it again this time anyway.

I’m going to have to get the records for all of my cats there because I’m never going back there again obviously. They did send me Merlin‘s records and his x-rays the first one I think or maybe the second one I’m not sure, and I was looking at them when I was at the er hospital but now I can’t find them- the xrays- on either of my devices so I’m going to have to get them again.

Problem is I really don’t trust these people from what I have seen of what they did and the weird, abusive behavior to say the least of the first veterinarian who treated him so I’m afraid they’re gonna give me a hard time. I hope I don’t have to get a lawyer. He should not be a dvm. I can guarantee you that he’s crazy & abusive.

He was literally flipping back-and-forth between polar opposites. At the end he was telling me Merlyn was OK, and he had a chance to survive so I can go to another hospital and before that was telling me he’s going to die on the way to the hospital, this is all my fault, and I have to leave because I’m gonna accuse him of killing my cat.

He actually came back into the room at some point I think while we’re waiting for the x-rays and the stat bloodwork and was trying to get me to leave again can you believe this? maybe it was before that it’s all a blur because it was so crazy and I got traumatized from the whole thing.

I don’t know how I lived through all of that. I wish I had a videotape of all of it- at some point I got on the phone with my brother because I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown and I also wanted to see what he wanted to do. I was on the phone for a lot of it but not for the abusive parts unfortunately otherwise I would have a witness to that.

There’s also no way a Cat should’ve been given telazol to sedate him for an xray when he’s a tame touchable cat, and I had told him he was breathing strangely the night before. And he shouldn’t have been given onsior, and then a whole bunch of other stuff, so I don’t think I can let this go without at least trying to hold them accountable on some level. I know they’re going to try and blame it all on me and say that I should’ve taken him to a hospital sooner. But look what the Hospital did to him when I took him there, they did everything wrong too, causing him even more stress and messing up so many things.

I still wish I had taken him to a better hospital right away. Maybe he would’ve got better treatment. The first doctor gave me the impression that he was stable and I could treat this at home. But I should’ve known better.

 

[GenCat]

I’m so sorry for your loss…will try to keep up with your posts and offer whatever support and advice I can.

From what I was informed about the xray/ultrasound they have to stay extremely still and they said even with my girl LiLi that they may have to sedate her. Apparently she was good and didn’t try to move too much but I could see how a cat in distress might be difficult. Still I would hope that would be a last resort for a cat with difficulty breathing…

What’s crazy to me is that they had difficulty getting him to eat but they seemed very blasé about handling it when that’s so so important for a sick cat. The first thing they told me when LiLi had her surgery was if she didn’t start eating a few hours after surgery that they would have to put a feeding tube in (I insisted they just do it during surgery so she wouldn’t have to go through two separate stressful incidents)

 

[Meowmee]

I’m so sorry for your loss…will try to keep up with your posts and offer whatever support and advice I can.

From what I was informed about the xray/ultrasound they have to stay extremely still and they said even with my girl LiLi that they may have to sedate her. Apparently she was good and didn’t try to move too much but I could see how a cat in distress might be difficult. Still I would hope that would be a last resort for a cat with difficulty breathing…

What’s crazy to me is that they had difficulty getting him to eat but they seemed very blasé about handling it when that’s so so important for a sick cat. The first thing they told me when LiLi had her surgery was if she didn’t start eating a few hours after surgery that they would have to put a feeding tube in (I insisted they just do it during surgery so she wouldn’t have to go through two separate stressful incidents)

A tame cat should never be sedated for an xray. I’ve had numerous xrays done on my cats over the years, including two cats in heart failure and respiratory distress- not one was ever sedated. This was complete incompetence/ negligence on the part of this dvm/ office.

In addition, knowing he had breathing issues the previous night and I suspected heart issues, they gave him a contraindicated anesthetic that is not supposed to be used for cats with heart issues/ breathing problems, but no sedation would have been safe for him and it wasn’t needed. Please don’t try to excuse what they did here.

There was talk of a nasal tube at the er hospital but that was not done due to the fact that the unneeded sedation & onsior also not needed which can also cause stupor and anorexia had put him into such a terrible condition- also the stress and increased breathing rate was not properly treated at that point initially by them or later.

In addition true respiratory distress is an emergent issue that tops eating issues. He was on iv fluids with glucose though for dehydration/ meds etc. & so he was getting some nourishment that way.

This new trend of using sedation when not needed by dvm is alarming. I even read somewhere groomers/ people are sedating cats to shave their fur, with telazol. That should not be happening.

there is a reason you have to sign a release form if your cat is sedated, saying whether or not you want him or her resuscitated. It’s because they know there’s always a danger in it….it’s not something that should ever be taken lightly. real Dvm in the past rarely use sedation for anything, except surgeries etc. except for cats that are totally feral, or who go berserk at the dvm, and usually then they would be given some anti-anxiety, meds in advance.

I’ve never been big on syringe feeding or nasal tubes etc.. It’s too dangerous and they can aspirate from syringe feeding- forcing food into a cat who is very ill is not a good idea either in my opinion.

I had one cat who I think died from syringe feeding from aspiration. He was an outdoor cat that I had taken in, but he was very ill with something else. He had gone temporarily blind, and nobody knew what was going on with him. I took him to the same Dvm and I had forgotten that they messed up with him too. I posted about him here a while back…poor Giorgio. I remember I brought him in towards the end, and I knew pretty much he wasn’t gonna make it in this idiot Dvm there, a woman who is no longer there is trying to convince me that he just needs to take some steroids. I said well then you should’ve called me back when I called you last week and said he might need some more bloodwork. I said no he’s dying he’s suffering and I want to let him go. He was going to die anyway but I regretted force feeding him.

I should’ve stopped taking my cats there a long time ago. I remember once I took one of my other outdoor cats there who ended up dying- Jezibel, she had an enucleation, and her oral cancer was not diagnosed. The enucleation was done elsewhere.

I have also noticed ever since I have been going there- They never keep any of the Dvm there. There’s one head Dvm, who’s older who owns the practice, and then they usually have one or two younger Dvm- they all leave. None of them stay there. And a lot of them have seemed subpar to me. The one who left and is a traveling ultrasound dvm is OK. I was not that impressed with her is a Dvm, but I was impressed with her doing the ultrasound on Merlin.

The first time I took Jez here I remember they did something to her. She had to be sedated because she was not a touchable cat at all, she was feral. And when they brought her out to take her home, I noticed she was drooling, and breathing strangely. I asked them what is the matter with her, she doesn’t seem like she should be released yet, and the techs came over and just said oh she’s fine, but I insisted she was not, and they took her back in for a while. I had totally forgotten about that.

I’m really starting to think this place needs to be shut down, and I’m gonna do my best with reporting them to have them have some sort of accountability for their incompetence once I recover more.

I did try to feed Merlin, I was rubbing food / paste on the side of his mouth. Initially, he had not eaten the night before going there, he did eat during the day though. After the DVM then he stopped eating almost completely after the sedation and the onsior. Maybe he ate one treat and about five pieces of dry food on his own. Otherwise it was just me smearing the paste near his mouth, some licky treats, and some cat food. He did eat two or three licky treats that I gave him after the antibiotics in the first two or three days too. But it seemed like the antibiotics etc. were just making him get worse and worse. He was never the same again after the sedation and the onsior.

I’m glad your kitty is ok.

 

[silent meowlook]

Telazol should not be used in cats, ever. Sedation of a cat that is healthy but stressed is ok if it prevents staff fighting with the cat. But honestly nobody should ever fight with a cat.

If you go to the state veterinary board website, you can look up violations with veterinarians in that state. Look to see if any licenses have been revoked or put on probation.

Reporting them may not mean they loose their license, but it does bring allot of stress and fines and paperwork to them. It also is a sort of ding against them if they are yo be reported again.

 

[Meowmee]

Telazol should not be used in cats, ever. Sedation of a cat that is healthy but stressed is ok if it prevents staff fighting with the cat. But honestly nobody should ever fight with a cat.

If you go to the state veterinary board website, you can look up violations with veterinarians in that state. Look to see if any licenses have been revoked or put on probation.

Reporting them may not mean they loose their license, but it does bring allot of stress and fines and paperwork to them. It also is a sort of ding against them if they are yo be reported again.

Why do you think that about telazol? My brother said after reading about it that it was more dangerous because it has two components in it.

yeah, an unhealthy cat should not be sedated unless it’s some type of emergency and they have to do emergency surgery or whatever. One of my cats years ago, who was a feral kitten, who was tame, and then became feral at about six months old used to go beserk at my previous previous Dvm. But they never sedated her. They just gave me a pill to calm her down before I brought her there. Even then she would be growling and spitting etc. Somehow they managed to examine her though. And nobody got injured.

I remember someone asked me is she like that at home. I laughed and I said if she was like this at home, I don’t think I could have her inside the house. It was only at the Dvm, but even with the pill, I forgotten what it was now this was years ago, she still got very stressed out, Merlin only got stressed out from anxiety. I remember the last time I had brought him there. He had a panic attack and he was panting and crying. he wasn’t sick then.

I don’t know maybe I’m not thinking clearly, but I’m starting to wonder now from that if he did have some type of underlying heart condition and it was never picked up on, even though I kept telling them that he was doing that sneezing thing on and off. The first time I brought him there the Dvm did not even touch him. He just kinda looked at him a little bit, and Merlin did not get into a panic in the carrier.

 

[silent meowlook]

https://www.zoetisus.com/content/_assets/docs/telazol_pi.pdf

The above is the drug insert from the people that make and sell the drug.

What I don’t like is that it has not been studied much in cats, it gives inconsistent results, you cannot intubate to maintain oxygen saturation, it drops the blood pressure, yet is excreted in urine making it a double whammy on kidneys, it causes salivation and drooling, but you can’t intubate, so higher risk for aspiration, can also cause pulmonary edema, and a very rough recovery, in my experience. It is an old school drug and there are far better things to use now.