Post-Neuter Issues with Rescue Kitten

[catmamacass]

I have a kitten I rescued from the street about 6 weeks ago now. I signed up for a community foster program since I have two seniors (14) that tolerate the little guy, but he mostly stresses them out and displays a lot of play aggression not having another kitten around. I thought fostering him through adoption was the best idea for now (and I can always change my mind and keep him).

Today he was neutered via an appointment with a vet working with the nonprofit. I had my two cats as kittens and had no issues post-op. I’ve also done TNR for a few feral adults and no issues with them.

However, upon picking up my little guy today, they told me he had “rubbed his face raw” in the medical cage when they were out for lunch. I suppose if the clinic had a high volume I could see him being unsupervised coming out of anesthesia, but I’m surprised this happened at all. I didn’t think much of it until I got him home and saw him in the light. They didn’t seem to think it was a big deal and said to use an over the counter triple antibiotic ointment on the wounds (which is also concerning due to potential allergic reaction if ingested, or is it okay?).

The area of incision doesn’t look so good either. Is there cause for concern, or is does this seem normal? Anyone else have experience with their kittens / cats hurting themselves post-neutering (possibly still under the effects of anesthesia and under the care of the vet staff)? The nonprofit coordinators don’t seem to think it’s a big deal either and are making me feel like I’m overreacting, but I’m worried about my little one.

Please see the photos (he’s been very active despite my efforts to keep him calm, so the rear end shots are a bit blurry).

 

[cookiedough03]

Not an expert here but how did your cat rub its face against the cage and the nose is not scratched?? Also I don't know how old is your kitten but in my area vets ask for cats to be 6-8 months for neuter/spay surgery. This kitten looks too young.
Is it possible to complain to the foster program you signed up for or report the vet? Does the clinic has surveillance camera that you can check?
edit: " If a veterinarian harms or kills an animal due to carelessness or negligence, this may constitute malpractice."

 

[reba]

Overreact, if you were at a regular vet this would be fit-pitch worthy. It looks as though he got caught in the cage somehow. Like hell it happened when they were out for lunch. It’s under both eyes. Honestly I would call animal protective. It looks burns almost. I know what I’m suggesting is easier said than done. You know maybe you could ask another, more reputable shelter - “hey I was jsut wondering”, email the executive director if you can get the address. You don’t have to directly accuse anyone of anything this way.

You can’t unring a bell. Can you afford to take him to a regular vet? If you‘re not afraid to confront them with an email then do so (if you need some help writing it, let me know privately.) Honestly I’ll let others weigh in, but the fact they were dismissive and not apologetic to me means BIG RED FLAG. Abuse or just gross incompetence is not uncommon in the “not profit” rescue community.

 

[reba]

That’s the other thing, how old is this kitten. I know they do them young (too young IMO) because people would adopt them and not return for the surgery.

 

[di and bob]

Kittens can be neutered at 2 lbs, which is not very old at all, and they usually heal very quickly at such a young age. His face was most likely pushing through the wire squares in the netting of his cage. Being so small, his nose would fit through but not his head, thank goodness. I am neutering ferals right now and they don't receive any postoperative care at all, just neutered, kept overnight, examined, and then released. They are all fine months later. This is very unfortunate, but keep applying the antibiotic salve, or get some wound spray at a farm supply store like Tractor supply for cats and apply it by soaking a cotton ball. The spraying sound scares them and it is too close to his eyes. OTC salve is fine and won't hurt him if he ingests a little bit, but just make sure it does NOT have painkillers/relievers in it, that is toxic. it is really too soon to see how his incision will turn out, just keep monitoring it and look for any white/yellow/green drainage indicating infection. Give him lots of cuddles and attention right now, and all the food he can eat until he is a year old. I feel sorry for the little guy, it must be sore, but as long as he is eating, drinking, and not hiding, everything is OK.

 

[Asia and her cats]

If one of mine came back like this, the vet AND the non-profit would be black-listed and I’d officially adopt the kitten so it could never end up in their hands. I agree that being in a cage *could* cause this, but the lack of aftercare that would be involved to allow this to happen would be very concerning to me.

 

[reba]

With all due to people who have more experience than I, a kitten doesn’t just keep banging it’s face against a cage until it’s skin is rubbed off. And that they would leave these animals alone post op or ignore it having a panic attack. None of this adds up. None of it. Wears the fur on it’s head off? Sorry I’m appalled. Do these people have a license. Where are these surgeries being conducted?

 

[Sajast]

Kittens can be neutered at 2 lbs, which is not very old at all, and they usually heal very quickly at such a young age. His face was most likely pushing through the wire squares in the netting of his cage. Being so small, his nose would fit through but not his head, thank goodness. I am neutering ferals right now and they don't receive any postoperative care at all, just neutered, kept overnight, examined, and then released. They are all fine months later. This is very unfortunate, but keep applying the antibiotic salve, or get some wound spray at a farm supply store like Tractor supply for cats and apply it by soaking a cotton ball. The spraying sound scares them and it is too close to his eyes. OTC salve is fine and won't hurt him if he ingests a little bit, but just make sure it does NOT have painkillers/relievers in it, that is toxic. it is really too soon to see how his incision will turn out, just keep monitoring it and look for any white/yellow/green drainage indicating infection. Give him lots of cuddles and attention right now, and all the food he can eat until he is a year old. I feel sorry for the little guy, it must be sore, but as long as he is eating, drinking, and not hiding, everything is OK.

Exactly this. I’ve also seen ferals injure their faces, mostly their noses because the wires are so close together. When they’re scared out of their minds (or high as a kite and hallucinating) they can injure themselves. Still sad though and I’d be a bit upset that no one noticed/intervened until the skin was raw. He will heal!

 

[fionasmom]

At the very least, this is negligence. The fact that they are all at lunch at the same time is irresponsible....one tech can't stay with the animals on a rotational basis one day a week so that they are not left unattended?. I think the kitten was frightened, possibly anesthesia involved in his perception of things, and he rubbed his face against the cage. However, back to the point that he should never have been unattended. It makes me wonder what is happening to the pet who had major surgery while they all close for lunch.

How far you go with this is another question. I would bring this to the attention of the rescue...who may not be that upset about it, so brace yourself, if they are getting a really good rate from this vet or he is all they can afford. Then never go back.

 

[catmamacass]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the responses. I'll do my best to respond to everything here and provide updates –

More background on my rescue foster kitten:
My little guy is approximately 11-12 weeks old. I found him crying in distress under and outside my building the day after a rare LA storm and knew while he looked healthy, that he had been separated from mama for at least 14 hours and that I should take him in. I never saw a potential mama around the days before or since. He was about 1.25 lbs upon rescuing him. Because I have two senior cats and have been feeding and trapping ferals on my block, I decided having the option to community foster and have resources to adopt him out would be best depending on how he does with my seniors (which hasn't been terrible, but also not great because they don't want to play with him). That said, I've also debated taking in another foster kitten so he has a little playmate and to ease his play aggression and the possibility of problem behaviors lingering into adulthood (scratching and biting). The next and last step on the list was to get him neutered to be ready for adoption soon based on the recommendations that they have to be at least 8 weeks and 2 lbs. Depending on how the efforts to adopt him out go, I may still consider taking in another foster and may even keep him because I've become quite attached to him (but I know this is a bit selfish). Ultimately, him having another kitten and/or young adult cat is best for him and the non-profit I'm going through doesn't allow kittens under 4 months to be adopted out as single kittens – there must be another young cat or kitten in the household or adopted with another foster, which I totally believe in also.

Regarding the post-op situation and the injury to his face:
I'm very upset and have since also reached out to an experienced local TNR volunteer and community foster, as well as another local non-profit that does fostering programs in the area, have called the vet that did the neutering, and had continued dialogue with the non-profit running the community fostering program we are a part of.

The president and medical coordinator of the non-profit said he's never seen this happen with a kitten before in his time, nor in the 20 years of the non-profit facilitating s/n appointments for fosters, and because of that, does not believe this to be a systemic issue with this particular vet. Others I've talked to have never seen this happen to a kitten post neutering / coming out of anesthesia, including this cat hospital's management and techs. The consensus seems to be that it's an unfortunate event based on my kitten's "hyperactivity" since most are sleepy and groggy... mine was not. I do still believe they're at fault and have made that known, but because there is no reported issue of this happening with any of the 10+ different vets and s/n operations they are connected with in the LA/SoCal area, they're chalking it up to be a random one-off event, and one that he'll heal from.

More on the convo with the management & vet tech at the cat hospital:
I called the vet office immediately after speaking with a colleague that said they usually have their kittens returned with cones to prevent injury and wanted to know more about the situation and how / why it happened. What is also upsetting is that what is written on the check-out form / post-op instructions from the vet is different than what was said by the manager / vet tech –

The note says that he "rubbed his face raw" when they were "out to lunch" and to “put a little BNP ointment on the spots for a few days”. However, on the phone the manager/tech that was present yesterday said that when they check on the kittens between surgeries they noticed him rubbing up on his post-op sterilized cage and tried to deter him by placing a towel, etc. Then when it hadn't stopped they moved him to his carrier and he calmed down (at this point the damage was done).

I asked why they hadn't put a cone on him to prevent him from this type of injury (based on what my colleague said), but they said they do not do that due to needing to closely monitor their breathing after surgery and that a cone could cause similar injury (this doesn't seem to add up to me?). Then I also expressed grievance regarding the information they gave me in terms of what ointment to use. They said they had told me in person that they used an eye ointment on him (specifically for cats) – which they definitely didn't specify to me. I asked for clarification on BNP in person and asked if OTC was okay and they confirmed (however apparently now they said this was miscommunication / my misunderstanding). They said the non-profit was responsible for giving me medical supplies and that I needed to call the non-profit medical coordinator about that because I'm not an individual client and that the non-profit is the client. Most of this conversation was defensive and involved some changing of things that were said, and ultimately they didn't want to talk to me anymore and told me to talk to the non-profit instead. They said this situation has never happened there before and it was due to my kitten's hyperactive nature. Of course to them – it is the kitten's fault, they did what they could, and said he'll heal fine.

I ended the conversation quite upset and finished up resolving with the non-profit. I do trust that the non-profit and the vet doc have cats' best interests in mind, however, maybe not this particular vet manager/tech. It's unfortunate that the non-profit didn't offer to consult with the vet practice further on this (maybe they will), but they have the incident noted, said it will heal, and hopefully nothing like this happens to any other rescues in their care. The non-profit always converses in a matter-of-fact way, I imagine due to the amount of emails and requests they get from the public on a daily basis. Every NK shelter and non-profit in the SoCal area has been at capacity for almost a year, fosters inundated with kittens, some s/n services only servicing for TNR and rescues vs. pets because everywhere is just overwhelmed. Ultimately, my little guy is back home and safe, and hopefully will heal well and quickly. I'm so sad this happened to him. Of course the vet manager asked me if this was my "first neuter" indicating once again that I'm overreacting, and I was like, um... no, not at all! Anything for it to not be their fault.

All in all, there are so many cats out there in rough situations and long term medical issues and these non-profits are doing what they can to rescue cats and kittens from kill-shelters and help facilitate medical needs and fostering. If my kitten has any further complications from this incident, this won't be the last they hear from me, but he's home now safe, well-fed, and as active as usual.

I appreciate everyone's concern and advice, especially Di & Bob

Reba and others, I've had all the same feelings, but I now also realize I have to focus on what I can do about it now and not let the anger consume me. As Di & Bob said, what's important is that he is eating, drinking, and not hiding and that is the case. I'll post photos when he is healed and updates if any concerns.

 

[catmamacass]

Exactly this. I’ve also seen ferals injure their faces, mostly their noses because the wires are so close together. When they’re scared out of their minds (or high as a kite and hallucinating) they can injure themselves. Still sad though and I’d be a bit upset that no one noticed/intervened until the skin was raw. He will heal!

Thank you!

 

[catmamacass]

At the very least, this is negligence. The fact that they are all at lunch at the same time is irresponsible....one tech can't stay with the animals on a rotational basis one day a week so that they are not left unattended?. I think the kitten was frightened, possibly anesthesia involved in his perception of things, and he rubbed his face against the cage. However, back to the point that he should never have been unattended. It makes me wonder what is happening to the pet who had major surgery while they all close for lunch.

How far you go with this is another question. I would bring this to the attention of the rescue...who may not be that upset about it, so brace yourself, if they are getting a really good rate from this vet or he is all they can afford. Then never go back.

Thank you for this. Just posted an update on the info and agree with you

 

[catmamacass]

Kittens can be neutered at 2 lbs, which is not very old at all, and they usually heal very quickly at such a young age. His face was most likely pushing through the wire squares in the netting of his cage. Being so small, his nose would fit through but not his head, thank goodness. I am neutering ferals right now and they don't receive any postoperative care at all, just neutered, kept overnight, examined, and then released. They are all fine months later. This is very unfortunate, but keep applying the antibiotic salve, or get some wound spray at a farm supply store like Tractor supply for cats and apply it by soaking a cotton ball. The spraying sound scares them and it is too close to his eyes. OTC salve is fine and won't hurt him if he ingests a little bit, but just make sure it does NOT have painkillers/relievers in it, that is toxic. it is really too soon to see how his incision will turn out, just keep monitoring it and look for any white/yellow/green drainage indicating infection. Give him lots of cuddles and attention right now, and all the food he can eat until he is a year old. I feel sorry for the little guy, it must be sore, but as long as he is eating, drinking, and not hiding, everything is OK.

Really appreciate this! Just posted an update with more details.

 

[reba]

Thank you so much for posting this update. The thing is that now that you’ve said something, if it happens again they’ll have some basis to take action and/or it won’t happen again because they‘re on notice. Let’s face it, bad people can exploit altruism just as easily as anything else. A lot of bad behavior flourishes because people think they’re the only one who saw it/were a victim of it.

I hope you keep him - he’s adorable! I do think a playmate would be nice. I thought four cats might be too much ,but then that’s what I ended up with and it was fun. I only have 2 as of Monday and the house seems empty.

 

[catmamacass]

My last email to the non-profit last night:

Hello,

I followed up with **** further in text today regarding the situation and ointment options after calling ******* to *****, but I wanted to follow up once more here in email so everyone is aware and it's in writing. I understand that this apparently hasn't happened to a kitten with your org before, but I still don't understand why my kitten was unsupervised post-op / after anesthesia, especially when they claim (verbally) to have seen him exhibiting the behavior, left the room, and he continued to hurt himself until eventually moved him to his carrier. This is negligent and I've since found a few reviews on Yelp and Google that mention Rosie (the manager?) specifically, and they describe what I experienced in terms of her insensitivity and ineptitude (she claimed to have said things in person that she did not, and what she is saying happened differed from what was written by the doctor on the form). I understand this could be an unfortunate one-off incident and is being blamed on the kitten being hyperactive (of course he was scared, on drugs, etc.), but it seems it could have been avoided. How long did he have to rub his face on the post-op cage for it to look like it does? Hopefully he heals well with no issue or scarring.

I emailed everyone because I was concerned as to how this happened and what is written in the notes on the after-care form vs. what the manager/vet tech said on the phone. The form says he rubbed his face raw when they were "at lunch", and yet the manager said it happened between surgeries when checking on the cats. They also said they couldn't put a cone on him because they closely monitor their breathing. It doesn't add up and to put it simply, someone is lying to some degree or I'm not getting all the information. I don't appreciate being made to feel that I'm overreacting by anyone when others I've consulted were appalled that this happened, being an avoidable situation, and no one has apologized.

I know there are cats with worse issues in greater need of your time and I would hate to see any of those situations made worse because of this type of negligence from ******* to *****. Ultimately I would never go there again or recommend them based on this experience. I hope that if you ever hear of any type of issue with your fosters being seen there, please don't continue to work with them. I would have used FixNation.

Thanks.

Best,

 

[fionasmom]

You handled this very well, calmly and professionally, and if you ever have to deal with any of these people again, they will remember that you are vigilant about your animals.

Fostering another kitten is a great idea, if for no other reason than they will teach each other not to bite and scratch.

 

[catmamacass]

You handled this very well, calmly and professionally, and if you ever have to deal with any of these people again, they will remember that you are vigilant about your animals.

Fostering another kitten is a great idea, if for no other reason than they will teach each other not to bite and scratch.

Thank you! I actually also officially filed a complaint against the veterinary practice through the Veterinary Medical Board online, since I agree – this is negligence at the least. Pretty easy since I had photos, appt confirmations, proof of calls, etc. We'll see if anything comes from it. I hope they would at least be looked into. https://www.breeze.ca.gov/datamart/loginCADCA.do

 

[fionasmom]

As you have done, I am one to also file official complaints with medical boards and insurance boards. While I am not sure of this, it will remain listed as a notation on the license of the vet until it is resolved (at least it does in CA with contractors). Please let us know what happens.

 

[catmamacass]

Absolutely will update. Also, one of the neuter incisions isn't looking so great (some swelling and redness on one side since yesterday) and the non-profit is going to supply some antibiotics for me to pick up today, thankfully

 

[fionasmom]

I hope that there is a complete recovery, along with a resolution to this.