Pneumonia in a Cat - Should the Vet have spotted it straight away??

[rockinhippy]

Sadly my Mum & Dads gorgeous Bengal Boy died a few days ago :(

He seemed a bit under the weather & they were keeping an eye on him, over the next couple of they noticed his breathing was a bit laboured & rapidly getting worse, so took him to the vet, who didn't really diagnose anything as such, but gave him 2 jabs & sent him home - that night he went missing - was found next morning, outside & collapsed under their back window - my Dad rushed him straight round to the Vets & they kept him in, he died a few hours later :(

They've just now found out it was Pneumonia & his lungs were full of fluid :(

Would you expect a Vet to be able to spot this & keep him in & treat him at the first visit ??

TIA

[Fluffycloudland77]

I really dont know but they doctors missed it frequently in my nephew, 6months old to 12 years.

I would imagine in gets a grip pretty quickly as it's a nasty infection.

Sorry to hear he's gone, we have a Bengal. Your poor parents.

[ripsishere]

Not sure about cats, but like Fluffy said, my DD had three seperate episodes. Each took over a week and an xray to diagnose.

[ripsishere]

I'd like to add, your parents should really have been keeping him in if he was that sick.
Vets are not omniscient.

[rockinhippy]

ripsi thats hardly helpful & unnecessary when they have just lost a very much loved member of the family, we are all very upset & FTR he WAS kept in, but escaped - he was a very clever & powerful cat & managed to undo the window catch & get out anyway

but thank you all for your replies - I had similar with my own DD & pneumonia - 5 GPs missed it - so I had wondered if it might be the same for pets - Mum & Dad are obviously upset & trying to find answers & of course blaming themselves for not realising just how ill he was & making the vet keep him in - that said my Dad has now had a long talk to the vet, who himself was very upset & explained on examining his body, there was also signs of trauma, so he may have been hit by a car, or even kicked & that could have caused the fluid on the lungs :( - not sure its helped them knowing they didn't spot that possibility either, but I'm sure they'll come to terms with it all in time :(

[Lizcat]

I'm sorry to hear about your parents cat. I am a vet and also an owner of a cat with a chronic pleural effusion (fluid round her lungs). Often in cats even in an experience cat owner who is a vet the signs of this can be hard to spot my own cat's chest was half full up with fluid on x-ray when I first noticed that her breathing rate was a little increased.

[rockinhippy]

Thank you Lizcat - that sounds pretty much the same experience my parents had, took him to the vet as he just seemed under the weather & was breathing a little fast & it just seem to all escalate so quickly from there

It will help a lot for them to know that even in a vet the signs are hard to spot, as they are blaming themselves at the moment

I'm really sorry your own Cat has it too, I hope she pulls though for you

thanks again :)

[ripsishere]

Sorry, I'll ask for my post to be withdrawn despite thinking I am right.

[rockinhippy]

A back handed apology like that is hardly worth the trouble of typing

you were WRONG, because you made assumptions that were not true & offered your very negative & unhelpful opinion on something you had no clue about

if it was so important for you to say he should have been kept in, perhaps you should have had the courtesy to ASK first, rather than just make assumptions & offer your quite cruel & nasty opinion, when it had no baring at all on the question I ask

maybe you should stick to AIBU