Hi, I'm usually a lurker, although I've posted a couple of times, but I have an issue that I need some advice with and you seem like a friendly bunch. One of my DCats was hit by a car (again) in June, and was transferred to a specialist vet for pelvic fracture repair.
His recovery is going really well, thank goodness, but we ran into an issue that we weren't expecting a couple of weeks ago. To save drip-feeding or missing anything out, I've copied and pasted an edited version of my email to the specialist vets.
They've responded to my email saying that they'll come back to me in 14 days. What do you think our chances are that they'll cover the costs of the treatment? More than anything I'm really pissed off that DCat was in so much pain.
Dear Vets
You carried out bilateral sacro-iliac luxation repair on our DCat, on 28th June 2017, together with follow-up appointments for X-rays and aftercare. Following the surgery, you asked us to keep DCat on cage rest, which we did. I telephoned your surgery approximately 4 – 5 days after picking DCat up as I was concerned that he was struggling to defecate. After taking advice, a staff member recommended that I give him 4ml lactulose for 1 week, reducing to 2ml for a further week, and then reducing to 2ml ‘as and when I felt necessary’. This I did.
Our last appointment with you was on Wednesday 23rd August, following X-rays, at which time you advised that DCat could come out of the cage and should be kept in the house to increase his exercise before being let out of the house in four weeks time. No further appointments were needed, as you were happy with his progress. When I had dropped DCat off in the morning for X-ray I mentioned to the staff member that I was still concerned about DCat’s defecation, but as you did not mention this when we collected him we assumed that you did not feel this was a concern.
On Monday 28th August, DCat vomited. We put this down to a mild bug and kept an eye on him. On the evening of Tuesday 29th August, DCat vomited further, and began leaking diarrhoea. He was curling up in agony and unable to defecate, although visiting his litter tray frequently. We called the two mobile numbers left on your surgery answerphone for emergencies (07XXX and 07XXX) but there was no answer on either number so we contacted the emergency vet cover for our usual vet practise and took DCat there straight away.
Whilst we were waiting to see the vet, one of your staff members called me back – her number had been accidentally left on your answerphone as she wasn’t covering emergencies that evening. I explained what had happened, and she said to call if we needed assistance, which was kind.
On examination, the vet advised that DCat was very badly constipated, and was shocked that we hadn’t been advised that he should be on a daily dose of lactulose for life. He was X-rayed, and we were advised that his bowel was full of faeces.
Emergency vet kept DCat in overnight to attempt to manually remove the faeces but were unable to do so due to the narrowness of his pelvic canal. We transferred him to Normal Vet the following morning (Tuesday 29th), and they carried out a further X-ray and an enema, which cleared his bowel successfully.
Normal Vets were also surprised to learn that we weren’t dosing DCat with lactulose daily. G, the examining vet, also advised that she has had to euthanise cats who have suffered the same injury as DCat, as the narrowness of the pelvic canal hasn’t allowed them to successfully defecate and has been incompatible with life. This shocked us. At no time, even when I phoned up regarding his problems with defecation, was it made clear that the lactulose should be given daily for life.
We are responsible pet owners. We insure our cats, and when they have been injured or ill we follow the vets advise to the letter. Everything you have asked us to do, we have done. Your treatment of DCat until this issue has been incredible, both times you have looked after him and patched him back together, but I cannot tell you how disappointed we are. This lack of information left our cat writhing in pain and leaking diarrhoea. It also cost us £1243.14.
I attach photos of the two receipts for payment – one to the emergency vets and one to Normal Vets – and would ask that you consider covering these costs, bearing in mind the lack of information given to us. I would also ask that you ensure that all future owners of pets undergoing the same operation are given the correct information to ensure that their pets don’t go through the same ordeal as our cat.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Yours sincerely
Ms HTK & partner of HTK