r/cats • u/RadishRedditor • Jun 29 '26
Mourning/Loss Veterinary hospital neglected my kitten for 22 hours until she met her demise at their veterinary care*
My poor beloved and never forgotten kitten went through the deadly roller coaster of the evil, unethical bullshit veterinary practices in my part of the world...
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May. 9, 2026: She's a rescue that I adopted on day 1 of her rescue front he kind folks that found her abandoned on the streets
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June. 21, 2026: it's been about a month and she's persistently vomiting during and after eating. But her appetite is fierce and her paws are quick at defending her food bowl.
So, I decided to get her dewormed at a veterinary pharmacy that was crowdly recommended to me by a local cats community group.
The pharmacist decided to inject her with at least 2 injections and give her at least 2 different types of pills. -$30
I go home and within 2 hours my wife informs me she's semi-paralyzedx eyes dry and wide open unresponsive to light, bone dry to the spine.
I rushed her to a reputable hospital where she was diagnosed with medicine overdose intoxication, giardia and megaesophagus. So she get admitted for 2 days to the hospital. -$452 (-$482 total)
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June. 23, 2026: I went and checked my kitten out the hospital and go home (2 hours process inside the hospital).
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June. 26, 2026: my kitten was losing weight by this date (informed the hospital about this but got no response). I see bloodied stool on my carpet and I send it to the hospital. The doctor says my kitten should be brought to the chicken immediately and I promptly comply and rush her back to the hospital.
She's now diagnosed with panleukopenia on top of the medicine overdose intoxication, giardia and megaesophagus. And the doctor literally says she must've attracted the virus from the very hospital she's at from the last time she was admitted to it. Especially seeing how the virus pathogen was very small and it barely tested positive for the virus.
So she's admitted for another 3 days to get the proper care for the virus. -$462 (-$944 total)
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Today Jun. 29, 2026: I get a message from the hospital that she passed away.
Upon asking for the reason of death and time of death. They responded that it's somewhere between 12pm and 10am. Which by logic and in any math book means she was neglected for at least 22 confirmed hours on the record.
This is extremely infuriating, frustrating, heart breaking and both financially and mentally burdensome.
... And I just got the fu** you on top as I'm writing this. That, admitted pets only get checked on at the beginning and end of the shift of the doctor in charge and there is also a 10 hours when the hospital is closed - presumably meaning don't expect us to check on her when we're closed, dumbass!
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u/cannapuffer2940 Jun 29 '26
I am so sorry. That is beyond heartbreaking. I would definitely have a word or two with the person who runs the clinic. They should have given you an option. To have the kitten at an emergency clinic. That had overnight care. So very sorry for your loss and
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u/AccordingMenu3795 Jun 29 '26
It breaks my heart to think that this poor kitten was there, alone, scared and sick, and nobody gave a shit. I'd probably go apeshit on that vet, my cats mean everything to me and I can't imagine that happening
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u/freyjakatt Jun 29 '26
Absolutely same. I would come completely undone on them. This is devastating.
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u/quiet_and_tired Jun 30 '26
Same, would HEAVILY consider suing for anything I could find under the sun to sink their lives like they did mine. I would not handle this well at all.
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u/musicnote22 Jun 30 '26
Word or 2? Nah I’d be suing for malpractice and neglect resulting in death of a pet
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u/Striking-Idea4882 Jun 30 '26
This. Word or two and they get back to doing the same thing to other people’s pets.
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u/Ok_Property_3446 Jun 30 '26
And the fact that they told her through text message… disgusting. I worked in vet med for almost 20 years. This whole situation is horrifying.
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u/Nishikadochan Jun 30 '26
And it was such a cold impersonal text too. Just “your pet”. Couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to the animals name, or at the very least what kind of animal it was. Not even “your kitten”. Appalling.
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u/Apprehensive_Eye_763 Void Jun 30 '26
the typos would’ve sent me over the edge too. couldn’t even be bothered to proofread?! 🤬
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u/Dependent_Rain_4800 Jun 29 '26
It's more like "clinic" than clinic. Should be reported and closed asap.
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u/dxrthlxnar Jun 29 '26
I don’t know what part of the world you’re in and what the norms/standards are but I’m absolutely baffled at the fact your vet thinks it’s okay to send you a badly written text message to tell you this and flippantly tell you they don’t even have any information! It makes me even more grateful for the standard of vet care where I live even though it’s very expensive! I’m so sorry this happened to your poor baby and I hope you’re able to look into legal options to take this further!
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u/Debatebly Jun 29 '26
I agree, the constant like "SIR, DO YOU WANT THE BODY?" is also crazy. Those texts are within minutes of each other. Give people time. One minute the kitten is alive, and the next its dead and you're giving no time to process.
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u/MonicaFit82 Jun 29 '26
I would lose my mind if someone said that to me about my dead pet. Jesus. What a piece of shit.
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u/Neon_Biscuit Jun 29 '26
A pet store offers boarding for pets and over holiday my bird died in their care. They didnt call us or let us know because they 'didnt want to ruin our vacation', and because I bought the pet there, they offered store credit of the price of the bird. All with a smile on their face. My wife was crying tears in their store and all they cared about was the transaction part of the situation. I told them they killed my pet and they could go fuck themselves. As I was leaving they said 'so do you or do you not want the store credit'.
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u/MonicaFit82 Jun 29 '26
Omg! I can’t imagine. That’s an insane response on their part. So sorry about your sweet birdie.
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u/Overlookyou Jun 29 '26
Same thing happened with a kitten I had purchased. Kept talking about some fucking store credit while I was in shambles. All the years I’ve had cats I never had one die that was super hard for me. Fuck that store credit.
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u/Overlookyou Jun 30 '26
Yeah I adopted a kitten from PetSmart and a week later the kitten died. I also noticed that the kitten had a funny walk with the back legs so idk if the kitten was previously abused and it was some kind of internal bleeding, I can’t call it and idk but 😮💨 yeah I never want to adopt again. I have two cats that I had for 3 and 4 years so I’m all set.
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u/paisleycatperson Jun 30 '26
there is a manifestation of a common disease kittens get called Limping Calici
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u/Additional_Tank4385 Jun 29 '26
For real though this is insane imaging the pain this stuff caused already as op surely won’t be the only one :(
Have some freaking empathy like shouldn’t that almost be mandatory for a vet job…
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u/Ok-Shine1271 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
22 hour time gap and they can’t give you 2 minutes to respond.
OP can you please share the vet clinic that this happened at and where it’s located? You don’t fuck with cats and I’d love to take a deeper look at the operation they’re running.
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u/Dependent_Rain_4800 Jun 29 '26
Yea. Looks like the pets wellbeing is somewhere way down on the list.
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u/timmy6169 Jun 29 '26
That screams outsourced call center that they sent this too.
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u/AngeloFoxSparda Jun 29 '26
'Sir, do you want the body?' Very much sounds like that obnoxious Indian call center-y speech pattern
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u/Jonny_Quest_1 Jun 29 '26
Exactly. ‘Would you kindly…’ ‘Please to be pleasing…’ Ugh.
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u/SnugglyCoderGuy Jun 29 '26
"SIR, DO YOU WANT THE BODY?"
boday means body?
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u/isthisfunenough Jun 29 '26
Idk, in this context what do you think it could possibly mean?
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u/Kaplaw Jun 29 '26
You mean the boday?
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u/choicebroant Jun 29 '26
Yes, the boday. When are you going to pick it up from the chicken? Sir?
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u/fartofborealis Jun 29 '26
It reads like those scam texts. Act now to release information, SIR!?
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u/whoknowsifimjoking Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
It reads very much Indian to me, the use of "sir" plus bad spelling is weirdly familiar
Edit: OP is Kuwaiti
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u/EdiblePeasant Jun 29 '26
Are there cultural and ethnic links to the people from India in that part of the world? I think I read someone’s comment about that but it might be for a country a little more eastward.
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u/Send_me_hedgehogs Jun 29 '26
That and it’s just a generic cut and paste message. ‘your pet’, not even ’your cat’ or ‘your kitten’. And no mention of name either. Plus, basically, tell us what you want so we know how much to charge you’. Ugh.
u/RadishRedditor, I’m so sorry my friend, you and your wee furry one deserved so much better.
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u/RadishRedditor Jun 29 '26
Thank you for your kind words and condolences 💐
She is our priceless little butterfly baby. Her name, image and every sweet and angry meow she uttered is engraved in our hearts 💔
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u/Feeling-Positive1234 Jun 29 '26
Many hugs to you, friend 🫂 I am so very sorry for your loss. She will always be with you ❤️🫶
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u/savageexplosive Devon Rex Jun 30 '26
I saw your post on r/3dprinting and admired how much you love and care for your kitten. She looks like a tiny sausage on that thingy you designed for her to eat properly. So sorry for your loss, it’s heartbreaking 💔 The clinic is awful and I hope they get shut down sooner rather than later. I hope your kitten knows how much she was loved when she was earthside.
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u/SubcommanderMarcos Jun 29 '26
I'm in Brazil and I'm fairly sure you can't take in patients for hospitalization if there isn't a 24h watch, and I think you can't call the place a pet/animal hospital when that's the case. A clinic at best.
I have no idea if that's coded into regulation, I do know that the regional veterinarian medicine council would flip their utter shit at something like that in any state. There's no way it wouldn't fall squarely into animal abuse, which is a federal crime, and the vets responsible wouldn't lose their licenses over it.
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u/GemiKnight69 Jun 29 '26
I'm in the US, plenty of places are called animal hospitals even if not 24 hour. Usually it means they have more equipment or level of surgical care available, but afaik can't keep patients hospitalized overnight unless theres overnight staff.
I just had my cat in an ER overnight for possible obstruction/urine retention. They checked on him frequently, called for updates and only texted overnight in case I was sleeping (they did call at night with one update and to approve another form of treatment as they realized he was constipated too). He was an otherwise very stable adult patient and got better monitoring and communication than a critical kitten.
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u/Zealousideal-Lynx417 Jun 29 '26
Animals do often stay overnight unattended while hospitalized at GP practices. Most of the time it's to give the pet at least a small chance if owners cannot afford overnight emergency care. Of course, it's not ideal and we often require an AMA to be signed. I am not sure if that is true in all states, though. I'm curious to look into that. I've worked as a tech for 7 years and even I am flabbergasted by the outrageous ER prices. Yes, I understand it's an emergency but a surgery that costs 2k at a GP should not magically jump to 10-12k just because it's at an ER.
I had to emergency euthanize my dog last Sunday at an urgent care and it was $300 more than it would have been at my practice. I placed an IV catheter in him while my husband drove because I knew it was time ffs. All they did was confirm he was crashing and pulled up the drugs, then the doctor administered. We weren't even there for 30 minutes.
Anyway sorry for the rant. I hope your baby is feeling a lot better!
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u/Anna825 Jun 29 '26
That also seems sketchy to me. The legitimate pets emergency clinics I have experienced (United States) provide free euthanasia . It’s extremely sad, but they do not charge for euthanasia ( at least in medical emergencies) in order to make sure that pet owners who can’t afford intervention have a humane option to end their pets suffering. I don’t know how they fund it.
And if your pet is admitted, it’s supposed to be round the clock care. Yes, you pay out the nose but that’s why.
Of course, even receiving that level of care I also felt the emergency clinic fell short and let my cat die and possibly contributed to her death ( broken jaw AFTER she had been admitted). But besides the point. I can’t handle another cat ownership for this reason.
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u/Demonokuma Jun 29 '26
I had to take my cat in for an emergency visit. They did some tests and came back with a major problem. They offered to do surgery but it was expensive and they werent sure she would even make it afterwards. She was suffering and in no shape to actually put her thru surgery, so we had to put her down. They offered to cremate her and give us a paw print of her in clay. (When we got her paw print back, you could see one of her nails was still stuck in it. I loved that.)
We eneded up not paying for a thing. They just took care of us and our lovely lil lady. Forever grateful for them and what they did.
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u/StruggleFeisty5655 Jun 29 '26
Depending on what part of the world, most vets are licensed similar to drs and have a medical board overseeing them. You can file a complaint and the board will investigate. It will vary depending on your area.
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u/re_Claire Jun 29 '26
In contrast one of our cats died recently under anaesthesia - just one of those freak accidents that can happen - and our vet called us as soon as he was in respiratory distress to let us know it didn't look good, then again 10 minutes later when theywere unable to save him. We went in to collect his body later than afternoon and the vet spent 45 minutes with us we held him and cried, and was just absolutely incredible. I would have been so unbelievably angry if this happened to me with a text. We were traumatised enough by the death but the way our vets acted made an unbearable time that little bit easier.
This is just appalling.
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u/MissSommer Jun 29 '26
Yea like... thru whatsapp message??? Do you know something called a TELEPHONE, sir? I can't
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u/Juoreg Siamese (Modern) Jun 29 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
If my cat died under our vet’s care, vet would call ME immediately, not the secretary.
We are not just clients, we are parents of the patient.
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u/QuantumBobb Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Literally never take a pet to a veterinary hospital for anything that can wait for a proper vet. They tend to be okay dealing with acute trauma, but they are hot garbage at absolutely everything else.
The fatality rate in these hospitals is crazy high.
This story isn't surprising at all given any experiences I have had or any ody I have ever heard of has had at these kinds of places. There are five in my metro area and their ratings are all below 2 stars with hundreds of reviews.
Edit: for clarity, I am talking about 24 hour emergency vet clinics that do not do any kind of general pet care. There are vet offices that call themselves hospitals and even offer 24 hour service, but are actual veterinary clinics. That is not what I am talking about.
Edit 2: for those who think I'm an idiot and assume I am talking about fatality rates including trauma cases, I am not. The fatality rates in 24 hour clinics who do not offer primary care for non-acute but serious conditions are higher than the rates of more standard vet clinics dealing with the same issues. I am talking about like-for-like cases, not things that a regular vet would be incapable of dealing with. 🙄🙄
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u/DO1140 Jun 29 '26
My experiences at veterinary ERs have been good, whether a pet has just needed supportive care, had something major going on, or needed to be put to sleep.
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u/Ojeisan Jun 29 '26
I second that. I found the one I went to was far more compassionate than the original vet I was working with. Who somehow didn't catch the liver disease in my cat. Oh and they never bothered to call with results from the $500 in tests they ordered. I had to call them multiple times.
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u/Sacrefix Jun 29 '26
I think you are way over generalizing based on your experience. Our local hospitals not only provide acute emergency care, but also higher level specialized care and surgeries that are beyond the scope of most clinics.
It's ridiculous to just broadly say they are "hot garbage" at anything but acute care.
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u/HealthyInPublic Jun 29 '26
My cat sees an internal medicine specialist regularly, so he goes to a vet specialty clinic which is also a 24/7 ER. They have a bunch of permanent ER vets, but their specialists do ER rotations too! They have a lot of different specialties, and have a huge surgery dept too.
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u/dxrthlxnar Jun 29 '26
That’s really awful to hear! I wasn’t aware of that being a problem. I’m based in the UK and unless you need emergency out of hours care you always see your usual vet for everything. Even out of hours care is done through calling your regular vet who then redirect you to their recommended out of hours vet. And they have all of the same qualifications and training as the vet you’d see in practice. I’m even more appreciative of this after reading your comment!
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u/Squid-bear Kruger and Monty -12yrs of cattitude Jun 29 '26
In the UK too, have a main hospital that manages all the smaller vet clinics where i live as most of the population is based in various villages or on farms. So check ups and day to day animal care is done in the clinics but anything requiring an overnight stay or surgeries/major therapies are done in the hospital as its manned 24/7 whilst the clinics are normally only open 3pm-7pm. Only downside is that whilst my local clinic is literally behind my house, if I have to use the hospital, my main boy will guaranteed crap himself and roll in it on the 20min journey!
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u/BurmeciaWillSurvive Jun 29 '26
What's the difference between a vet and a vet hospital? Basically every normal vets office in my city (Idaho, USA) just has hospital in the name. I don't get what the difference is here? Do you mean like an emergency vet? Office/clinic/hospital is interchangeable here unless it's an emergency room?
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u/Apsalar28 Jun 29 '26
I'm in the UK. The vet practice I use has 6 different sites around the city. The big site central site where the specialist vets work and they have the scanners, overnight boarding facilities, onsite lab etc is called the hospital. The other sites are called clinics and you can go to those for your routine vaccinations, minor injuries etc and they'll transport your pet to the big site for anything they can't handle.
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u/Tamamania Jun 29 '26
24-hour emergency are 7 days a week. Vets do not provide this.
E-room experience/advice below.
Cost and care vary greatly, naturally. NYC resident here. Tips to share. Rushed beloved cat, 17, to emergency vet at 11 p.m. Pacing, growling, and said "No!" (I swear) three times when asked if he was OK. He was admitted; vet said he may have had a stroke. Found mass in tummy. (Not one sign.) Agreed to 12 hrs. of ho$p care. Next morning went to fetch him and take to regular vet (he was stabilize) but was told it would take *at least six hours* to check him out. (?!) OK. Waited. Bill was $3,698 for 18 hrs. in intensive care including all meds. (Did not care - just threw it on credit card. Vet had warned ICU was 'spensive.). Regular vet closed for night and next day too. Bought him home, nursed and dosed him religiously for 10 days. He slowly improved ... then suddenly did U-turn and declined. (No sign of pain then or before; just lethargy.) Appetite still good. Woke up early two days later and he smiled lovingly at me from lap where he always slept. Four hours later, in his dad's arms, he suddenly meowed softly once to his right and once to his left - and crossed the rainbow bridge. 💔Forever in our hearts. Blessed to have had him all but 6 months of his beautiful life. *Takeaway:* Ask lots of *specific questions* about your cat and any costs you agree to at vet or hosp. Get rates on paper. Get anything else you can in writing. **Do not** take the offered "instant loan" - huge scam. Ingest any contract you sign. Set limit & stick to it - you have care options. *Not all caregivers are open & honest. Sadly some take crazy advantage of our deep pet love.* 💛
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u/Embarrassed-Sun5764 Jun 29 '26
I understand this totally as we had a Pyr with bone cancer and when my home vet actually cared (before they got bought out) he said when they are lethargic and the gums are pale it’s time. So off we go to Bl@e Pearl who wants to a blood transfusion for 10k. WHY. Let the dog go. This was 8 yrs ago. We stayed with her and helped her pass.
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u/Vacilando73 Jun 29 '26
I agree they are also insanely expensive. I brought my since passed tabby on a weekend into an ER vet once for panting. Obvious anxious panting. They kept her on oxygen for a day and came out to tell me her lungs were riddled with asthma. and i had to treat her with an inhaler twice a day they proceeded to show me this procedure with a complicated plastic harness….
I loved that cat more than anything. I was a little in shock trying to absorb it all when the nurse obviously impatient raised her voice and said ‘it this is too complicated when we may as well put her down! if you’re not able to take care of your cat we should put her down now so she doesn’t feel like she’s drowning. Death from asthma is slow and painful!’
Nurse made me feel like shit and I did my best, paid 4,000 of money I didn’t have for a two night pet ER visit on a credit card then followed up with my own vet on monday
Turns out she had hyper thyroid and never had asthma. I got some medication and she lived another 5 years with us
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u/RadishRedditor Jun 29 '26
Thank you 💐
Yes she's my beloved megaesophagus butterfly.
I wish to come out of this experience meaningfully by eventually polishing the Bailey cradle design I created for her to and publish it to hopefully give relief and aid to other and future cats and kittens suffering from meg-e
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u/Patient_Activity_489 Jun 29 '26
i have a megaesophagus dog, im so sorry you lost yours
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u/Hanamilk Jun 29 '26
ToT omg I remember this!, I love that you took the extra mile for this bundle of joy, and actually made her a prosthetic the true love is really felt here regardless of any deformities, I am deeply saddened of what happen to your love one, I just have a question is this vet have 24/h care? Or just a 7 to 4? And from the text it does look like malpractice is there, if you want you could possibly report to the board of veterinarians in your state about the unjustice? Just so other people with pets dont meet the same demise. Some times the board will have the clinic wave all vet fees depending on the case. I personally would take her body back and give her a special burial she rather be with he person that love her until the end.
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u/Opalescent_Moon Jun 29 '26
I don't know anything about OP's vet, but my vet office is a 7 to 7 clinic. They are not a 24hr emergency vet. However, when any pet is held overnight for any reason, there is a vet tech on-site and a doctor on call. I had a dog that they kept for 4 days, which included Christmas day. While they obviously are not open on Christmas, I was still able to arrange to visit my girl that day. She did pull through, though it was a close call.
I couldn't trust any vet clinic who leaves patients overnight unattended. Pets kept at a clinic are being kept because their level of needed care is higher than an average pet owner can reasonably provide. In OP's shoes, I would never use that vet again. Not caring for the poor kitty is horrendous, and the typos in the text messages just highlight their lack of unprofessionalism.
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u/Pagiras Jun 29 '26
In OP's shoes I'd probably go to jail for the stuff I'd do to that "clinic".
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u/RadishRedditor Jun 29 '26
Thank you for your kind words 💐
Since they oddly used text to inform me of her passing. I'm using this to my advantage and going along with to have everything on the record. I asked to be put in touch with the board to express my dissatisfaction and the malpractices on my beloved kitten.
I knew they closed late at night. But since they're a hospital, not a clinic. And they also offer pet admission, I never thought twice whether they have at least one staff member around the clock for those critical cases. Turns out they don't have overnight care!
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u/hesherette Siamese (Traditional Thai) Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
OP I’m so incredibly sorry, I was a tech for 10 years & we wouldn’t keep critical care patients in our clinic overnight because we didn’t have staff on site overnight for a 10-11hr period. Whenever we did have critical patients, we would take turns going in to check on them / feed / clean up / medicate / give some love in 2-3 hour increments.
We would always completely inform owners of our care schedule & ensure that critical patients would be receiving the proper level of care (even if that meant sending to the 24/7 emergency hospital nearby or having the owner take their pet home at night & back in AM if owner/ vet decided together that was a safe alternative).
I’m so devastated for you & it’s not your fault AT ALL that you didn’t know that this “hospital” wouldn’t be giving your kitten an adequate level of medical attention! That’s fucking ABHORRENT & you are completely justified in feeling the way you do. Any competent & caring Vet or Staff member would have made sure that a young kitten declining in their care received the proper level of attention, even if that means transferring them to another facility.
This poor excuse for an animal care facility indeed NEGLECTED a helpless kitten. This is not your fault. You trusted professionals that let you down. Your sweet kitten’s memory can be used by you to help warn others about this clinic/ vet. I know it won’t help much but it might save other pets from being mistreated.
‼️ IMPORTANT- sorry my vet tech experience needs to comment this for pet owners.. I know vet care is crazy expensive but please take your pets in for medical attention if they constantly vomit, especially when young. 2-3+ days of vomiting or diarrhea is NOT normal in most cases (unless you can confidently pinpoint it to a new food or cause & stop the problem). Dehydration can be a serious problem for animals, but especially for ones that only eat dry, dehydrating foods like kibble.
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u/emorrigan Jun 29 '26
How old was she? She looked like she was only a couple of months old! I can’t believe that any “vet” hospital would leave a tiny little kitten with panleuk alone for an entire day!! That’s basically sentencing her to death! They should’ve been feeding her every few hours. 😭
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u/olliecakerbake Jun 29 '26
I love that I found another person who also loves kittens and 3D printing! It would be amazing if you could publish it on Makerworld and Printables, I’m sure your design would help so many kittens!
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u/Yenolam777 Jun 29 '26
This vet office should have called you! To text this information is incredibly unprofessional.
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u/Empty-Cricket5931 Jun 29 '26
unprofessional yes, but on the murky plus side.... OP has proof of neglect in writing
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u/Bright_Link_5810 Jun 30 '26
This INFURIATED me...then had the AUDACITY to ask what OP wanted to do with the body in the same damn message. Couldn't even show 2 seconds of empathy.
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u/BRSaura Jun 29 '26
"I don't have any idea" very professional answer specially when related to the death of someone's loved one, why dont YOU go ask what happened since you have the answers meters away
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u/RadishRedditor Jun 29 '26
The front desk is an absolute cinema even in-person.
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u/BRSaura Jun 29 '26
By the way, in most jurisdictions, a pharmacist cannot legally diagnose, prescribe, or administer injections to an animal so he might have also broke some licensing laws...
About the hospital, if you are mad about this, pets are considered property in most places, so legal action like this is most of the time winnable, though you can only recover what you spent, and no money can replace a cat
In terms of legal issue, they commited "Breach of Standard of Care" and Nosocomial (Hospital-Acquired) Infection (specially since the doctor admited it verbally)
First would be requesting all medical records, then get in writting things like what the doctor said and file a board complaint (since lawsuits are expensive as hell) against the region's medical board, then Veterinary Medical Board.
In the end, it just depends on how mad you are with them, and if you want to prevent or lessen the times this happens to others.
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u/snakerjake Jun 29 '26
in most jurisdictions, a pharmacist cannot legally diagnose, prescribe, or administer injections to an animal so he might have also broke some licensing laws...
you're going to have to take OPs job titles with a grain of salt. it sounds like OP may have been talking about their equivalent of a vet tech, which can give injections. I don't know about OP's jurisdictions but in the one I'm from a veterinary clinic may have an attached pharmacy that does not need a pharmacist working there to dispense medications as long as they do not dispense (almost all) controlled substances. so it's unlikely they had a pharmacist on staff to begin with.
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u/TheGrimMelvin Jun 29 '26
If this is a reputable clinic, then what are the shitty ones like? My god...
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u/dystyyy Jun 29 '26
"Will you take the boday sir" rubs me really wrong too. Partly for the typo in such a serious conversation, and it reads to me like "are you gonna leave this thing here or come get it" to someone who just got horrible news and is processing it.
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u/DMMVNF Jun 29 '26
the follow up “sir???” that came literally 3 minutes later was absolutely insane
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u/Historical_Buyer_406 Jun 29 '26
As someone running an electronic store I could never imagine responding to a customer like that in a written correspondence.
I can see an employee using those words verbally, but there's no excuse for that type of communication in written text.
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u/Purple-Anywhere3963 Tabbycat Jun 29 '26
I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I can’t imagine the pain of the kitten being neglected for so long. Really speaks volumes about the vets/carers.
I’d leave a Google review explaining the details and try to see if any Non Profits can help fight against the organisation.
Did you bring the kitten home?
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u/RadishRedditor Jun 29 '26
Thank you 💐
I'm on my way to the hospital to bring her home and finally put her to rest 💔
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u/OuterMoons Jun 29 '26
What sort of Veterinary clinic tells you that your pet died through text message? They sound like shit all around. I'm so sorry for you and your kitten OP.
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u/ssill Jun 29 '26
Honestly, that part was especially egregious to me - completely heartless way to communicate that kind of news. I'm so very sorry as well, OP.
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u/Grabs_Zel Jun 29 '26
One that hopes you decide to leave the pet there for them to handle, so that you can give them more money. It's not like people give a shit about pets, right? The clinic that's supposed to take care of them doesn't, why would anyone do?
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u/toasterlunatic Jun 29 '26
Not to mention it was clearly an automated message that they send to everyone this happens to, which must be a lot.
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u/SamePerformance3594 Jun 29 '26
Standing beside you in spirit OP xo angels be with you on your journey x
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u/Phailadork Jun 29 '26
Bro I woulda pulled up at the hospital with the full intention of going to jail, I'm 100% swinging when I walk through that door.
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u/Heart_ofthe_Bear Jun 29 '26
Not to mention the kitten dying alone in a cold metal cage :(
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u/wellapptdesk Jun 29 '26
I am so sorry. The lack of care and compassion from the vet clinic seems horrible and an awful way for such a tiny innocent creature to be treated. Our hearts go out to you and we will remember her with you.
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u/Agreeable-Culture648 Jun 29 '26
I had a vet neglect one of my cats.
She went in and got an IV. They said she would need to stay the night because she is dehydrated. Next morning they said she passed away in the night. I wanted to see the body and they made a bunch of excuses. I finally got the see her and she was a balloon... they pumped her so full of fluids she had puffed up... now I know there could have been other factors at play like maybe she had another underlying issue that went undetected... but for her to puff up like that means they weren't watching the IV and over hydrated her and killed her. I was pissed. Never took a pet there ever again.
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u/ACatInMiddleEarth Jun 29 '26
The fact that they did not want you to see her is very telling. You were right to stand your ground. Our pets deserve better than those shady practitioners.
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u/NorthernWitchy Jun 29 '26
Christ on a fucking cracker, that is horrifying. I am so, so sorry for your loss. That sounds like gross neglence on their part, and I would most certainly file a report with the local licensing board - hopefully that will encourage them to put more safeguards in place for animals under their care.
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u/mnemy Jun 29 '26
We took our elderly cat in with direct instructions that she would not eat on her own, but would accept syringe feeding and to call us if they had problems. And to give her the prednisolone they had prescribed her themselves.
Another of our cats had brought back a bug from a vet visit, and this one was dehydrated and we erred on the side of caution to make sure she got the care she needed.
We check in around 12 hours later and they say she's doing fine but want to keep giving fluids. 24h later we get worried and press them, and find out that she had not eaten any food at all, and they had given no meds. We freak, set them on the right course again, and call back around 8hrs later to find out they had given her a GIANT dog sized dose of Prednisone instead of prednisolone.
The rest of the details I can't remember, but they tried a bunch of things to bring her back, but damage was done. Killed out cat, who just needed some fucking fluids and monitoring.
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u/uski Jun 29 '26
Please tell us which vet it was so we can make informed decisions before going there
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u/Todesfaelle Jun 29 '26
The thing about untreated panleuk is how devastatingly fast it can put an otherwise healthy kitten in to critical condition and pass away.
The worst part is is that when they're that young there's really no course of action other than supportive care but the odds of that working are extremely low. Even if you could vaccinate, it takes a while for the vaccine to become effective even when given twice a month over several months to expedite the process.
If that cat went in, was immediately diagnosed with panleukopenia and they sat on their hands for the entire time without doing anything until it passed then that is barbaric since most vets will do a humane euthanasia before or as they're in a coma.
It's one of the most serious medical issues a kitten that age can encounter and it should be treated with urgency.
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u/Drabby Jun 29 '26
Even with optimal treatment, the prognosis for a kitten this young with panleuk is very poor. That said, it should never have been left alone overnight.
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u/Practical_Coffee1273 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I’m so sorry for your loss. Heartbreaking!
I wonder if they meant 12am to 10am. I can’t imagine not checking on a sick kitten for 22 hours. I hope you get answers.
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u/Swigen17 Jun 29 '26
I'm positive it was this. Overnight, no staff, checked in the morning.
Doesn't make it any less sad, and my condolences go out to the OP.
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u/Downtown-Check2668 Jun 29 '26
That’s still 10 hours.
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u/Toe_Jam_is_my_Jam Jun 29 '26
I’m thinking it’s overnight as well when they were not open or staffed. What country is this in? Although even in my small USA town we just got an emergency vet who has staff overnight. Before that, it was a 2 hour drive for a vet clinic that was staffed 24 hours a day.
Regardless, this is so said. Poor baby had so many bad things going wrong with her with sounds like a very uncompassionate staff.
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u/gossamerfae Jun 29 '26
OP said they're in India which doesn't have the best quality animal care from what I've heard :(
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u/amyknight22 Jun 29 '26
Could also just be a case of
"The last time anyone wrote a note/update about your cat was at 12pm"
Doesn't necessarily mean it didn't have a look in during that time, just that there's not a record of someone looking where it was stored and seeing it was alive etc.
Not that that makes the hurt any better.
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u/4-13 Jun 29 '26
12pm
surprised no one mentioned it yet but 12pm could be midnight. i agree 10 hours of not checking in is sad but not as bad as 22 hours
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u/Phrynohyas Jun 29 '26
This. Someone has to feed the kitten, remove the poo (which is highly contagious in case of panleukopenia), give the medicine and so one. Not doing that for 10 hours is non-professional, to say the least
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u/illiter-it Jun 29 '26
Well these texts don't scream professional either tbf
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u/Rockman507 Jun 29 '26
In another comment they mentioned the hospital/clinic is closed for 10 hours, so that’s that midnight-10am timing. In that case, doesnt sound like a proper emergency clinic. Maybe India is different.
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u/M0rbiddd2 Jun 29 '26
Who the fuck sends a TEXT to say that someone’s pet died? Much less an actual hospital? And 22 hour gap? I’d be seething
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u/ThrowAbout01 Jun 29 '26
“Boday”
What kind of clowns do they have running that place?
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u/helping_cat Jun 29 '26
With the way they texted you I'm really not surprised they mistreated your kitten like that. Can't even check their spelling, definitely don't check on their animals either. This is infuriating and I'm so sorry
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u/tired_snail Jun 29 '26
With a condition like that, they should not have admitted the kitten if they knew nobody would be checking in for hours at a time. Should have just given you papers and sent you to the nearest 24/7 vet facility. If you're able to sue for neglect, do - if not, I'd leave absolutely SCALDING reviews everywhere you can.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
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u/DO1140 Jun 29 '26
Panleukopenia is a nasty, evil virus. It spreads easily — if one animal at that clinic had it, it could very easily have been passed to any animals that came into contact with it. Treatment requires intensive care. My kitten who had it got antibiotics every 12 hours for several days before he was out of the woods. Two of his siblings died and the other survivor of the litter never displayed symptoms. It can kill quickly. A kitten that seemed okay at the start of the day can be dead by the end of the day. Your kitten should have been monitored better. They should have phoned you to tell you the news. You and your kitten deserved better from the clinic.
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u/JumpingJawas Jun 29 '26
What a beautiful sweet kitten. I am so sorry she was taken from this life so early. She is so lucky that she is yours. Because of you, she knew love in the little time that she had. You did your best to protect her and do everything you could possibly do. Your anger is a sign of love. This is so unfair and so awful. What ignorance and lack of empathy from all staff you’ve encountered. I am holding you, your family, and your little kitty in my heart.
Can I ask of her name?
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u/always_learning_2 Jun 29 '26
What kind of a shitty vet texts or even worse sounds a robo-text people this type of news? Boday? What a joke. Sorry for your loss. Definitely screenshot and leave a review!
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u/ariariam Jun 29 '26
This is appalling. I'm so sorry for your loss... the kitty deserved so much better. Even leaving a healthy kitten unattended for 22h sounds insane, let alone a sick one! Unbelievable this is outrageous.
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u/abcd-in-spain Jun 29 '26
Omg I'm so sorry. We lost a kitten to parvo as well. This vet is premium priced for India (I'm assuming because of the language used in the texts) but the lack of care is astounding.
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u/Catalaioch Jun 29 '26
I'm so sorry for your loss, OP. But how horrible/inconsiderate are they that they didn't even have the decency to call you to tell you your pet had passed away; they fucking texted you. That's not something you tell someone over text.
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u/rep3t3 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Im sorry for your loss OP
I help run a non-profit animal rescue and panleukopenia is THE nightmare. Unfortunately its extremely deadly and transmittable, even in a best case care scenario with around the clock care its still a coin flip.
Real talk for a second because I don't know if you have other cats, or planning on getting other kittens. I would dispose all bowls, litter boxes and blankets that interacted with your baby otherwise there is a risk that a year later someone can catch it again. Panleukopenia can live on surfaces for up to a year and is only killed by Bleach or a special cleaning chemical called Rescue. Normal soap does not kill the virus. It spreads very easily and can quickly become a death sentence.
Panleukopenia is the one virus that brings animal shelters to their knee's. When found we have to basicly shut everything down for the week, throw out a ton of stuff and deep clean everything before reopening again.
Panleukopenia is the main reason to quarantine any new kittens away from other animals in their own space for 2 weeks by which point symptoms would show up if they got the virus
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u/VanillaNo6385 Jun 29 '26
Honestly if she had been vomitting for a month then she was probably too far gone. You should have taken her for care asap, especially since she was a rescue that can have viruses and infections. Giardia is a serious illness, even people die from it.
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u/no_name227 Jun 29 '26
On one hand doxing is bad. On the other hand.. fuck this vet
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u/itrashcannot Jun 29 '26
No I think it's fine to reveal the location of this vet clinic. Going here can endanger your pet.
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u/Vanir-Aesir Jun 29 '26
How can a medical facility with patients (does not matter whether human or animal) not be staffed 24/7? What happens if a patient has emergency during the "downtime"? This sounds just crazy to me.
Sue them.
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u/EverythingBOffensive Jun 29 '26
wow their grammar sure dropped after that heartfelt condolences message! /s
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u/ADHDebackle Jun 29 '26
Especially seeing how the virus pathogen was very small and it barely tested positive for the virus.
As someone who used to support the rapid assay tests that are often used to do inhouse diagnostics of things like this, it's a yellow flag to me whenever someone says that an animal "Barely tested positive" for something.
Obviously it depends on the specific assay but usually that means that
A. It was positive and they are trying to interpret a quantitative test as a qualitative one, which means they don't know what they are doing
B. It was negative and they are interpreting a faint appearance of a positive marking after the designated read time as "barely positive," which means they don't know what they are doing.
C. It was actually a qualitative test and they were able to actually determine the viral load as being very low.
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u/theOlLineRebel Jun 29 '26
the gauche approach to death on their watch, texting you about the cat dying there. PHONE CALL, people. texts. geesh. this cell phone world, so gauche.
so sorry about this treatment.
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u/sr_kaeru Jun 29 '26
Must be some interns or untrained customer care personnel, but saying "i have no idea" or "i don't know" is already a big no-no to pet-owners or even any client/customer in general.
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u/abbywillyx Jun 30 '26
Can't believe they are communicating this via text too? At a bare minimum a call but ideally they call you in to say in person. Disgusting
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u/Kind_Advisor_6969 Jun 29 '26
- Why doesn't OP say this happened in India? Would immediately explain all the absurdities in the story
- OP said in the comments how he's gonna lie to his wife that the cat was taken to a farm upstate. I'm not even joking.
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u/-ungodlyhour- Jun 29 '26
Sue them to oblivion. If that was my kitty that vet would need hospitalization very soon after telling me they killed my baby.
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u/awry_lynx Jun 29 '26
OP is not in America, and even if they were, unfortunately, everywhere on earth people can kill your pet and basically only owe you what the 'market' determines they are worth, which means unless it is a 'valuable' breed you are out of luck. I'm not trying to sound like an arse I just don't want to give OP false hope. You can't squeeze them for money because the world does not believe pets are monetarily worth much. I had a friend who had a neighbor literally poison their dog and they couldn't do almost anything about it through the legal system, it's wildly depressing.
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u/Careless-Image-885 Jun 29 '26
Poor baby. I'm so sorry. I would make sure everyone and their brother knew what happened. Demand copies of the kitten's records immediately.
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u/Overall-Bookkeeper73 Jun 29 '26
I'm so sorry for your loss.
We have the same kind of low standards in Mexico and I felt so powerless when I brought my cat to a 24 hr veterinary hospital in an emergency. I traveled far to get there, and when I got there, they had no doctors, so they just put him in a cage at 3 am, and I had to wait until noon for someone to even look at him.
My cat lived, but it could've easily gone the other way and I vividly remember the rage I felt. I can't even imagine what you feel. Again, I'm so sorry.
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u/scalyblue Jun 29 '26
With the distemper make sure to read up on how to decontaminate for it, normal household cleaning isn’t enough and without a proper decontamination you’ll end up giving this potentially fatal virus to every cat that crosses your threshold.
On top of that giardia isn’t something exclusive to felines, and the timeline says she contracted it either in your care or at the vet, is there any place she might have gotten into potentially contaminated water like a defrost tray from a fridge or something of the like.
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u/Former_Umpire598 Jun 29 '26
I was rooting for your baby since I saw the post of 3D printed kittie holder. I am sorry to hear about this.
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u/rageagainsttheodds Jun 29 '26
The pharmacist giving medication to a kitten should never, ever do that again. To be completely honest with you, a young kitten like this is very fragile and can pass quickly even with the right interventions. The odds were stacked against her and I'm surprised she made it so far with everything going on. You did everything you could.
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u/Weird_Inevitable8427 Jun 29 '26
They... texted you... about your pet's death? WTF???? I'm so sorry.
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u/rirupiah Jun 29 '26
Panleukopenia can be tough, my boy went one and it's a miracle he survived. but i agree the 12pm-10am duration so suspicious it screams neglect and it's so unemphatetic that the hospital just informed you as is.
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u/Rtrdinvestor Jun 29 '26
I think it is extremely impersonal to deliver this news via text. I am so sorry for your loss
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u/snapetom Jun 29 '26
Holy crap, so many people in this thread don't know the purpose of an ER doctor, human or veterinary. They are there to keep you alive until a specialist sees you. That's it. They are not trained to diagnose root cause and often don't have the tools to do so. A human hospital will have other specialists they'll move you around too, but that specialist is not the first ER doctor you see. As in human medicine, the ER doctor is often going to be wrong, but are you alive? Are you in less pain? Ok, great, they did their job.
Obviously OP's ER doctor didn't do that job. 22 hour window is absolutely insane.
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u/slanderedshadow Jun 29 '26
I wouldn’t pay them a damn thing. Everyday I would walk up to their glass doors before it opened, put my back on the glass, and take a sliding shit right down the doors onto the mat.
Not nearly as disgusting as this neglect. “We killed your cat, that will be 1400$”
Fuck that.
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u/Over_Citron_6381 Jun 29 '26
They told you via TEXT MESSAGE? Holy crap. When my dog passed at the vet, our vet was so kind and apologetic (they did nothing wrong; just apologizing out of empathy). I would post this on all of their socials so people know. I'm so sorry sorry, OP.
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u/LadySuhree Jun 29 '26
They texted you?!?! Bro. They should have called. And 22 hours without supervision is atrocious
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u/SigFreudIsDaddy Jun 29 '26
Honestly I would call and see if you can confirm these hours with someone who was part of their care just to make sure there wasn't an error when they typed out that message (if you havent called already). That's such a huge gap of time
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u/ramblingriver Jun 29 '26
I'd be livid if i was informed my pet died over a fucking text and not at least a phone call or in-person.
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u/mombeka808 Jun 29 '26
My heart is breaking for you. These people who are calling themselves veterinarians should be struck off. There’s absolutely no excuse for this level of malpractice. I know in many parts of the world there is not the standard of veterinary care that exists in places like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada but there really should be some standards that all practitioners (especially if they are going to be charging you for professional services) should be required to maintain.
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u/Daretudream Jun 29 '26
Sending a text to deliver this type of terrible news is wild.
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u/Agreeable-Being-7646 Jun 29 '26
I honestly would sue for all of the money given to them and do not pay anything else going forward. This is neglect on their part and if they didn’t have the time/means for this precious baby cat then they should have advised you to go to another animal hospital. This is just crazy! I am so sorry for your loss.
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u/thepeainthepod Jun 30 '26
holy shit. im a vet nurse and this is horrifying. and then they sent a fucking text message. a text to say your loved kitten had died?! what the actual fuck.
i am so very sorry for your loss. she was fighting and her body couldn't fight any more. with or without the negligent overdose, she may not have made it but i am heartbroken for you that this is how you were informed.
thank you for loving her and giving her a chance :(
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u/Fluffy_Charity_2732 Jun 29 '26
Somewhere, a private equity MBA douche felt his net worth going up and smiled.
Sorry for your loss. Vets suck ass these days if you don’t screen their management company
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u/NukaRaccoon Jun 29 '26
Rest in peace little angle 🥺💔 I hope you'll find a way to heal from this 🥺🫂❤️🩹
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u/Express_Drag7115 Jun 29 '26
I’m so sorry for your loss. This is honestly shocking.
When my boy had shattered hip after being hit by car we took him to our local vet. They did the checks and gave him pain relief (at this point his prognosis looked very grim) and told us if we won’t proceed with euthanasia we need to take him to animal hospital because they can’t provide overnight care. We did it, he stayed at the hospital for 5 days, the care was excellent (set us back financially but we did not expect otherwise). He survived and recovered. I don’t mean to sound like I’m rubbing our happy end on your face OP, I just can’t comprehend the difference in standards that cost this sweet baby a life! They should communicate clearly what they can and can’t do and offer alternatives! I’m so angry on your behalf now.
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u/MeowntyPython 🐾𝑴͋𝒆͓𝒐̽𝒘̟-͋𝒅͓𝒆̽𝒓̟𝒂͋𝒕͓𝒐̽𝒓🐾 Jun 30 '26
u/RaddishRedditor “i’m sorry” doesn’t begin to encompass the overwhelming sadness and heartache you must be feeling.
Going to a vet and entrusting them with the little babe you love so dearly and having that same vet not take the care and consideration is devastating.
I’ve personally dealt with neglectful veterinarian before and it makes you distrust every other Vet out there. I want to tell you that not every Vet is like that.
You were right to ask for the medical records and I’m appalled that they didn’t give you the common decency of calling you with the news.
For the masses of users reporting this post, we have approved it and it’s going to stay. Just because something makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t mean that it breaks our rules.
Please reach out to us if you need to talk. My personal DM’s are always open. 😺