Thursday, March 29, 2012

Star the Sort of Toothless Cat

I had the worst experience when I brought Star in for a procedure a few years ago. As I spoke before about how she was found under a T.V on the porch, the tiny little thing never seemed to gain any weight. But, we just thought she was a picky eater because she used to enjoy nacho cheese once in a while.


I had brought her to the vets for a check up. At only 5 lbs she was concerned about how small she was. Cats average weight should be between 6-8lbs. Upon her examination she found an infection in her mouth and she needed her to immediately go in for oral surgery to extract all but two teeth. But first they put her on antibiotics before the surgery. Giving them was a nightmare! She would squirm and try to get out of our arms the whole time.


Before we agreed to do the surgery, the vet told me she would be going home the same day. So, Zach worked from home that day to bring her in, while I went to work. They did some lab work and found her H&H was low, which meant she was anemic from not being able to eat properly. They called me at about 3 o'clock and told me that once she was awake she would be able to go home, but it wouldn't be until late at night. That was fine by me, I just wanted her home. I called back at 5 when she had just woken up. The vet tech said that they needed her to drink some water and hold down food before they could discharge her. So I waited another 2 hours, called back and they said she was eating and drinking fine but I needed to call back in another hour to see how she was. By this time I was getting worried. They closed at nine and I wanted her to come home. Another hour went by and I called again and here's the response I got from the vet tech.
"Well, she's really drowsy I don't think you should take her home."
"Why?" I asked, "Is she lethargic? Did she vomit?"
"Well, she's not eating or drinking."
"Wait, what? I was told she was eating and drinking."
"Well i don't know but I really think she shouldn't go home."
At this point I was pissed! You don't know how my cat is? Your supposed to be taking care of my living, breathing animal and you don't know how she is?!? So my response was, "If she stays there, will anyone be with her."
"No." she said.
"WHAT!!! I want to talk to the doctor right now!" So I spoke to the doctor and told her I wanted to take her home and the doctor agreed to it.
We picked her up and she was drowsy but she was picking up her head, meowing and moving around in the carrier. I don't know what they could have done for her that we couldn't at home. All they wanted was more of my money. I couldn't believe what these vet techs were doing. And if something did happen, no one would have been there to do anything anyway. Luckily she was and is fine.  I took her back for a check up once and that was it, we have never been back since then. Now, we have a wonderful hospital we go to and we couldn't be happier.

3 comments:

  1. I worry we are going to end up extracting several of Hades' teeth because he suddenly has several that are chipped. I think he might be chewing on his Nylabones too hard.
    Star is a pretty itty bitty cute little thing!

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    1. Oh no poor Hades! Nayabones can be good & bad plus genes comes into it to with oral care (of course we cant prevent that ;)) In no way will i brush Trinity's mouth so i give her a bone, vet says her teeth are great, then again shes a 1 yr old.

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  2. I love that angry kitty picture! Giving a cat any kind of medicine is a nightmare- I'll take a dog any day for that. I'm glad you found a better vet in your area- we did the same thing after Skye kept getting sick and no one at my vet could figure it out.

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