Routine operation ends up with me losing my cat.

Mondu65

In late September I noticed a lump on my cats rear leg, Cujo had other lumps on his body, but they were fatty tumors and it wasn't necessary to remove them. I took Cujo to my vet and he said the lump in the leg was definately not a fatty tumor (lipoma), he gave me an estimate on what it would cost to remove and test the lump.

I went to another vet and received a cheaper estimate, the surgery was done and it was a lipoma (two of them), Cujo came home, unfortunately the skin got infected and another surgery was done to remove the infected skin. 90% of the wounds healed, but there was still some dead skin that needed to be removed.

So in went Cujo for a third time, the operation went well and in addition the vet pulled a tooth that was inflamed. While my cat was recovering from the surgery/ anesthesia his heart stopped, and the vet was unable to revive him.

Cujo was 10 1/2 and in pretty good health, I am still trying to get over it. I thought I was doing the right thing, and in the end it blew up in my face.

Cujo was a special cat, he seemed to be a dog in a cats body.

Cujo's sister is still with me, she is not a healthy cat, she takes steroids daily.

I don't know whether I should get another cat or not? About 12 years ago I put to sleep my 20 year old cat and I vowed I would never own another pet because I did not want to go thru that again. But my brothers cat had a litter, and when I got home from work one day, I found 2 kittens running around my house.

boardbrowser

Hi,
I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't even begin to understand how you might feel. It seems that you were a very consciencious owner and did all you could to provide your pet with the best treatment and clearly made ever effort to do so.
I think every pet owner feels the same amount of dread when it comes to having their pet undergo surgery. We would all hope that they make it through the procedure but there are risks involved in giving a general anesthesic particularly when older pets are concerned.
I'm sure your vet did everything in their power to prevent this tragic loss and if it's any consolation you did everthing right by your much beloved cat.
It's so unfortuate and i hope with time your loss will become more bearable , again sorry.

the beer revolu

Very sorry for your loss.

Would this little fella be of any interest to you ?

ghost_ie

I'm really sorry to hear you lost your cat like this. You did your best for him and things just went wrong. If it were me, I'd take a couple of months to grieve before deciding whether or not to get another cat - at the moment things are too raw for you to make a good decision

Mondu65

Thanks for the support

The vet was genuinely very sorry, he said the chances of this happening with anesthia were 1 in 1,000. They offered to do an autopsy, which I declined, maybe they would of found an underlying medical condition.

I will miss the daily 5:00 in the morning purring and facelicking to wake me up and he was always at the door when I came home from work.

As far as my remaining cat, I wonder if the longer I wait the harder it will be to introduce another cat ?

Mika needs to take steriods daily to control her phemphigus, and the steroids have most likely been the cause of her bouts with pancreatitis.

Mondu65

I just had a horrible thought, I was cleaning the house and I found one of those Meow mix tartar control drumstick treats on the carpet. What if my cat Cujo ate one or two of these while he was suppose to be fasting? Could this be why he didn't make it?

Inexile

Mondu65 wrote: »

I just had a horrible thought, I was cleaning the house and I found one of those Meow mix tartar control drumstick treats on the carpet. What if my cat Cujo ate one or two of these while he was suppose to be fasting? Could this be why he didn't make it?

Sorry to hear your lost your pet. You will drive yourself mad if you keep pondering the "what ifs". I think if this did happen the vet would have discovered it. You did your very best for your cat and thats all anyof of us can do.

Re getting a second cat. Give yourself at least a few weeks and then decide. Im sure there are plenty of cats who would love to make themselves at home with you.

lrushe

Mondu65 wrote: »

I just had a horrible thought, I was cleaning the house and I found one of those Meow mix tartar control drumstick treats on the carpet. What if my cat Cujo ate one or two of these while he was suppose to be fasting? Could this be why he didn't make it?

I doubt this had anything to do with your cat dying, unfortunately anyones animal (or person for that matter) going under anesthetic is taking a risk, you can't predict how it will affect them, some are fine and some suffer an adverse reaction to it which unfortunately was the case with your cat. You shouldn't blame yourself, no one can ever predict the outcome of an operation.

Vas_Guy

in my opinion the vet should not have risked an operation in a cat of that age to remove a lipoma unless it was causing problems or was biopsyed as cancer

Mondu65

Vas_Guy wrote: »

in my opinion the vet should not have risked an operation in a cat of that age to remove a lipoma unless it was causing problems or was biopsyed as cancer

Cujo had two other lipomas on his body (Chest and Back) he also had one removed about 7 years ago when he had surgery on his knee. The lipomas on the leg did not feel the same as the other two. There was no way of knowing what the lumps were, unless they were tested.

My initial reaction to the lumps were that they were lipomas and I would wait it out, but the first vet I saw told me the lumps were definately not lipomas and thats when I felt the urgency to have the lumps removed, and everything snowballed from there.

Mondu65

Just to follow up on my last post, the lumps weren't deep enough for a biopsy to be done and therefore the vet said the biopsy may not be reliable.

the beer revolu

Mondu65 wrote: »

I just had a horrible thought, I was cleaning the house and I found one of those Meow mix tartar control drumstick treats on the carpet. What if my cat Cujo ate one or two of these while he was suppose to be fasting? Could this be why he didn't make it?

Forget about that right now.
IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT.
Blaming yourself will not help you get over your loss.
Also, I don't think that blaming the vet as another poster suggests is healthy for you either.
I would give it a little while and then fall in love with a kitten.
I'm sorry if my foisting our rescue cat on you was insensitive.

Mondu65

I didn't think it was insensitive, its just that I am on the other side of the Atlantic from you.