I took my 13yr old cat to the vets on Tuesday to have 2 teeth out. Left him there for the day, after handing over £175 I picked him up Tuesday evening to be told it went well and that he'd be feeling groggy but should be ok after 24hrs.

He came home and slept for about 4hrs, tried to walk and was wobbling all over the place, I left him special paste food and water out. Wednesday morning he hadn't eaten anything, he seemed sleepy still so I left him to rest and went to work.

Came home 3hrs later to find him dead 🙁

Obviously called the vet to ask WTF had happened, they said they were sorry, and offered me a free cremation or if I ever wanted to take another pet to them they would give me discount! 😈

They were supposed to call me back yesterday as I said I wanted to speak to the boss, they didn't bother.

I know any operation has risks, but having 2 teeth out and dying? and being £175 lighter is outrageous. Anyone had any such bad experience and got anywhere by complaining?

Is there a vet governing body I can report them too?

Royal college of Vetinary Surgeons

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/

is the governing body.

So sorry to hear about your cat. Gut wrenching. We've got four buried under our lawn. It's not an easy time for you. You have my sympathies.

Guy I know took his dog to the vets. It had been plagued with ill health all its life and cost him a mint in prescriptions (about £150/month) but he loved it, so didn't mind.
Anyway, it had a problem with its heart and he took it to the vet who gave it a prescription of pills stating 1 to be taken 5 times a day.
The next day he found it unconsious and rushed it down to the vet.
Vet comes back and tells him the prescription was supposed to say 1 pill taken once a day and the dog has OD'ed and has to be put down.
Icing on the cake came when he comes back through with the dead dog and a bill for £450!
Needless to say, the lad tore the bill up infront of the vet and stormed out, but told me that he ended up going back later and paying it after he had calmed down since he didn't like to cause trouble.

sorry for your loss 🙁

all routine ops have risks which increase with age, check the small print prior to complaint, and think if you complaint is neglegance or that the vet has been poor in communicating with you to offer an explanation

a guy at work went in for a "routine" sinus op because he snored, and has now lost the sight and movement from one eye for life 😯

Sorry to hear that! My wife is very much into cats, we have quite a few at home and she knows a lot about them, however, she thought that anethetics for a 13 year old cat would be the riskiest part of the operation, is this what the vet told you as well when you asked him what went wrong? The cat may not recovered from the anethetic properly, which can happen?!

I'm so sorry. I used to have cats and was heartbroken when they died. It's so hard, and for it to be this way makes it worse.

It does get easier with time.

Even people have died from having simply teeth removed.

I feel sorry you for as pets (dogs, cats or slugs etc) mean a lot to their owners like family.

Everyone reacts differently.

I would report after you have relaxed a bit with a straight head.

Sucks though.

I have never met a poor vet, or one who likes animals,

Sorry for your loss.

Strangely,vets pay to be a part of the vets college,and all the staff in senior posts are vets, so youd be complaining about the person who pays them,despite you paying the vet,it wouldnt be allowed for Doctors, Solicitors, or even the police.

That's bolloxs about vets not liking animals two of my mates are vets and are very caring with their own animals never mind clients ,what a stupid statement to make.I wouldn't expect to meet a poor vet it's a highly skilled job that should pay well

project – Member

I have never met a poor vet, or one who likes animals,

Can't agree with that. We've just had our cat put down, and the vet was as upset as we were. Even rang us up a couple of days later to see how we were getting on. In my limited experience vets care more for the animals they treat than a lot of doctors care for the humans they treat.

Bad news mate, sorry to hear it. Dont have a cat, or never had one, but i do like them. We have a dog, a springer and i dread to think of the day she goes 🙁

[/quote]Edric 64 – Member
That's bolloxs about vets not liking animals two of my mates are vets and are very caring with their own animals never mind clients ,what a stupid statement to make.I wouldn't expect to meet a poor vet it's a highly skilled job that should pay well

Posted 22 minutes ago # Report-Post

Surely anyone who is lucky enought to own a pet should be caring to their pet animal.

as for skilled jobs, a bus or coach driver is very skilled,driving a £250,000coach with pehaps 60 people on it,yet some drivers get £8.50 per hour.

project – Member
I have never met a poor vet, or one who likes animals,
Sorry for your loss.
Strangely,vets pay to be a part of the vets college,and all the staff in senior posts are vets, so youd be complaining about the person who pays them,despite you paying the vet,it wouldnt be allowed for Doctors, Solicitors, or even the police.

Unfortunately your post is inaccurate on several points. The RCVS council is actually made up as follows:

24 members: elected to Council by the profession itself
12 members: 2 each nominated to Council by each of the six UK Veterinary Schools
4 members: appointed by the Privy Council

So it isn't totally self-appointed by the veterinary profession as you suggest and it does in fact have lay members who aren't vets. You will also find that the GMC council which governs doctors in the UK contains a lot of doctors, because oddly enough it helps to be a doctor if you're trying to decide if another doctor is incompetent or not.

Finally, on your point about salaries: the average salary for a vet in the UK is £35-40K. Not bad at all, but the average GP salary is £50-80K, lawyer average is about 70k yet you need better grades to get into vet school than to get into medicine or law and veterinary training is as long or longer than both of those courses. Not sure where you get your "overpaid vets" ideas from, frankly. 🙄

Sorry to hear about your cat -as has been said, any procedure has increased risk with age.

as for skilled jobs, a bus or coach driver is very skilled,driving a £250,000coach with pehaps 60 people on it,yet some drivers get £8.50 per hour.

…….and that compares to a vet who has studied for 7 years 🙄

100% of living things die. Are you angry about the cat being mortal (and having a good innings) or are you angry about spending £175?

…what an amazing lack of (the expected) usual STW heartless mirth. I'm stunned. Sad cat news too. Cats rule, old cats are even better, especially when they dribble a bit.

I think the problem comes with the fact that 95% of the time theyre sent home and are fine, but 5% they need much more aftercare. Our old vet used to keep our oldest cat in an extra day with close obs when it had stuff. Not sure its standard practice though.

Sorry for your loss.

Sorry about the cat, realy.
BTW Are bus drivers trained in any way? H25 Richmond to Heathrow ones surely aren't.

Thanks for the comments.

baldSpot – Member
100% of living things die. Are you angry about the cat being mortal (and having a good innings) or are you angry about spending £175?

I'm angry because of the circumstances, a cat in for a couple of teeth out, being told before the op that this was 'normal' for a cat of his age and when I asked the vet if it was a major risk he said it wasn't.

Then to be offered a discount on any other pets I may wish to take there kinda took the p1ss I think.

And yes, I would like to see some of my £175 back to be honest.

Don't really see how you can compare a few weeks (if that) of driver training for a bus or coach, to that of a vet, who trains for years. Gf's sister has done loads of work experience on farms and at vet practises during every holiday since A-Levels, then failed to get the very high grades required for vet school, so did a Zoology degree for three years (still doing work experience during the course) then used the Zoology to get into vet school, which is another four years, of which she has a year or so left.

I'd hazard a guess that the actual knowledge is greater than that of a GP, as they only have to deal with one species, whereas a vet will do everything from a hamster to a cow, to a iguana to a horse. A GP can also refer a lot of stuff to specialists, a vet doesn't normally have that option!

i) sorry for your loss, but its a pet cat, not a child.
ii) it was 13 years old – no spring chicken.
iii) operations always carry risks, ones involving anaesthesia even more so.
iv) you want to report them for what? your lack of care? if it was so important you could have taken the day off work.
v) I think you did bloody well to get an offer of a free cremation
vi) its a pet cat, not a child

I have never met a poor vet, or one who likes animals,

Funny that – a profession that requires years of study would obviously pay handsomely in reward, and the second statement is complete garbage.

I have never met a poor doctor or lawyer.

Right this was lacking in heartless mirth. Sorry about the cat but on the bright side dinner is sorted for the next couple of days! 😮

So a vet goes back to school for 7 years, to learn about animals,dont seem to remember anyone on Noahs ArK doing that,and Noah saved civiisation.

Was talking to a Dr a few yers ago and asked him if he wasnt a DR, what would he do, he said he wanted to be a Vet, but didnt have the right qualifications so became a DR.

He aklso said as a DR,if somebody dies,its usually because theyre ill, and the relatives can see it,where as a animal, the animal may not show signs of illness, but just die, and then the owners get upset.

My dad died through being ill, where as my cat is still alive and never seems to show syptoms of being ill, like looking on http://www.Catdoctor.co.uk, or http://www.Singlecatworld.com

Noah saved civiisation

LOL , thats almost as believable as that story about a supreme being creating everything in 7 days , mind you plenty of supposedly intelligent people believe that 😉

Sorry to hear of your cat passing , we're cat people and due to losing 2 on a busy road won't have them anymore.

The vet IMO was a bit insensitive in his offering you a discount/cremation , however at 13 many cats are approaching the end of their life and the aneasthetic was probably more than he could handle.