 | How a vet killed 7 kittens and left Wildflower fighting for her life Meet Encore Wildflower
Wildflower is our gorgeous charming girl that everyone loves. She is both sweet and entertaining, yet at the same time she is seasoned with a little streak of mischievousness -- just to keep things interesting. I call her my little “dash potato” because she loves to dash out the door like a “spud on speed”! But, then she immediately stops, looks back at me and twitches her tail with this silly expression as if to say "Ya coming already?". Wildflower is a real charmer, and will melt in anyone’s lap (even without permission). Before you know it, she’s taken the heart hostage. Ya, I guess you can tell that we all love Wildflower.
Wildflower's Journal
Monday, April 27th, 2009:
Today is Wildflower’s due date. We realize she may be due as late as Wednesday, and she is doing great, so everyone is just anxiously awaiting the arrival of her babies, and we closely monitor the expectant mom.
Wednesday, April 29th:
Wildflower is doing great, but no babies. Kinda strange, and a bit concerning but it is within the norm for the kittens to arrive up to 3 days late. Today is her latest possible due date, so we continued to watch her closely. She starts getting restless, like she’s going to go into labor, but that’s the extent of it.
Friday, May 1st:
We are getting worried as there are still no babies. By the time I get home from work Friday evening I realize that she is as far past her due-date as I want her to go. If there are no babies Friday night, she’s going to the vet the next day.
Saturday, May 2nd:
I take Wildflower to our regular vet, Dr. Freiman. He is so good with our animals, and he carefully examines Wildflower. She is healthy, she has no fever, and we discuss the options of waiting it out a bit longer, trying to induce labor, or doing a c-section. He does an ultrasound and hears healthy strong heartbeats! He sends her home, and we will monitor her closely.
Late Saturday evening we carefully examine dates and events, and realize that Wildflower’s due date had to be Monday, 5/27, confirming that she is now 6 days past due. That means the kittens must be born soon if they are to survive.
Sunday, May 3rd:
Wildflower is not going into labor, but it looks like there’s a kitten stuck in the birth cannel. Knowing the litter is now 6 days overdue, we realize that the kittens might be too big to be born naturally and may need medical intervention. Dr. Frieman is closed, after all – it’s Sunday! I get worried as the day progresses and we start calling around for an emergency vet that might be open on a Sunday. We have friends and contacts in Federal Way and we head down to a vet who can see her.
We had never met “the c-section vet” before, but he is the emergency vet who can see her. He examines Wildflower and agrees that she needed a c-section. I do not see any other staff in the clinic with him, and I ask him if he is set up to do a c-section. He assures me that he is, and that everything will be all fine. He looks at how beautiful Wildflower is, and comments “she is an expensive cat, isn’t she”. I emphatically assure him that she is a very expensive cat. I also let him know that we love her very much, and that he needs to take good care of her. I do not want to take any risks with her, or risk losing her kittens. After all we are expecting “close to 8 kittens” (I had been saying that for days), and we want to do what’s best for all of them.
He take Wildflower to the back. Moments later I see several other people come into the clinic. He knows them, and they talk for quite a while. They talk in a foreign language that I do not know, so I cannot understand what they are saying, but it is obvious that they know each other. I wonder if they are assistants here to help with the surgery.
I am a nervous wreck. My 15-year old daughter Jamie and her friend are with me. Jamie comments about how nervous I am. The tick-tocking of the clock seems in slow-motion.
The “c-sections vet” starts coming out with kittens, but they are not breathing so I start working on trying to revive them. One at a time, multiple times, I try. Jamie and her friend work on one. The ones I work on, have color, but I cannot get them to breath. I rubbed them, I give them mouth to mouth resuscitation, and I fight for their lives for over an hour. Sadly, I see that they gradually they start to fade and lose color. I try to save them. I fight for them. But, I cannot pull them through. Heartbroken, I hand them back to the vet. The one that Jamie and her friend are working on starts responding. It is ever so slightly, but there is life, which means there is hope. Finally after an hour of breathing and fighting for her, the anesthesia wears off, her airway is clear, and she starts breathing on her own. We are delighted, “Welcome to our world. Baby!”
When it is all done and over with, the vet delivers 4 kittens, one is barely surviving, but there is hope for the one. Jamie questions him if he’s sure there were only 4 because we are all surprised and expected more than that. After all, she had 6 kittens in her first litter, and she was even bigger this time! We really expected more.
At 5:00 PM, Sunday afternoon, the vet informs us that he is done. He again assures me that that there are no more babies, and she will soon be waking up and ready to go home.
That evening and night she is still recovering and so we continue to take care of her one surviving baby. Jamie and her friend feed Baby every few minutes, and they snuggle her to keep her warm.
Monday, May 4th:
It’s been a tough night, and in the wee hours of the morning we try to introduce Baby back to her mom, again. Jamie and her friend have handfed and cared for Baby all night, but we know the kitten needs her mommy to survive. We try introducing Baby back to Wildflower but she is uncomfortable and growls at Baby.
Throughout the morning I keep trying to get Wildflower to take baby, but she is still uncomfortable and growls at her baby. This is very unusual for a Bengal mom, even after a c-sections. I realize that in a very unexpected turn of events, and since Wildflower is not going to take care of her baby, I’m going to have to find someone who will adopt her and take on the challenge of hand-feeding a kitten every 2 hours if I want to give her a chance to survive. Baby needs to be tube fed, and I can’t do that.
My regular vet opens at 7:30, so I call them when they open and ask if anyone there wants to take on the challenge of adopting a newborn kitten. Linda (vet-tech) takes on the opportunity and so I hand over Wildflower’s only surviving kitten, knowing that giving her away is giving her a chance at life. Linda names Baby "Nadyra"
Monday – Friday (5/4 – 8):
I faithfully give Wildflower her antibiotics, and get regular update and pictures from Linda on the progress of Baby Nadyra. As we reach the end of the week, I am starting to notice that Wildflower is not recovering as quickly as I would have expected. I am glad that it’s the weekend so I can monitor her more closely. Every day I examine her tummy and make sure that her stitches from the surgery are healing.
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Saturday, 5/9:
Saturday evening Wildflower is chilling with me when she suddenly starts acting really strange. She is breathing strangely, and as I hold her, I begin to realize that something is not right with her. She does not sound congested, and it does not sound like an upper respiratory infection, but I can’t figure out what’s wrong. I decide to chill with her and monitor her closely.
Late that evening I make a horrifying discovery! I see the tail of another kitten coming out of Wildflower’s birth cannel. I look closely because I cannot believe it could be true. How unfathomable that the vet would miss a kitten during a c-section! I call a different emergency after-hours animal hospital (Alpine) and tell them the situation. There’s no way I’m going to take her back the ER vet that originally missed the kitten. No way! The person who answers the phone at Alpine says that it might just be “after-birth” and she questions that it would actually be a tail of a kitten if the mom had a c-section a week ago. I insist that it’s a tail, and so they have me take her in.
The Alpine vet examines her and agrees that it is a kitten tail in the birth cannel, and recommends that we do an x-ray before proceeding. The results are horrifying! There are 3 kittens still left in Wildflower, and the c-section was a week ago.
By this time it’s late Saturday night and the Alpine vet says that this is not a surgery she cannot do alone. Since Wildflower does not seem to be in duress and she seems stable enough, with extra precautions and instructions they send Wildflower home with me, and we make plans to take her to our regular vet Monday morning. I watch her closely throughout the day.
Monday, May 11th:
Early Monday morning, 8 days after the emergency c-section, Dr. Freiman does an emergency spay surgery in an effort to save Wildflower’s life. He later tells me that the infection of the 3 dead kittens in her was so bad that he almost barfed during surgery. It was horrible! He also submits a lab culture to make sure that we got Wildflower on the right antibiotics.
Wildflower gets to see her baby that Linda is lovingly and faithfully taking care of. Things look hopefully that Baby Nadyra will live and that Wildflower is on the road to recovery.
I call a lawyer and he suggested that I notify the c-section vet of what happened because he is required to put his insurance company on notice when an incident such as this occurs.
Tuesday, May 12th:
I bring Wildflower home. She seems to be relaxed for the first time since her c-section. I monitor her closely, and she seems to be recovering from her second surgery in 8 days!
Poor baby… I struggle with incredible emotions over the development of the past week+.
I talk to Dr. Frieman and he also encourages me to tell the c-section vet what had happened because this was so horrible he needs to make it right.
I call the c-section vet and he first asks me to bring Wildflower to him so he can treat her “for free”. When I tell him she is already being cared for by my regular vet, he says to send him the bills because, “It’s my mistake I pay for it.”
Wednesday, May 13th:
When I get home from work, I notice that Wildflower has thrown up her food. I realize that the high dose of Clavamox the vet has her on could be causing her tummy to be upset. However, I know that as horrible as the infection was from the dead kittens in her, I don’t dare miss a dose. I decide to call the vet the next day..jpg)
Thursday, May 14th:
I talk to the vet and get some medicine that should help calm Wildflower’s tummy so she won’t throw up the medicine. I start her on the meds when I get home that evening.
I am monitoring Wildflower closely and am starting to get concerned because she is again not looking as well as I would expect. She seems to be losing weight, and I hope that the medicine will help with her keep her food down.
I get to see Baby Nadyra. She is so adorable with her tiny eyes starting to open.
Friday, May 15th:
I go to give Wildflower her morning dose before I take Jamie to school and head into work. When I see her, I get even more concerned! She is not looking well, and the medicine to calm her stomach has not seemed to work. She has thrown up even more. I call the vet again today when they open. This does not look good.
Later in morning (before I get a chance to call the vet) I get a call from the vet. The doctor tells me that the lab test is back, and it is bad news. The infection is one that is resistant to almost all forms of antibiotics, including the Clavamox that Wildflower is on. So, while it was making her throw up her food, it is not helping her at all.
That explains why it seemed like she was going downhill. I send an urgent text to my son and ask him to get Wildflower to the vet ASAP. He has her there within 15 minutes, and they hospitalize her again. She is already going downhill. She is running a fever and dehydrated. They put her on IV antibiotics and fluids… and monitor her throughout the day.
Around 6:00 PM the vet calls to tell me that Wildflower is stabilizing and that they will keep her hospitalized overnight so she can stay on IV fluids and antibiotics.
The vet also gives me the heartbreaking news that the one surviving kitten, Baby Nadyra, did not make it. She had been doing well up until this afternoon, but suddenly went downhill very quickly and they could not save her. Linda is devastated! We are all heartbroken.
Wildflower remains hospitalized. I will see what tomorrow brings. I struggle with the fact that the c-section doctor irresponsibly attempted a surgery without proper assistance. I am horrified that he sewed up Wildflower with half the litter left in her. Wildflower was so healthy before the surgery… and now?
The cost has been astronomical, and thankfully Dr. Freiman has agreed to let me make monthly payments until I am able to pay it off because my credit cards are maxed out after all this. Who knows how long it will take to get the c-section doctor to pay for the damage he has done.
I trusted the vet. He betrayed all of us, and he endangered Wildflower. He failed the 7 special kittens, and is responsible for their loss! How sad… How sad…
We will cross our fingers, say a prayer, and wait and watch…! Hopefully Wildflower will pull through!
Saturday, (5/16):
Wildflower appears to be responding to the antibiotic –and it’s a good thing because this new antibiotic is her only shot at survival. Yes, the results from the culture showed that the infection was resistant to all the other “big gun antibiotics” except this one, Baytril. The doctor decides she can go home today but she needs to come home with Sub-Q fluids* and other life support aids.
I pick her up from the hospital and she looks brighter and more alert than I've seen in 2 weeks. All the way home from the hospital Wildflower chirps and talks to me, making dough and purring louder than I’ve ever heard her purr before. The tone of her conversation is a mixture of “happy to see ya” combined with an attitude of “do I have a tale to tell you!”.
Sunday (5/17):
Wildflower is looking and acting so much better! I continue to give her medication. It is a delight to see how improved she is. Harley, her favorite person in the world, comes to see Wildflower. The minute she sees Harley, Wildflower makes a straight dash and melts in Harley’s lap. Ahh yes! It’s a priceless moment.
We hope that the worst is behind us and that Wildflower will continue to improve and rebound. She just loves to live!
Monday, 5/18:
Wildflower wakes up Monday morning after having spent the best night in over 2 weeks! She finally seems relaxed and comfortable. Her thunderous purring throughout the night has been the loudest expression of gratitude imaginable, and she snuggles as close as she can to me! Yes, it wakes me up numerous times, but it’s a good feeling. She seizes every chance she can to lick and groom us, and seems so happy to be feeling better; better at last.
When Jamie and Harley get home from school she makes a straight b-line to Harley’s lap and purrs up a storm. She crawls in our laps, and wiggles as close as she can to us, as an expression of her gratitude that she is finally feeling better. We are beginning to feel optimistic that she is responding the antibiotics and will recover. Monday becomes the first day in over 2 weeks that Wildflower is allowed out of the required “sick room confinement” (we did not want her tearing her stitches open or push her luck after having been so sick). She seems so grateful to be feeling better.
Tuesday, 5/19:
We are at Day 3 and Wildflower is showing steady improvement. Her stitches are looking like they are finally starting to heal and she seems happy to be allowed to roam the house. The moment I get home from work, Wildflower comes and meets me at the door and starts her sweet little chirping and talking. She crawls on my lap and won’t stop licking me and talking to me. Even as I type this now, she is curled up on my lap (under the laptop) and has licked my arms and wrists until they are red. <SMILES>
She is definitely feeling better! Thank God. Finally… Finally!!
I see how happy Wildflower is to be alive and I think of how much love she has to give. I think of her special little Baby Nadyra that had such a strong will to live, and fought so hard to survive. I think of the unrelenting, 24x7, love and care that Linda give Baby Nadyra, and I am reminded of how unnecessary and heartbreaking the loss. I think of all 7 little kittens that Wildflower would love to be licking and mothering right now had it not been for the horrible actions of this vet.
The loss was so needless, completely avoidable, and totally irresponsible of the vet who did this. I owe it to Wildflower, her 7 babies, and to Linda & Baby Nadyra, to bring awareness of what this vet did in hope that he won’t do to others what he inflicted on all of us. No one should have to suffer through this nightmare!
Thursday, 5/21:
This week has been a much better week for Wildflower. She seems to be gradually improving, and we are grateful for that. Each day she stumbles less, and walks a bit more steadily. When she tries to run it's more in her imagination than a reality. Her efforts at jumping are rather limited, and it's best that she doesn't push her luck too soon.
When I see Wildflower stumble or stagger, it reminds me of how sick she was, and how close she was to dying. When she curls up in my lap and purrs louder than I ever knew possible, or snuggles up as close as she can, and licks me till my skin turns red - it is as if she is telling me how grateful she is to be alive. She is getting better, and that is great news.
*Subcutaneous fluids (also known as sub-Q's or Lactated Ringer's solution) are fluids that are administered through a needle which is inserted under the cat's skin. |
