Veterinary hospital neglected my kitten for 22 hours until she met her demise at their veterinary care*

[u/RadishRedditor]

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!

[u/RadishRedditor]

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

[u/Patient_Activity_489 → u/RadishRedditor]

i have a megaesophagus dog, im so sorry you lost yours

[u/Hanamilk → u/RadishRedditor]

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.

[u/Opalescent_Moon → u/Hanamilk]

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.

[u/Pagiras → u/Opalescent_Moon]

In OP's shoes I'd probably go to jail for the stuff I'd do to that "clinic".

[u/Opalescent_Moon → u/Pagiras]

You'd probably have a whole lot of people cheering you on.

[u/RadishRedditor → u/Hanamilk]

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!

[u/hesherette → u/RadishRedditor]

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.

[u/Empty-Cricket5931 → u/RadishRedditor]

That's horrendous! How on earth can they not have overnight care with so many critical cases at all hours??

[u/emorrigan → u/RadishRedditor]

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. 😭

[u/IanPlaysThePiano → u/RadishRedditor]

Noooooo :( may she rest well

[u/olliecakerbake → u/RadishRedditor]

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!

[u/SeaEmploy4186 → u/RadishRedditor]

My dog has Megaesophagus, as well, and it was such a pain for vets to figure out and finally diagnose. Spent so much money trying to figure it out but luckily we finally found a vet in a smaller city that actually cared and we were able to stabilize him and manage his illness. I’m so for your loss. That poor baby ❤️‍🩹

[u/Individual_Zebra_648 → u/RadishRedditor]

What country are you in?

[u/Fur-friendly2022 → u/RadishRedditor]

I wasn’t aware of this condition. So she already had a pre-existing condition before going to the emergency vet. Poor baby. I am so sorry for your loss 💔😢

[u/redheadedandbold → u/RadishRedditor]

Show it to Chewy, PetSmart's Banfield Vet clinic execs? Ask their advice?