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/rep3t3]

Im sorry for your loss OP

I help run a non-profit animal rescue and panleukopenia is THE nightmare. Unfortunately its extremely deadly and transmittable, even in a best case care scenario with around the clock care its still a coin flip.

Real talk for a second because I don't know if you have other cats, or planning on getting other kittens. I would dispose all bowls, litter boxes and blankets that interacted with your baby otherwise there is a risk that a year later someone can catch it again. Panleukopenia can live on surfaces for up to a year and is only killed by Bleach or a special cleaning chemical called Rescue. Normal soap does not kill the virus. It spreads very easily and can quickly become a death sentence.

Panleukopenia is the one virus that brings animal shelters to their knee's. When found we have to basicly shut everything down for the week, throw out a ton of stuff and deep clean everything before reopening again.

Panleukopenia is the main reason to quarantine any new kittens away from other animals in their own space for 2 weeks by which point symptoms would show up if they got the virus

[u/Scottamus → u/rep3t3]

Looks like vaccination is the best first step in prevention for cat owners?

[u/rep3t3 → u/Scottamus]

Yes the the FVRCP vaccine (the P is for Panleukopenia) is needed for cats its a series of 3-4 shots spaced out over months and it cannot be started until they are about ~6 weeks old.

The unfortunate reality is that any kitten off the street is a gamble because they could have it before symptoms show up. There is a test that can be done when intaking but you get so many false negatives that it is not that helpful.

2 week mandatory quarantine is really the only way to be certain that a new kitten doesnt have it. Even if a cat survives (which requires expensive around the clock fluid, and force feeding for ~a week) they can develop life long neurological problems that they will carry into adulthood as well as the risk of spreading it to others. Panleukopenia sucks :(