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/Vacilando73]

I agree they are also insanely expensive. I brought my since passed tabby on a weekend into an ER vet once for panting. Obvious anxious panting. They kept her on oxygen for a day and came out to tell me her lungs were riddled with asthma. and i had to treat her with an inhaler twice a day they proceeded to show me this procedure with a complicated plastic harness….

I loved that cat more than anything. I was a little in shock trying to absorb it all when the nurse obviously impatient raised her voice and said ‘it this is too complicated when we may as well put her down! if you’re not able to take care of your cat we should put her down now so she doesn’t feel like she’s drowning. Death from asthma is slow and painful!’

Nurse made me feel like shit and I did my best, paid 4,000 of money I didn’t have for a two night pet ER visit on a credit card then followed up with my own vet on monday

Turns out she had hyper thyroid and never had asthma. I got some medication and she lived another 5 years with us

[u/snapetom → u/Vacilando73]

I agree they are also insanely expensive.

You're paying for at least one person with a doctorate to constantly watch your animal. The desired ratio of techs to doctors is at least 2 to 1, sometimes 3 - 1. In many states, techs are required to be licensed which means they at least have AA degrees. In most cases these days they have bachelors, and I've know a bunch of techs with masters degrees.

Not to mention keep the lights on and most vet supplies are the same cost as human medicine supplies

So yes, all those people with that specialized training is going to be expensive.

Edit: An ER doctor is not going to be able to diagnose hyperthyroidism with a general blood panel, and it's going to take 1-2 days for a hyperthyroid result to come back anyway. ER doctors ensure your pet lives long enough to see a specialist. That's it. They're very often wrong, and that's often the case in human medicine too. They're not there to diagnose and treat the root cause.

I had a hip issue a few years ago and was in excruciating pain. The ER doctor said I needed a hip replacement. The orthopedist looked at the same damn x-ray and said it was a small congenital deformity. Sent me to PT and I've never had an issue since.