Sacha...my Sahsah
January 9th - I took Sacha to Lake Country Veterinary Clinic to be checked for a Urinary Track Infection. Because they needed a sample to test, i had to leave him there and didn't see or talk with a vet later that night. I had told the girl in the front, Erin, that I also needed weight control food for my mother's cats. When I picked him up she said she'd have the food for my mom the next day, she told me Sacha would need Clavamox 2 times a day with food, I asked if he needed a special diet or if he could keep eating his Friskies and she said "No, friskies is fine."
January 23 - Sacha started throwing up not just the only food he'd eaten in the morning but also stomach acid and saliva. I couldn't afford to take him to the vets but I noticed his UTI seemed to come back so I called the vets and explained my situation they told me I could come get a home test the next day and save money that way...she explained they still would need the sample to test to see if the food he was given had worked. I thought this was odd since they hadn't given me anything for him to eat other than the pills and mentioned but she didn't seem to register anything and just said for me to pick up the test the next day.
January 24 - Sacha hadn't eaten anything, had spent the previous day laying down and I had contemplated taking him to the animal hospital but again, had no money up front to take him..and thought he might have just been dehydrated - this is the key part that was my mistake. He was going to the litter box and it LOOKED like he was doing stuff but he wasn't...and I didn't realize this.
January 25 - I woke up early and checked on Sacha, he wasn't moving much at all, he didn't want to be touched on his stomach, he would lay on me but his breath was irregular. I called my mom and told her I needed to take him to the Emergency Vet clinic, she said she'd pay and would pick me up. We got there and the vet checked him, she said that cats under the age of 2 do not generally get UTI's and an immediete change of diet would generally be ordered as antibiotics alone do nothing for young cats. She said because he hadn't gone to the bathroom or eatten in two days he was completely blocked. Because he was blocked the infection had gone into his body and had caused a heart murmur, he was now in Critical Condition. She said the procedure to unblock him would cost about $1400 and she wasn't sure he was strong enough to make it through. She said that my vet could have seen the problem when he'd been in and should have changed his diet (remember this part). Neither my mom nor I had 1400 for the procedure - and he was in immense pain, so we decided the best thing would be to put him sleep, the vet agreed this was probably the best choice as Sacha would have to live with this problem for the rest of his life and there was no way to tell if he'd be able to survive the treatment.
Today, I spoke with the Vet that had seen Sacha. I asked why he hadn't seen the problem before. He said he had, the crystals he found had been very minimal when he'd seen him and he had perscribed a special food that would desolve the crystals - it was right on Sacha's chart. I told him that Erin had told me that he hadn't needed anything like that - that I had even checked in case he did. He said if Sacha had gotten that food he would have lived...the infection would have been totally gone.
To me this is the same as not telling a person to take a vital medication, and they end up dying - it is the exact same. This entire issue could have been preventable. I know suing for mal practice wouldn't bring Sacha back, but it seems to me that something really needs to be done. I brought a cat that was full of life and love to a vet I thought would help, and what I got back is a tin of Ashes and a pawprint...and a little green collar that I can't bear to even touch. Sacha was a part of me, I can't be home and not see him at the window, at the foot of the bed, running into the bathroom when I take a shower. and it absolutley kills me that he was in pain the last three weeks of his life. I will be going in to see the vet personally. I do intend on asking them to pay the $285 emergency vet bill to put Sacha down. I love the vets there, it wasn't their fault. Erin however, I never want to see again.
I wish this was a horrible dream that I would wake up and my Sacha would be sleeping next to my head.