We lost our best kitty friend in the world last night, Pumpkin, who woke up happy and purring and was gone before midnight.

Around the middle of the day I noticed something was suddenly off on her, and she exhibited what I now know as some of the symptoms a cat has when they have a stroke: weakness, dazed and odd walking in slow circles and occasional tilt of the head.

A few hours later we decided to take her to the vet, but her regular vet was not answering calls because they closed in 15 minutes, and after 10 call attempts we took her to the vet that our vet's voicemail suggested as an emergency vet.

I asked them if they thought it might be a stroke or heart attack.

The vet did not think so at all. She did mention she heard a heart murmur(another warning sign--one of possible endocarditis or vegetation on a valve), but was not concerned.

Instead they quoted us a battery of tests to run that weren't stroke specific, and after trying to draw blood(which was very hard to do, and they were not having much success getting blood out of her), they suggested they give her some medication to calm her down:

Butorphanol



The vet lady said that this is given to cats in heart failure, and is very low risk.

Doing this delayed treatment by two hours.

After she was given the drug, she continued to run tests, and Pumpkin declined in condition as these tests went on, often involving long wait times of 30 - 45 minutes between nurse visits, or more.

At some point towards the end, her breathing became dazed, her mouth was agape, and she was in a trance.

They struggled to get a blood pressure reading and continued to fumble with the device, when the vet(or a nurse) suggested they reverse the drug.

Shortly after that suggestion, and a delay of administering the reverse, her little heart stopped beating.

They rushed to resuccitate her, but by the time they got her heart started again, the damage to her mind had been done.

My brother and I dug a hole in my back yard today and buried her.


Based on everything I have read, cats survive strokes, often, and live to recover, especially if promptly diagnosed and treated.

I told them all her symptoms upon arrival, and even told the vet a previous vet that had treated her for a respiratory infection a few weeks ago had noticed a murmur as well. But she was given antibiotics, and recovered quickly thereafter. Pumpkin was happy, alert, and her playful, snuggly self.

But the ER vet did not try and treat stroke, and instead drugged her with something that can slow heartbeats, which could lead to breathing complications. Slowing of a heart, or weakening of the pumping action can lead to fluid buildup in the lungs, and quickly, which could hamper breathing. She did not have symptoms of pleural effusion, so this may not have happened, but her mouth agape is what cats do when they are having difficulty breathing--something the nurses overlooked.


We don't know what to do.

Our Pumpkin is with the Lord now, we know this, and for that we are grateful. But she is gone, and was in perfect health, happy and playful, and is hard to accept she is gone, suddenly, when this may not have had to happen. Ideally we want to prevent this from happening to another family and their beloved pet. We are not seeking financial payout for our own sake. I have always been against gigantic rewards, etc., as I feel Tort reform is necessary in America, but that belongs in PWEC, not here.

We need to review this with another vet, but obviously there are legal ramifications now, considering what happened, and this state has terrible laws which the Vet far more than the consumer when a Vet harms their pet.


We are so sad and hurt.

Condolences to your family.

Sorry for your lose. It's been 9 months since we lost our oldest dog, still miss him.

It’s been 16 years and I still grieve over my favorite dog.

Normally a cat wants to be a typical cat: meow, food, play, etc.

Pumpkin was one in a trillion. She was no normal cat. She wanted to be, and even considered herself, human. She was extremely communicative, and had a broad vocabulary, that often included one that extended beyond the typical meow. Her trademark was her double meow, but that was just the surface of her depth.

This makes this so much harder. That we may have allowed a vet to fail her.


Really stinks losing good friends who entrust their lives to you.

I’m sorry about Pumpkin, in the past 2 1/2 years I’ve had 4 euthanized and know exactly how you feel. Each loss took an irreplaceable bit of character out of my human-feline household.

My vet always checks the heart twice, once early in the exam and then again later. He says a heart murmur can often be caused by stress so once the cat has calmed down a little he checks again. Mine have never had a murmur on the 2nd check.

The difficulty in drawing blood makes me think she might have been dehydrated with collapsed vessels, but that’s a basic check (does pinched neck skin retract immediately?) and subcutaneous fluids reverse it almost immediately. If caused by kidney failure jaundice is common and can be seen as yellow tint to the roof of the mouth.

If you’re considering legal action you have to remember that vets often have their own ideas about certain things, just like 5 different people will have 5 different recipes for a certain dish. I’d never been told about stress causing a heart murmur before, and a previous vet wouldn’t vaccinate for FIP because if tested later the vaccine would supposedly cause a positive result. So who knows what your chance of success would be?

I'm so sorry to read this. Condolences to you and the family. Lost my German Shepherd last year. It hurts deep.

Ugh. I really need to talk to a third party Vet for their opinion of the events. We need to know if mistakes were made that could have been prevented, and if so, what can be done to make sure this never happens again to other cats and dogs. The pain is too great right now.

Sorry to hear about your lost friend,. Blastman.

I understand the drive to do something about the percieved failure of the vet, but as always, these things are better done when the emotions recede.

Have you talked to the vet and presented your criticism?

Hope you find good closure either way or another,

Helmut