My cat just pulled an Arafat (prayer request)

Yesterday I dropped my two cats off at the vet so they could have their teeth cleaned this morning. A couple of hours ago the vet called me. He said my cat Punkin had serious problems while under the anesthesia. He said his lungs had collapsed. They had him tubed and were breathing for him but said if they pulled the tube he would die.

I rushed over there to say my good-bye's. Surprisingly, by the time I got there he was doing some of the breathing on his own and the vet gave him a 20% chance. A little while later he removed the breathing tube with the understanding that he would most likely be unable to breathe and we would have to put him out of his misery.

Well, he woke up. He's unable to expel the air fully and there is air all over his body. The top of his head, under the skin, had air in it, and it was like that all over, but he was a heck of a lot better than anyone thought he would be.

A couple of hours ago he was definately going to die, then it was a 20% chance, and now his chances are a little better, but still he's very, very sick and has less than a 50% chance.

I'm afraid to get my hopes up but I do love the little bugger very much. If Arafat can live and die and live and die, then maybe my cat can too. He's younger, better looking and much more loveable!

I am a cat breeder. That is an African Serval. He's about4 months old in the picture.

As for the vet, the most expensive vet in my area is the worst. He should not be practicing veterinary medicine. You can bring perfectly healthy animal to him and it has a good chance of being dead within 24 hours. Unfortunately, the state veterinry board is made up of vets who take up for each other so there is little that can be done. There is a local vet who I would describe as a "free lance vet". He worked at research facilities and zoos for 20 years and is now semi-retired. He works in many local vet offices when a vet is on vacation or when they have a heavy workload. He tells me that malpractice is extremely common in veterinary practice but it usually goes unnoticed and unreported because the grief-stricken pet owners don't investigate beyond whatever the vet tells them. I don't mean to indict all vets, but there are many of them who should not be allowed to practice and there is no oversight that would allow their licenses to be taken away, at least in my state.

Just from my personal experience (I have 50+ exotic cats), a tear in the lungs or esophagus would have resulted in symptoms that you would have noticed prior to bringing the cat to the vet, such as problems eating (vomiting) or difficulty breathing. Cats just don't blow up like a balloon. Improperly intubating the cat could definitely cause the symptoms that you describe. However, there could have been some problem in the esophagus that was preexisting (but again, you probably would have seen some symptoms) and made a tear more likely when the tube was inserted. As for the lungs, the lungs are pretty tough so it is hard to puncture a hole unless there is a problem with the tube or unless the vet or technician forces the tube. Regardless, the cat should have been monitored constantly while under anesthesia and intubated so they should have noticed that something was going wrong quickly.

FIP does not cause cats to fill with air, neither does any other disease that I am aware of. FIP is an "excuse" used by vets when they don't know what is wrong. True FIP diagnosis takes a series of tests over a period of time and even then, definite FIP diagnosis cannot always be done until a necropsy is done on the dead cat.

I would take the cat to another vet or two. Also, I would not tell these vets who worked on the cat originally because most vets know each other and they tend to take up for each other.

If you find that the vet did something wrong, report him to the local Better Business Bureau, the state veterinary board and file suit against him. I hate to recommend that people file suit because there are so many frivolous suits. But, this will be a public record that shows that there are questions about the vets proficiency at veterinary practice. Do not accept a settlement, it's not about the money, it's about letting people know IF the vet is guilty of malpractice.

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