The past week has been more than a little interesting, a week that’s required much ingenuity and patience on my part!
One of my 10 month old kittens, Ethel, started crying. No matter what I tried, food, play, petting, she’d start crying again almost immediately. Even though she was also eating, drinking, playing just fine, I quickly became frantic. I checked her from her black whiskers to the tip of her tail repeatedly, thinking she was ill or has somehow injured herself. I found nothing...
Now, she HAS done this a couple of times before, weeks apart, but mildly, just off and on, a few hours at a time really, and it only lasted a couple of days at most. Though each time it happened, it did seem to last longer, and get worse. I could never find a reason for it.
This time though, after a couple of days, the crying turned to frequent loud yowls! I was beside myself. I wondered if I should have the Vet see her, etc.
However, the morning after the actual yowls started, it finally clicked in my head. (Took long enough!) As I was going from the bedroom to the coffee pot, Ethel lay down on the carpet in front of my wheelchair. And she wouldn’t move; and I mean, SHE WOULDN’T MOVE, no amount of gently pushing and prodding with my house slippered foot, would move her!
Ethel stretched, rolled, and acted generally cute and seductive. Then she scrunched herself down, assuming the ‘kitty’ position, leaving no doubt as to what she wanted! Finally, it dawned on me. Even though she’d been spayed 6 months ago, poor Ethel was in Heat! I was stunned. How could this be?
I called the Vet I use because he makes (at a very high fee) ‘house calls’. He wanted no part of it; said I needed to go back to the Veterinarian that had done the original surgery. The problem with this was, they were spayed at a low cost clinic. I’d never actually known the name of the Veterinarian. And, I hadn't taken them there, because it was too far; a volunteer had. To make matters worse, because of my recent Hard Drive Failure, I’d lost many of my ‘newer’ phone numbers and email addresses.
So, with Ethel YOWLING pitifully in the background, Lucy pacing around in a confused manner, and me pulling my hair out; I got on the internet. I was able to find a web site for the sponsoring agency of the clinic where they'd had the surgery and email them. I was also able to email a man who works with feral cats in our area, having conversed with him once before, when I was looking for kittens to adopt, thinking he’d have names and numbers. Yes! The very next morning, he called me with the info I needed.
I immediately left messages on several voice mails. While I was waiting for replies, I went back to the net, to the newsgroups, where I got a tremendous amount of help and information, even from Vets! If you have access to newsgroups, you might want to check out: rec.pets.cats.health+behav . The threads regarding Ethel are obvious.
Some of the ‘comments’ I got there:
1)“The cat in question certainly has ovarian remnant syndrome. Although, some ovarian tissue can be present even on a ligament that holds the ovary to the body wall, such thing is extremely rare, in my and my colleague's experience.
The operation may be unrewarding since you may not see a nice ovary (compared to usual spay) when you open the cat, and the cat may still go in heat after the operation. Although not a real solution, the vet may remove the uterus, if it was let behind in first operation.”
2)"Its called 'ovarian remnant syndrome' and its usually caused by sloppy surgical technique - leaving part or all of an ovary or from dropping of some ovarian tissue into the peritoneal cavity - which could revascularize and start functioning again at any time - which looks like what probably happened. I hope they plan to check her serum estrogen level before they start cutting!
3)“…do you think it is fair for the vet to charge the OP again for this procedure since it was her fault?
Charge her again? They'd be lucky if she doesn't sue them! There may be limitations on "damages to pets", but not for her mental anguish caused by their negligence. She's worried sick - and rightly so.
If it happened to my cat, I wouldn't let the same vet near my cat. In fact, I'd insist on a board certified surgeon because surgery to remove ovarian remnants requires a bit more surgical skill. The first vet couldn't get it right the first time -- I damn sure wouldn't give him/her the chance to screw it up again. I don't give vets or parachute packers’ second chances.
4)"I did notice, however, that some of the vets who remove only ovaries have higher incidence of recurrent heat.”
5)"Unfortunately, there are a few vets - just a few - who consider shelter animals "just a shelter cat/dog" - 'second rate' animals and don't give them same quality of care as an owned pet. People with that attitude don't last very long around my 'house'.
Sadly, I also got many comments to the effect that 'If you don't have the financial resources to care for pets, you shouldn' have them."
Well, I can’t afford, nor can I physically get to another Vet (And as she was already spayed, I shouldn’t HAVE too!). And this Vet is part of a spay or neuter clinic; they do not have the abilities, resources or funds to do the suggested blood work. Unbelievably, this spay and neuter ‘clinic’ is even insisting I sign a ‘waiver’ before this second surgery!
To top it off; Ethel is STILL fighting the viral infection she was born with; her immune system still is not up to par. AND she didn’t react well to the anesthetic the first time around. I’ve been told that this 2nd surgery is much more complex and that Ethel might not make it through…
On the 'up' side; she is young, otherwise healthy, and an 'upbeat' cat. (My little 'clown')
I’m STILL waiting to hear from the Vet or the Vet Tech that works in that clinic. Ethel is scheduled for her 2nd spay at the end of this month FREE of charge. Though this may be put off till she goes into Heat again; they want to 'see' her in this condition, and surgery might be easier to perform.
Ethel is now back to normal. But what a week! It stormed all week, so I couldn't even get out of the apartment in my wheelchair (can't get 'em wet!). Have you ever been locked in an apartment for a week with a cat in Heat?
To say that I’m worried (and concerned about ALL the animals that get spayed or neutered there), is putting it mildly.
CLICK
HERE TO DONATE!
