Monday 23^rd June 2014

 

I took the slow silent journey to the Vets 4 Pets practice in Swindon to collect my little girl’s body. There had been no sleep the night before and the events of the last few hours had still not sunk in properly.

It took over an hour and a half to arrive at the vets and when I did the car park was full and so was the waiting room. Full of breathing living animals with their owners all waiting for treatment.

I gave my name to reception and was then told to take a seat in the reception area. Full of chatting people cats in baskets and dogs on leads.

Painful does not begin to describe it.

 After around a 10 minute wait a nurse came out with Lilly’s cat box and the receptionist nodded in my direction. I stood up and went over to the counter. There I was given Lilly’s bill and asked how I would be paying.

The Bill was for £325.40p.I asked if I could pay £50.00 now and the rest later because as I had already paid out £332.69p to Companion Care for her examination, diagnosis and, treatment less than 48 hours earlier I did not have the full amount on me .I was told that I could pay the remainder by the end of July as long as the outstanding amount was paid in full. I then had to give them my bank card for them to take payment details from. Ready for collection of that payment at the end of the following month. I also had to give  work and employer details and sign a debtor’s slip accepting I was responsible for the bill. Which I signed but added a note on there saying bill due to Companion cares miss diagnosis this was all before I could take Lilly. I also asked for a copy of the vets report showing what had been done for Lilly that Night.

 

As I placed Lilly in the car I was at a total loss as to what to do or why this had happened. I had taken her to companion care vets and she was seen by a vet who was advertised on their site as:

GPcert  (SAS) MRCVS

Silvia qualified in Córdoba (Spain) in 2004. She enjoys all aspects of veterinary practice, particularly Surgery and Emergency and Critical Care.

Silvia obtained her Certificate in Small Animal Surgery in 2012 and she has spent the last 2 years working in Emergency and Critical Care.

Misguidedly I believed this meant she was an expert in emergency and critical care!!!

How was it possible that an otherwise fit, healthy, young and ,strong cat that had been taken into her for diagnosis and treatment less than 48 hours earlier for vomiting blood and sounding like a raspy crisp packet when you put a hand on her chest was now  dead.

This vet had diagnosed Lilly as fit to go home. She had examined her and informed me that she had carried out various test and fully monitored her. And because of those letter after her name I trusted and believed her diagnosis and advice. When she said Lilly’s problem was caused by nothing more than her having something like an insect get into her air way and irritating her .Making her bring up some blood from gagging too much. Who was I to question an expert.

How dam stupid was I to believe and to put my trust and faith in the hands of an “expert” and to give my Lilly the drugs she prescribed her.

If I had left Lilly at home rather than taking her to the vets at that time for help she would not have been given the drugs and we would not have been given false assurances ..Her condition would not have been masked and she would have stood a better chance.How? Because instead of believing her breathing was ok as we had been told it was. We would have seen her need for treatment grow. Instead we watched her die slowly because the VET said she was fine and the drugs given, hid her condition and her deterioration.

On the lonely drive home I don’t mind admitting I found it really hard to hold myself together. As I drove along the roads with Lilly’s Cat crate strapped into the seat next to me. Every stop at traffic lights became harder, as at each one, I would look over at her crate expecting to see her little face looking at me. Lilly enjoyed going in the car and loved to look out of the windows. She was a very touchy feely cat and loved to have her paws held. So at every opportunity when in the car she would call you and reach out to you for her paws to be tickled.

Today she could not do that!

 I had wanted to speak with companion care in person about what had happened to her, but as the journey went on I started to become an emotional wreck, so I pulled in to my daughters on the way back. In the short time I was there I pulled myself back together stopped the tears, and put my face back on.

 My daughter offered to come with me to the companion care vet practice in Chippenham and given the mess I was in I gladly accepted. When we arrived at the pets at home store we parked up and went inside. The companion care reception desk is at the rear of the store. The receptionist on duty was not the same one who had been there on Saturday when I brought Lilly to them, so after explain why I was there I asked if I could speak to the vet in charge of the practice.

 After around a 15 minute wait a vet invited us in to the same consulting room Lilly had been examined in on Saturday. She had with her the nurse who had assisted with Lilly’s examination and had spoken with me on the telephone that day.

 The vet asked how she could help.

 I explained to her that I wanted to know why Less the 36 hours after they had examined and treated Lilly and advised me there was no problems with her breathing and no need to be concerned about her having brought up blood Lilly was now dead.?

She said as she had not been involved in Lilly’s care so she could not comment on that but would look at the notes on the screen. (Which was already on and, already had Lilly’s notes loaded on it.)

 She said the notes show Lilly was brought in for gagging and coughing blood. But does not mention anything about her vomiting blood. I asked her why the notes were not accurate and was told again she could not comment. She just reiterated that the notes simply say brought in for gagging, coughing up blood .Blood on mouth and paws. It says nothing about her vomiting blood or that you had mentioned such.

I looked at the young nurse who was there and said that’s not quite true is it. You even called me back on Saturday and offered me an earlier appointment instead of the one you first gave to me, because she had vomited blood. Didn’t you?  She confirmed that was what happened.

The vet then said she would need to ask Silvia .The vet who had treated Lilly, about the notes and the treatment given.

Asked why, if she had been brought in for bring up blood had they not as a precautionary measure either kept her in or at least given antibiotics in case of infection or blood getting in to or around her lungs. Her reply was.

 Blood does not get into an animal’s lungs from vomiting blood. And antibiotics would not have helped any way if she had died so soon after they had seen her.

If that was true, she was asked. Then why did the emergency night vet want to put her on such antibiotics and why did she believe the blood she had vomited on the Saturday had probably caused pneumonia on her lungs.

 It does not do that was the reply.

I asked to see the X rays

We examined your cat and she recovered normally from the anesthetic if she had a problem she would not have done that.

 That is not true I replied.

She recovered normally or uneventfully as they put it, with the night vet. She however went downhill afterwards so that means nothing. Was there any difference in her heart rate, pulse or breathing because I cannot see records of such on her notes?

We do not record that she replied.

Then how can you compare  any change .I asked.

She looked at the nurse and asked? Did she show any problems after the anesthetic?

 No was the reply, her breathing was normal.

Did you monitor her for any changes? I asked .And with that the nurse started to cry and walk out!

Why is she crying my daughter asked?

It upsets us all was the reply. Followed by, cats die all the time and their conditions change so we cannot give a prognosis.

I would like to see the X rays I asked again, adding if you cannot give a diagnosis or prognosis, how could the vet who saw Lilly and who said she was fine. Not to worry it was just an insect or such like that had caused the vomiting of blood and raspy breathing. Tell me she believed Lilly would develop a bowel blockage and I should watch out for such. She even gave me a sachet of intestinal food because she believed such.

Cats change all the time. Medical conditions change. We cannot tell what will happen. Was the reply.

At this point the nurse re-entered the room.

 We asked to see Lilly’s X rays yet again. The x rays were finally brought up on the screen and whizzed through saying as you can see there’s nothing on them.

It depends what you’re looking for was my reply.

 It also leaves me asking, why when you have an x ray of her intestines and stomach showing no blockage you wanted to charge me for and do further x rays of that area when there is no problem there as can be seen and that was not the area I asked you to look at anyway as the problem was her breathing and vomiting blood.

You’re clearly upset I will speak with Silvia and then telephone you, she said.

Feeling emotionally drained and clearly getting know where I said I was going home and she could call me there

I drove home still not knowing how they could get it so wrong and still not knowing how a person I had gone too, for professional help and treatment, could have failed to give such with such devastating and fatal consequences.

 I stopped at a shop on the way home to buy a soft baby blanket and large enough box with a closing lid big enough to put our little girl in. While in there looking at the various styles and designs and wondering which one she would like, I started to wonder if being in there while Lilly’s body was in the car was even right. Should I have taken her home first and then come out again. Was it cruel to be buying the box with her still in the car? Then I started to question if I had gone home first where would I have put her body while doing that? If I left her indoors either our dog or Zanshin our other cat would have become up set by seeing her.

I choose a box one with butterfly’s on it and, a little blanket with a small teddy on it to wrap her in.

 When I arrived home I brought her little body in doors and put the crate she was in on the floor while I shut the door. Unbeknown to me Zanshin was there. A cat that never hangs around doors and hides whenever there open. He sniffed the crate looked in it and hissed and howled like crazy before running off upstairs.

No amount of coaxing or reassurance would settle him.

 Lilly’s cold and stiff little body was lifted out of the cat crate and blanket the vets had put on her taken of, so she could be wrapped in the small blanket I had just brought and placed in the butterfly box with her toys .She had little shaved patches on her chest and side, as well as her little legs.

Holding her cold Lifeless little body was so difficult and the tears were uncontrollable, just as they are now while I am writing this. To know this little girl was not given the chance to be put right which is why we went to companion care and sought medical help was bad enough but to know see her lying here like this with fleas walking on her was just sickening.

While it is common for animal to pick up fleas etc. in vets surely they could at least have put some kind of spray on the blanket they used to prevent such being brought home with her.

 Not long after I arrived home my husband got in from work. He too was an emotional wreck and I think loosing Lilly has hit him harder than me. She was after all his little girl.

 Having dug the whole in the garden for her, next to our other female cat that we had the pleasure of for thirteen and a half years until kidney and thyroid failure took her. We said good bye to Lilly and placed her little coffin and body in the ground. Then after filling the grave in put a small ornamental grass on there for her as she loved to play and hide in the grass.

 The following day Tuesday 24^th June 2014.

       By early afternoon nothing had been heard from Companion Care vets. Given that Lilly had died and it had been them who examined and treated her and advised us on the care to give to her. I was surprised at the lack of contact or of any urgency for such on their part.

 Knowing they had let Lilly down and now feeling let down and ignored myself I was left wondering if they even cared .Or if it really was all just about the money. The more I thought about it, the more I remembered how on Saturday they had been all to quick to tell me there was nothing there have pain killers and bring her back the following day and we will look in her throat. Then quickly gone from a £220.00P estimates for investigation and examination. To a £330.00 bill and then called wanting more money to do more X rays of her bowels when it was her breathing and cause of vomiting blood I wanted looked at.

I decided to write to them, question her treatment and place a formal complaint as they had I know felt been very evasive on Monday. And so far they had not even bothered to call me back with a simple update to say when they would have information for me.

I addressed the letter to both companion care head office and the vet practice of companion care in Chippenham who treated Lilly.

In the letter which I have put on this site I told them I believed they should refund the cost of Lilly’s Care and be responsible for the emergency vet bill as such would not have arisen if they had treated and examined Lilly properly.

I sent the one to head office via email and the one for the vet was brought over personally.

 When I arrived at the practice it was late afternoon.

 The pet shop its self was quite busy and I went to the vet area at the rear of the store. There were a couple of people there waiting to be seen. Again there was a different receptionist on the desk a young girl. I gave her my name and asked to speak with the vet.

 I waited around 10 minutes for her to come out. When she did she did not invite me to go to a private area with her ,she simply said.

She had spoken to me yesterday and there was nothing more to say as it was said yesterday.

I said I had come up as I wished to know if she had spoken to the vet that treated Lilly, as no one had called me yet and I did not know what was happening.

Her reply was that she had not as, Sylvia was not available but she had made her aware of what had happened.

 I asked why no one could have called me to let me know what was happening as I had been waiting for them to call me.

The reply. I cannot tell you anything until I have spoken to Sylvia.

I appreciate that but, I was led to believe you would be calling me today given the circumstances.

 I will call you Thursday when I have spoken to Sylvia she replied. Her tone ever changing. She does have other places to work besides here.

 The conversation went on a little but was going nowhere so I handed her the letter.

 Her tone now changed and she said I seemed very upset and seemed to think someone was to blame for my kitten’s death it’s unfortunate but kittens die all the time.

I could not believe she had said that as Lilly’s care advice and treatment did contribute to her death.

 She took the letter out of the envelope briefly looked at a few lines and said I will go through your letter but I don’t know what you can say that was not said yesterday.

I told her I was looking for answers.

She waved the letter at me and told me I needed to leave now before she called the police.

 Such a comment and response was unbelievable.

They examined, diagnosed, treated and advised on treatment. Dispensed drugs and when that professional advice and information is incorrect and leaves a young cat to die slowly they believe I have no right to question them .Instead they believe they have the right to intimidate me and threaten to call the police on me?

 It was not long before the middle aged receptionist who had suddenly appeared interfered and added her advice.

That is to say she told me to get out or she would call the police. Stating it more then once.

 Such professionalism, such compassion and sympathy as shown to me that day will never be forgotten.

The level of customer service and genuine concern for clients and their pets was well and truly displayed there and then by companion care Chippenham Wiltshire and the staff and vets employed there..

 Not only has our little girl paid for what In my opinion was incompetence and miss diagnosis on their part but now less the 24 hours after putting her body in the ground they are humiliating and degrading me inside a pets at home store. In full view of all the customers.

 I refused to leave until the receptionist apologized(for all that was worth)

And then in the car park called the companion care head office to inform them of what just happened.

The letter sent to them is on this site as is the response from both the vet practice in Chippenham and companion care head office.