I'm a vet and today I fu**ed up, and my mistake resulted in the death of cat.

Hello everyone, this is my throwaway account so sorry for the stupid username.

I'm a 2023 graduate veterinarian. I'm currently studying as a Phd student in veterinary internal medicine at an university.

Today there was a cat that came to the clinic. This cat was 7 years old, british shorthair that had respiratoric problems. The cat's been to other clinics, which in those clinics the cat has been diagnosed with a heart disease. The cat had a x ray which was pretty awful. There was pleural and abdominal effusion (liquid in chest, lungs and stomach area) in the x ray image. The one of the veterinarians started lasix (furosemide), a diuretic for the liquid in the cats chest and abdomen, which is correct. Another vet said to the owner that they should drop lasix because it isn't okay to use for long term, which is wrong in this case because the lasix was probably the only thing keeping this cat alive.

This was the history of the patient. So at first I thought the cat might have FIP. (Feline inf. peritonitis) This is a mutated corona virus disease that is characterized with abdominal effusions. I wanted to be sure of my FIP diagnosis so I wanted to get a blood sample from this cat.

The cat's clinical signs were very subtle. Asymptomatic. There was no irregular breathing or laboured breathing, no pale mucosas, nothing at all. So I thought yeah we could get a blood sample from this cat, after all, the cat looked fine from the outside.

I ordered two interns to hold the cat while I get the blood sample. I wish I didn't. The interns were awful. They let go of the cat multiple times while I was taking the blood sample. The cat bit me. But I insisted on getting a blood sample. I should have just stopped what I was doing and looked at how the cat was doing, how his face was. But I was very annoyed at the students for letting the cat wiggle multiple times so I was very stubborn. I told them to hold the cat still because we need to do this quickly because the cat has respiratoric problems. But when I finally managed to get the blood sample, it was too late.

The cat's tongue was completely purple. I immediately rushed to the emergency clinic. We did CPR for 5 minutes but there was no heart rate and no respiration.

I am very angry at myself. I should have stopped what I was doing, told those students to fuck off and learn how to handle a cat, and put that cat in an ICU unit with oxygen. I treated cats with respiratoric distress before and I was always careful with them. But I was so distracted, so stubborn, so stupid that I let my annoyance at the students take over my caution. I should have been more cautious.

I have been crying since I got home. I had the explain the situation to the owner of the cat. It was awful. I told them that it was our mistake but the cat would have died regardless because of the liquid buildup. Which was true but it still feels like I should have been more careful.

I love my job, I love helping innocent souls, I love being their saviour. But sometimes I hate my job. Today was one of them.

I hope that cat and his owner can forgive me for what I have done.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/confessions/comments/1h51218/im_a_vet_and_today_i_fucked_up_and_my_mistake/