Should the vet have done this

Question

I adopted a 3 year old female cat just over a week ago. She hadn't been spayed so I arranged for it to be done on Friday. Dropped her into the vet on Friday morning and went to work. At lunch time I noticed a couple of missed calls on my phone from the vet so I called back and they told me that once that had anaesthetised her they examined her and discovered she was actually pregnant.

They tried to get hold of me to ask what I wanted to do, but when they couldn't get me on the phone they decided to go ahead and spay her anyway and get rid of the kittens at the same time.

I would have thought in those circumstances, if they couldn't get hold of the owner, they would just wake the cat back up again and not do any surgery until they found out what the owner wanted? Although I really didn't want kittens (hence getting her spayed), if I'd known she was pregnant I would have let her have them and got her spayed after that.

I'm not planning on making a big complaint about it or claiming or anything like that, I just wondered whether it was standard protocol to do that when I hadn't actually given consent?

Answer 1

I think that was TOTALLY wrong!!! I would NEVER go to that vet again and would sue them...they are a bunch of sickos

Answer 2

I think they did the right thing.

By your own admission you wouldn't have wanted the kittens, bourn out by the fact that you were getting the cat spayed !!

Plus you'd have been charged for the first operation anyway and then would have had to pay for it again.

Answer 3

legally they did the right thing-you signed a consent form saying they could spay your cat. vets only spay cats in the early stages of pregnancy so they weren't actual fully formed kittens and if you didn't want kittens anyway...

Answer 4

Very sad!  :-(

Since the vet had already started the sugery, chances were good the unborn kittens would have died or may not have survived birth.  Maybe he did the only thing he thought he could do safely for the mom cat and the kittens.  Ask him.

Answer 5

i think the vet was wrong, they shouldnt have done that it was your cat and if they couldnt contact you they should have just waited even though they probably would have charged you fro the spay anyway i dont think they should have done that. I would have been very angry the poor kittens did nothing and now they have been killed because the vet couldnt wait half hour? If i were you i would be making a complaint.  

Answer 6

Well ok if that was my vet i would sue him down to the ground! He had no right taking the matter into his own hands. he killed thoses kittens coz he was impatient!  Im a big animal lover. If you didnt want the kittens you could make some money from them not that  is the point. He should not of done that without ur consent.

What an ****.

Answer 7

I can understand that you didn't want the kittens, but that is completly wrong of the vet!!!!! They killed without the owner's consent, let alone...the cat was a to-be mother, there's no other feeling like that, she must've be torn apart at the time :(

Answer 8

yes definatly you should have given consent    how inhumane of them  , I would not take her back there!

Answer 9

they did this to my cat a few years ago so i see where ur coming from. and i've seen 5 litters of kittens being born and its worth seeing. but i don't think vets really have the right to do that.

Answer 10

that is not right they should not have done that you can sue them if you want or maybe tell them you will sue maybe they will make a deal with you like free shots cheak ups and anything you need free for a year but im soooo sorry they did that its terribale oh its illegal

Answer 11

that is ridiculous! they should not have made that decision for you!!! i would definitely throw a fit if something like that ever happened to me. In a medical setting the client should always have control over what she wants to have done, especially if there was no life or death situation involved. your vet is an absolute idiot... if the kittens were that developed to be able to remove them during surgery he should've been able to figure it out before anesthesia!!! Complications are also much higher when the cat is pregnant. Is your vet on crack? At the clinic I work at we always call and WAIT for the owner to call back with a decision if anything like that ever happens. It is called avoiding a lawsuit!  Your vet was totally out of line.

p.s.. you signed the consent for a spay.. NOT the abortion of kittens! they still should have waited for your response.

Answer 12

I asked my daughter who is a vet tech. Since they had more than likely already opened the cats stomach its normal for them to proceed with the surgery. You don't want the cat to go thru that again.

Answer 13

Yeah, they shouldn't have done that without reaching you first. That's all it comes down to. Obviously they were too impatient to wait. Even if you would've told them to do it, they STILL should have gotten that ok from you. Yes, you DID tell them to spay her, but taking into consideration the special circumstances, they should have waited for your decision. I don't think that was the right thing for them to do. Yes, there are a lot of unwanted kittens out there, but does that give them the right to kill kittens that have already been conceived, without your permission? It is YOUR cat, not theirs. YOUR decision. You could have found the kittens good homes! Another litter of kittens being born doesn't mean they won't have homes!  I would never take her back to that vet again.  

Answer 14

You asked them to spay your cat and they spayed your cat.  Emergency spays or spaying while pregnant are very common.  After all, you wouldn't have gotten her spayed if you'd intentionally bred a purebred cat for kittens, would you?  So they did what you told them.  Really, it was for the best.  There are millions of homeless cats in the world, why bring more unfortunate souls into the world?  I know it's hard to think about, but it saved your cat a great strain on her body, and it prevented 6-8 more cats from becoming strays or being euthanized.  I don't think there's any legal reason they would have had to get your permission, you DID sign the surgery forms, and you never stated that they couldn't spay her if she WAS pregnant, so... there you go.  

Answer 15

When you dropped your cat off at the vet you would have signed a general consent for her to be neutered, so you don't have any legal come-back. The rest of the question is more of a moral question than a legal one. They could have proceeded with the operation you asked for an not told you and you would have been none the wiser. As it was, they made a genuine effort to contact you. If your cat was a rescue cat you will know how many cats and kittens there already are out there who are homeless. And some of these come back to the rescues several times, because even experts make mistakes when chosing a home for a cat who has been abandoned. You do not have that experience, so would have had difficulty finding good reliable homes for the kittens, which, BTW you would have had to feed until they were at least 8 weeks old, preferably 12 weeks as they should not leave their family group any earlier. In the mean time the mother cat would have had to be kept indoors so she could not go out and find herself a tom and start the cycle all over again, and so on and so forth.

Think about it, and I am sure you will realise the vet made the right decision in the circumstances ...