Animal Hospital of Warsaw

In response to your letter of February 23, which
was not received by us until March 2nd,I did declaw and neuter the 3 cats in question on 2/14 and 2/15.Since any surgery which Involves an incision has
a risk of infection from any number of causes and sources, that Is a risk the client must accept...

as
part of the risk of doing any surgery, Each cat had 12 separate incisions, 10 of which were on their
feet, which increases the risk 10 fold. Since I have no control over what the
owners do with the cats once they leave the hospital or what the cats do to themselves, I cant say if the environment was
appropriate for post op care or not. Even if it was under ideal conditions, such as in a human hospital,
Infections still occur.The
instruments used were sterilized and the sutures were sterile sutures. No
antibiotics are usuallydispensed after routine elective surgeries since
we rarely see an Infection develop. The toes were sutured instead of glued because it is a more
secure way to make sure the incision stays together, but either method is acceptable.As for
the post op pain and limping, again both are to be expected after declawing for
up to 2 or 8 weeksor more since the surgery involves removing all 10
front toes and the cats are adults, which also increases the discomfort level. The owner was told at discharge to expect this.
The owner had to pay for pain pills
because she requested them, in writing, and they are always recommended for
older catsafter
declawing anyway. The post op exam and antibiotics were charged for since we
can never guarantee
no post op surgical problems and surgical complications cant be anticipated and
are not included
in the initial price.The first cat was seen for 1 toe being infected on
2/20 and the antibiotics were dispensed. The owner said at that time that the other 2 cats were doing
well. They then called back on 2/20 to complain about having to pay for the exam and medications, They
then called back on 2/22 to ask to have records faxedto another hospital to have the cats seen, which
we did. I was also out of state from 2/21 — 2/25 attending veterinary classes and couldn't see them. The owner was told
that we would reimburse them for the cost of that visit, which was for a second cat having
a problem. We also told them that we would not charge for any further exams that may be needed, We never heard
from the owner again up to this point,
nor have we ever received a copy of any bill to be reimbursed.Since we rarely see any post op problems of any
kind on 95% of elective surgeries, I feel that the unfortunate complications
here were a very unusual occurrence and were handled appropriately under the circumstances,
We are still willing
to reimburse the owner for the 1 visit to the Other veterinarian once we are given an invoice copy. Further
reimbursement will need to be discussed and will depend onthe circumstance.