News

Cat Euthanized by Mistake During Routine Visit to Vet for Check-Up

By Amanda Thomason January 21, 2020 at 12:27pm

Every day, veterinarians interact with people’s furry friends without incident — and in most cases, the pets are better for it.

Diseases are diagnosed, life-saving vaccinations are given and potential health issues are spotted.

But for as long as veterinarians, technicians and staff are human, there will be room for error.

We just hope the error doesn’t turn out to be as severe as it was for cat owner Michelle Olson.

Olson, from Spring, Texas, took her cat Sophie in for a routine visit and vaccination.

It should have been straightforward: Even the rabies shot the cat was scheduled for was part of normal pet care.

Tragic… a Spring woman says her cat, Sophie, was accidentally euthanized after going in to the vet for a routine checkup. The story at 4:30. ⁦@abc13houston⁩ pic.twitter.com/YMYFqfwyQs

— T.J. Parker (@TJParkerABC13) January 17, 2020

But it was a mix-up with that vaccination that ended up taking the cat’s life.

Do you think the vet's office should have to pay damages to Olson?

“The appointment after our appointment there was a cat that was ill,” Olson told KPRC. “It was diagnosed with feline aids and was to be euthanized.”

“The syringe somehow was drawn early,” she said. “It was just sitting there and did not have a label on it and when the doctor asked for the rabies vaccine for Sophie somebody handed her that syringe.”

Before she even got home with her cat, Olson got a call from the vet’s office, pleading with her to come back as quickly as possible.

“It was the doctor herself calling saying, ‘Please get Sophie back here immediately, we gave her euthanasia instead of a rabies vaccine,'” Olson told KTRK.

At that point, the severity of the situation overwhelmed Olson, and she knew that she wouldn’t be getting Sophie back.

“I immediately took her out of her cat carrier and I held her, talked to her, because I knew that was going to be the last thing she would remember,” she said. “I knew she wasn’t going to come back at that point. I just knew it.”

“She pretty much was dying in my arms.”

“They took her back, gave her oxygen, fluids to try and flush it out of her system and gave her some epinephrine to get her heart rate going again,” Olson added to KPRC.

While the vets did what they could to save Sophie, the damage had already been done. Two days later, she passed away.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see that look on her face and I just can’t get it out of my head,” Olson told KTRK.

“She use to be my little shadow, she would follow me everywhere. I still catch myself turning around looking behind me, looking for her,” she said to KPRC.

Though the case is heartbreaking, Olson maintains that she’s not trying to drag the vet’s office through the mud, she just doesn’t want anyone else to experience something like this ever again.

“They’re very sorry, that’s all they can say really,” she said. “It was an accident, I get that, but it was an accident that should’ve never happened.”

“My main concern is not to bash them at all, just want to make public aware to be vigilant, ask questions that you didn’t think you had to ask of your veterinarian so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

The animal hospital confirmed Olson’s claims to KTRK but would not comment further.

Submit a Correction →