Kitten Dies after Boarding. Who's to blame?

[amirimran]

I have this kitten about 4-5 months old which is originally a stray picked from the street. We really love this kid and had showered her with all the love. Once, our kid had developed dhairea and warded for 2 days. The vet suspected this is more than dhairea but proceed with normal treatment for dhairea. Thank god, she recovered. When she's all healthy and bouncing, we never thought of vaccinate the kid and completely forgot about that. Only, when it's time to board the kid for holidays, then the thought of vaccination surfaced. We look and later decided on boarding place which we have used before, on the premise of they will do the vaccinations.
We do know, cats will be stressed when boarding. Small cages, no litter box and sand, overcrowded, sharing cages are a big NO to us, and we are quite happy with the boarding place we decided as the cages are quite big for a kitten, with a platform and litter box and sand ready and no sharing. Anyhow, what can we expect for RM 15 a day!
We do know for a fact then when boarding, cats will be stressed and tend to eat less than usual. This is normal, even for a FIVE STAR pet hotel, if they do of what they promised. We just hope, and with the facility that they had, we hope for the best.
We board our kid for 7 days. Unfortunately, the kid got sick after we took and die in the vet clinic after not responding to treatment for 3 days. A post mortem and blood test has been carried out and its highly suspected the kid has leukimia which is genetically transmitted. The Vet also told us, the kid has been carrying this disease since birth, that explains the kid small size for a kitten of his age. The Vet also told us, it's highly unlikable that the disease are from the boarding centre, as the disease will only show symptoms months and even years after contracted. It could be in the kid body for sometimes and it triggered when boarding due to boarding stress factor.
Now, who's to blame?
The Boading centre?
1. For not informing us when the kid start eating less? (though fact is all pet tend to eat less in boarding centre due to stress)
2. For not vaccinate the kid? (due to the kid small size and it will add additional stress)
3. For not updating us 24/7?
Or We?
1. For not vaccinating the kid when it should?
2. For failing to realise that boarding a kitten is a risk especially those of has medically treatment history and had not been vaccinated before?
3. For not accepting the kid dead is fated and it could happen to any one, especially kitten with leukimia?

I have no reason to believe the boarding centre neglecting care of our kid, as the other cats are all healthy and bouncing. And there is no prove either, abandoning cats was happening.

I leave it to all of you to give your views and perhaps advise me on the next course of action (if any). I'm just so emotional at this moment and could not think straight. I have put the blame squarely on the boarding centre and had ask them to pay for all the treatment expenses. I wonder wether this is right or me being selfish for not accepting the fact and death of our kid.

Thanks.

[Doghouse]

I'm very sorry that you have lost you kitten so early on and so suddenly. Perhaps you should take your vet's advice on the kid's congenital condition. You did the best you could to save him and give him a good life while he lived. He was a lucky little kitten to be so well-loved and missed.

[Maneki Neko]

First, I give you my condolences -- I'm so sorry about the loss of your kitten!


From what you've said, though, I'm not sure that anyone is to blame. If it was in fact leukemia that the kitten contracted from its mother, there's little or nothing you could have done to prevent or cure it.

Some info about vaccinations: Many boarding facilities will not take in a kitten or cat until it's fully vaccinated. For a kitten of 2 months or above, she'll get one jab, and then a booster shot 6 weeks later. Only after that is she considered fully vaccinated. Vets are currently debating how often to re-vaccinate adult cats. Some say every 3 years is adequate; others say every year is necessary. The boarding place that I've used in the past still requires proof of an annual vaccination.

The standard vaccination will protect your cat from Panleukopenia (feline enteritis or distemper) and feline flu virus. When it comes to feline leukemia, there is still no 100% effective vaccine, so vets almost never vaccinate against it.

So, in short, if your kitten died of leukemia, the vaccinations would have made no difference. Vaccinations stress a cat's immune system, so I think the people at the boarding facility made a good decision not to vaccinate your kitten, especially if she already seemed unwell. And you're correct that just the stress of being in an unfamiliar place may have started her decline. It doesn't sound to me as if anyone is to blame.

Just let your family recover from the loss of this little furkid, and when the time is right, perhaps another one will find its way into your hearts.

[Coony]

It is our very responsibility to see to it that our cat is strong & healthy before boarding. The required valid vaccination & spot on for our cat is actually for the protection of our cat rather than for the boarding center, as some may think so. Never board young kitten (especially the one that is not fully vaccinated) or ill cat as they may not stand the stress of being in a new environment & this may cause a drastic drop of their immune system.

Boarding requirement for owner:-
1) Valid vaccination
2) Healthy, no flu or fever
3) Free from fungal or skin problem
4) Free from Parasite (tick, flea or ear mite)
5) Male cat must be neutered

Boarding center responsibility:-
1) Spot on for the cat (to be charge to the owner)
2) Shud the cat fall ill, the center will bring the cat to the vet (vet charges bear by owner)
3) Cat litter, dry food & clean water provided by the center (any other cat litter, food dry or wet beside the center standard food is at the owner expense)

Whenever something unfortunate happen at the boarding center most will blame the center, but we also need to look at ourselves to see if we did the wrong thing to send them there in the first place. Becoz sometimes it only us that will know if our cat is strong & healthy enough to be board at the center, if you don't know if your cat is or not how do you expect the center to know. To a certain extend owner board their cat at their own risk (like car park). The center is only responsible for the care of your cat stay during boarding to see to it that clean water & food are provided & their enclosure are kept clean.

So, whenever you send your cat for boarding you need to check out the facility to see if it is clean & hygienic enough for your cat. You also need to know if your cat is board among barking dog which will be extremely stressful for your cat.