Man Spends 26k GBP On Failed Bid To Save Dead Wifes Cat

Story BySibel AbdiuSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyAsia Wire Report

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

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A pet owner is suing a vet after scraping together nearly 26,000 GBP to save his injured cat because it was all he had to remember his dead wife by but it later died after allegedly being misdiagnosed.

Cetin Talay, of the city of Gaziantep in the province of the same name in south-eastern Turkey, was determined to save his beloved cat after it broke its back falling from a fifth-floor balcony.

It was all he had left that had once belonged to his late wife, who had died two years earlier, and he says he struggled to find the 190,000 TRY (25,900 GBP) needed to pay vets’ bills.

But after an operation in the capital city of Ankara and 18 months of treatment, the cat died anyway and he is now suing for his money back after learning the vet had allegedly misdiagnosed the problem in the first place.

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Smartphone footage shows the poor cat trying to walk but struggling to control its legs.

Mr Talay said: “Two years ago I moved to Gaziantep with my cat which was the only thing left behind by my deceased wife. 

“A year and a half ago, my cat fell from the fifth floor and broke its spine. I immediately took it to a veterinary clinic. 

“They determined there was no internal bleeding but the spine was broken, so they told us we need to pay 35,000 TRY (4,800 GBP) to take the cat to Ankara for surgery, so I paid it.

“They did the surgery and the cat was given back to us. But several days later I found out the cat was paralysed and was unable to pee. 

“I took the cat to the same clinic but this time they told me it had kidney stones and they put it in treatment for two more weeks but as the pain of the cat was increasing I took it to another clinic. 

“There, I found out the shocking truth. The reports showed the surgery was done wrongly. The urinary bladder and the tail were paralysed, as well as the legs being damaged. 

“They had operated on the wrong side and because of this all of its organs were damaged.” 

Mr Talay said the bodged operation meant the cat required further treatment, costing 500 TRY (70 GBP) a day which over 18 months notched up a total bill of 190,000 TRY (25,900 GBP).

He said: “I filed a criminal complaint about this with the public prosecutors. The case was filed but in the meantime my cat died.”

He says he took the cat’s body to the Adana Research and Control Institute for an autopsy which he says confirms the vet’s negligence.

Mr Talay added: “The veterinary surgeon accepted his mistakes but he is refusing to pay damages. I will continue fighting for what is right.” 

The veterinary surgeon, whose name is not reported, has not commented on the case.