LAHORE: The district consumer court is hearing a complaint of a woman against a private pet clinic for killing her pet cat allegedly due to medical negligence.

Fatima Binte Adeeb, the complainant, also claims damages of Rs5 million; however, the pet clinic owner, Abid Hussain, denies the charge of medical negligence.

The woman took her five-and-half-year old cat called Muezza to the clinic in Gulberg on Sept 8, 2021, and got her treatment from the respondent veterinary doctor for over two weeks. She received veterinary services for the cat which opted to starve after a usual cat fight.

The complainant says the vet refused to hospitalise the cat rather advised high-dose antibiotic injections at home. She claims the vet during the weeks-long treatment of the cat ignored doing anything for the pet’s nutrition requirements and let it starve.

She says the respondent vet kept blindly advising antibiotic injections and the cat died due to liver failure. She argues that the cause of death has been confirmed in medical reports of the cat.

In his reply filed through a counsel, the respondent vet denies the charges as bogus claiming that the complainant never visited his clinic.

Interestingly, the respondent admits the visiting of the complainant to his clinic in a reply submitted to the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) following a separate complaint filed by the aggrieved woman.

The vet even says the complainant used to visit his clinic along with her pet on a regular basis. He claims the clinic advised the complainant that her cat needed daily antibiotics, painkillers and fluid therapy, however, she expressed her inability to bring the cat for a daily check-up citing professional duties.

The respondent alleges that the cat lost life due to the negligence of the complainant and she has been trying to damage the reputation of his clinic with a mala fide intention.

In her rebuttal, the woman also denies the claim of the vet, however, the PVMC is yet to resume its next hearing.

The consumer court would resume its hearing on Sept 15.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2022