Vet's remorse over cat painkiller death

But she says the pet was wrongly overdosed by its owner days before it died earlier this month.

Experienced Hall vet Jan Spate said she advised Mark Sowden to give his six-year-old cat Saffy – which had undergone surgery earlier in the day – a 0.5 millilitre “half dose” of the painkiller after a late-night call for help.

Mr Sowden gave Saffy a two-millilitre dose, after calling at about 10pm on the Wednesday night.

By Thursday morning the cat was bloating and Mr Sowden said kidney failure followed, with Ms Spate putting down his beloved pet the next Monday morning.

“With hindsight I shouldn't have advised him to give it Nurofen, but he did give it much more than I advised – 2 millilitres is a big overdose,” Ms Spate said.

“I wouldn't have prescribed it if it hadn't been after hours and very late, but it's something you can give as one-offs.”

Mr Sowden has been devastated by the death, after he thought the cat was on the mend following an attack by two dogs in his front yard.

“I don't want anyone else's cat to die like that, it was the worst feeling in the world,” he said.

“I feel like an idiot, like I've killed my best mate.”

Canberra vets contacted by Fairfax Media said they had never used Nurofen for pain relief for cats.

Canberra Veterinary Clinic surgeon Vickie Saye said the clinic did not advise the use of ibuprofen – the active ingredient in Nurofen – for cats or dogs.

“We would never do that at this clinic,” Dr Saye said.

“We don't really advise ibuprofen at all – we have got a lot of pain relievers that have been tested for cats and dog and are much safer,” Dr Saye said.

“It has a higher rate of causing gastric [problems] and perforation than the other ones we use, and kidney problems.”

Dr Saye said cats were thought to be twice as sensitive to painkillers as dogs, and the operation of the after-hours' Animal Emergency Centre in Canberra meant there was no excuse to tell a pet owner to give their cat Nurofen, even late at night.

“It's completely off-label use,” she said.

The Emergency Centre senior veterinarian Madeleine Richard said she had never prescribed ibuprofen for a cat, even in a low dosage.

Dr Spate said she had advised the use of Nurofen for cats on about four occasions at a “half-dose” in emergency situations without negative results, but said she was unlikely to do so again in the future.

“Probably not for cats,” she said.

She said she would have liked to have seen the cat – a Russian blue breed – on the morning after it was fed Nurofen, and also could have done a post mortem, with kidney problems possibly caused by the dog attack.

“There was no indication of a kidney failure [on Wednesday], but a huge number of cats have early kidney failure – and the dog had the cat by the belly so I think it's 90 per cent likely that it had kidney damage,” she said.

Mr Sowden said he didn't want compensation for the death of Saffy, which he bought at six weeks' of age; he wanted the public to be aware of the danger.

“I don't want it happening to anyone else – I don't want money, I don't want anything,” he said.

“When he was on the table, the last two minutes, it brings tears to my eyes.”