Cat Lovers BEWARE - What is your cat eating?

[Thumper's Tara]

I just wanted to warn everyone to be careful about what your cat is getting into. My cat, Trouble, just had $1000 of surgery to remove a piece of my foam exercise matt from her intestines.

It started on Friday, March 31st. During the night, Trouble was throwing up. I knew something was wrong because Trouble does not normally throw up. First thing in the morning, I was on the phone with the vet. We went in and the vet suspected hair balls. She gave Trouble some fluids and some flagyl and sent us home.

Sunday, Trouble looked better and was being fairly normal. Sunday afternoon, I had to leave on a business trip.

Monday, the pet sitter went in and found that Trouble had been throwing up all over again. On Tuesday morning, I had the pet sitter bring Trouble back to the vet. The vet ran x-rays, gave fluids and a shot of flagyl. The x-rays came back clear. Trouble seemed to pick up after the fluids, so the vet sent her home. Because Trouble was ill, I ended my business trip early and took the first flight home that I could get on.

Tuesday night was one of the worst nights of my life. Trouble spent the night in horrible pain. She was wretching all over the apartment. She was walking like she was 100 years old, not 1.5 years old. I have never been so scared in my life.

First thing Wednesday morning, we were back at the vet. There were three options at this point - (1) give her more fluids and wait and see what happened, (2) scope her GI system and see if they could find anything. If it was possible to remove it with the scope, great. If not they had to open her up. Estimated cost - $1000 - $1500. (3) Open her up and see what they can find. Estimated cost - $600-$1000.

The vet recommended we open her up and see what they can find. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. I had a meeting with my department leader and two HR people at noon - my head was telling me that I was about be layed off. I was so scared. I finally asked the vet taking money out of the equation, what she would do? She recommended the opening her up. I agreed and Trouble went off to surgery.

Luckily, they found the piece of foam in her intestines and was able to save her life. Unfortunately, I was laid off while she was in surgery. So, it was the best/worst days of my life. I was so glad Trouble was okay. I was/am so scared that I had lost my job (60 days working notice though - so hopefully, I can find something quickly).

SO...the moral of the story - please, please, please, be careful with what your cat is getting into. I spent a lot of time at the vets' place. The surgeon told me that his cat does the same thing (eat the foam exercise matt). After removing Trouble's blockage, he went home and told his wife to hide the matt!

Also, talking to some of the vet techs, they said they have removed several things from the insides of cats, including hair ties, milk rings, and Easter basket grass!

Trouble is recovering very well. She is eating, demanding attention and is even starting to play again.

Please take care...I hope that others can learn from Trouble's agony.

 

[sajetto]

I am so sorry about what has happened to Trouble and you for the past few days. Baxter gets into my hair ties all the time and I have no idea where he gets them. I'll be sure to search the entire house to find any that may be lying around so that he doesn't chew on them. I certainly don't want to go through what you just did. I'm glad Trouble is okay, but I'm sorry that you had to lose your job prematurely b/c of it

 

[Rajah]

I'm so sorry. So very glad that they were able to help Trouble, but so sorry your boss was a *** and layed you off in the process.

 

[Steffi]

I'm glad Trouble made it through ok, and I wish you all the best of luck in finding a new job! It's scary what our furbabies will find to get into.

Our cat Noggen ate a cross-stitching needle before. She was acting weird and had an absess on her neck. DH felt it and said it felt like a bone, he thought maybe she'd somehow gotten into chicken bones. We took her to the vet, who said it was an absess, gave her medicine, and sent us home. Another few days went by and Noggen wasn't getting better. Back to the vet, who again wanted to send us home with antibiotics. DH said, no, Noggen needs an x-ray, something's wrong. Back came the x-ray, with a large sewing needle and about a foot of thread clearly visible. Poor kitty! I felt so bad. (And had to find a new place for my cross-stitching basket! How silly of me to think that the top shelf of my closet would be safe from a prowling kitten!)

 

[Thumper's Tara]

I'm so sorry. So very glad that they were able to help Trouble, but so sorry your boss was a *** and layed you off in the process.

The worst part about it was I knew it was coming...it put added stress on the decision. I have to say that my boss felt really badly about the timing. I thought she was going to cry when she heard my cat was in surgery and that my mom was in the hospital (last week was not a good week).

I'm glad Trouble made it through ok, and I wish you all the best of luck in finding a new job! It's scary what our furbabies will find to get into.

Our cat Noggen ate a cross-stitching needle before. She was acting weird and had an absess on her neck. DH felt it and said it felt like a bone, he thought maybe she'd somehow gotten into chicken bones. We took her to the vet, who said it was an absess, gave her medicine, and sent us home. Another few days went by and Noggen wasn't getting better. Back to the vet, who again wanted to send us home with antibiotics. DH said, no, Noggen needs an x-ray, something's wrong. Back came the x-ray, with a large sewing needle and about a foot of thread clearly visible. Poor kitty! I felt so bad. (And had to find a new place for my cross-stitching basket! How silly of me to think that the top shelf of my closet would be safe from a prowling kitten!)

Wow. I have a cross-stitching basket out too. I am going to have to hide that one too. The scary thing about the matt - it was hidden in the closet too. I have removed the matts from my house because of this. I learned I can't hide them well enough! I am glad Noggen was okay and that your DH pushed for the x-ray. I did some internet reading cats eating things and thread/tinsel/yarn is the most dangerour thing they can get into.

While I was visiting Trouble in recovery, there was a dog there who ate a barrette with hair on it. Apparently, nothing is safe in a house full of pets.

 

[jbdreamer]

Oh my goodness, what a stressful day! I am so glad Trouble was able to pull through.

 

[PhotobearSam]

My cats eat elastics...I don't have to watch them as closely now that they are 14 yrs old and hardly move the whole day unless it's to the food bowl.

 

[MrsJackSparrow]

Glad your cat is okay! Sorry to hear about your job.

Had to LOL about the milk rings! My cat, Happy, is obsessed with them. We give them to him to play with and he chases them around the house for quite a while. When we moved the couch to take out the carpet, we found 65 milk rings stashed under there! He had shoved them in past his reach and was overjoyed when we moved the couch and he found them again! Not the sharpest crayon in the box . . .