UPDATE on My String-Eating Kitty

I just spoke with the vet and told her he's pooped twice since yesterday afternoon, but I didn't see string in his feces. She asked if I broke them apart to look...EWWWWWW! :wtf:

Now I'm worried again that the string is still in his intestines...but then again he may have passed it already but I was a bad mom and didn't go pawing through his poop!

I'm assuming that his bowels moving as usual means he's OK, but I will probably bring him in for *another* X-Ray to be sure.

The most concentrated natural drano in the history of the world.

but if you have issues never eat at Pu Pu Hot Pot in Cambridge. Chinese food from hell, and they must have known when they named their restaurant.

My cat does like Mooshu Chicken...

otherwise you risk browning out at any moment

it has always been breakfast at Shoney's.

Ours swallowed a thread AND needle.

Harrowing at best.

Fortunately, after the surgery, she was able to sew herself back up. <Kidding>

Today she is as bad-tempered as she always was.

She's lucky to be alive!

In the x-rays the vet took you could actually see the eye of the needle. She was so proud of that x-ray, she took it to the vet school to show the students.

He made it through the surgery just fine.

...anything relating to their activities in the litter box. :puke:

But it sounds like your kitty is doing okay. Let us know!

It's a good sign that the plumbing is working!

I must say I'm jealous of his regularity. But he is a room-clearer.

Seriously, I think the cat's system can handle the string.

My sister ate a dime when she was around 6, and she's still around 40 years later!

Kitty will be fine. Sometimes I think they can handle "shocks to the system" better than we can.

he is the BEST cat (not to dis his brother) and I'd hate to see anything happen to him!

That stuff is lethal to breathe!!!!

looking is one thing, touching is another!

... if you see a string hanging out kitty's back door, don't try to pull it out! You might cause internal injuries. Just let it pass out naturally.

like I really want to go near his ass...

dogs and bologna rinds...:)

They seem to know when they have one hanging out though....they have this embarrased look on their face....

For my cautionary tale about this, see:

http://www.plaidder.com/theenie.htm

MAKE SURE SHE'S EATING! That's more important than the pooping. Once they stop eating, you've got real problems.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

sad story about you kitty :-(

But if he's 'passing' stuff regularly, it's probably okay. I'd just keep an eye on him -- if he suddenly starts to run a high temperature, seems 'draggy' or refuses food or water, or seems to be in any pain, run don't walk to the vet! Otherwise, you're probably right that it's been passed, though an X-ray probably isn't out of line, if the vet thinks it'll help.

MILDLY GROSS BUT FUNNY STORY WARNING:

I remember my first Christmas with a cat, we put icicles on the tree. I was young, and had never had a cat before, so I wasn't aware how much cats love to eat that stuff. Live and learn.

We had company over around the holidays, a bunch of people my husband served in the Air Force with and their spouses. We were all sitting around the dinner table, drinking and socializing, when the cat came running out of the bathroom (his box was in there), frantic, with a turd dangling at the end of a shiny little silver tether. He'd run, stop, turn around, hiss at his butt and take off again.

We chased him all over the apartment attmpting to free him from his pursuer. With all the frantic running about, it eventually freed itself. My first husband was in the military, in a condensing field of service, so we were around the same people for the holidays every year, the whole time he was in -- and every year at Christmas, somebody had to tell the story of the time our cat was chased around the house by a silver turd.

We took the icicles off the tree right away and never put them on again. I read, later, how badly cats can be hurt by swallowing linear stuff like that, and was glad all we ended up paying for it was a little scare for the cat and a little embarrassment from my ex's fellow Airmen.

My vey told me tinsel is made from metal and can lacerate their intestines. VERY dangerous!

But they have a lot of linear strength, so they don't get chewed up into smaller pieces. Garland is even more dangerous, because it's longer and stronger. My theory on why cats like this stuff is that their mouths perceive it to be like grass -- it's long and thin and crackles when they chew it. Unfortunately for cats, they can't tell any difference between something that will be digested and something that won't.

We found some tin icicles for the tree this year -- they're made in Canada, of twisted tin that's too thick to be a chewing temptation (although they keep knocking them off the tree to bat around the floor, not that I'm surprised!). We had been putting strands of silverized beads on the tree in place of garland or icicles -- we forgot to put it on this year before we'd put the ornaments on (we only put those on the top couple of feet of the tree), but they do look nice without being any consumption danger for the cats.

ate some of that plastic Christmas garland stuff. Like tinsel, but green.

I never knew this until it was obvious he could't pass anything-- vomiting and nothing in the litterbox. And trying to take a dump in the middle of the living room with no success. He found a place to hide, as all animals do when they feel death imminent, and I dug him out and rushed him to the vet.

I found out that with cats there is a narrowing of the colon just at the end that stops masses of stuff from exiting-- thus the hucking up of hairballs. The plastic became such a mass of stuff, and surgery was necessary. The stress also caused urinary and other problems.

The vet said this was a common problem this time of year for cats and dogs, and showed me a HUGE ball of string a dog ate that she had to get out.

Anyway, if the cat is eating and dumping normally, and there's no other sign of distress, there's probably no cause for worry. It could have been hacked out in a hairball, or be passing normally.

my vet said she sees this around Xmas also-I don't have anything they can eat on the tree. Only glass ornaments, which they can break. so far they've been good.