Help! One of my cats ate string!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

I roasted a turkey breast tonight and tied it with string. He found it and ate it. What is the chance of it breaking down in his body? Should I bring him to the vet tomorrow?

If I feed him laxatone, will he pass it?

[BiggJawn]

1. In a few days....

You gonna have a cat running around the house trying to get away from a turd that's attached to him with string. Other than the mess, he should be OK.

[put out]

11. Dear me, the pull-toy from hell.

If your kitty is eating, drinking, peeing, pooping like normal, probably no worries. If you don't see the string, um, shed soon, he/she could get sick quick. I speak from sad experience; bowel obstruction is really hard on a cat. Laxative may be the answer. My cat would have none of it. Turns out he also didn't like having his temperature taken twice a day and home-delivered hydration care following his bowel resection.

Good health to both of you, RationalRose.

[3rdParty]

22. Important!!!

You must put the cat to sleep ASAP!

- from, the dog!

[BigMcLargehuge]

29. the mice concur

clearly KAT is beyond help now.

P.S. Please leave more left-overs on counter.

[Valerie5555]

2. Maybe see if it passes through his body and possibly go to the vet

or maybe see the vet to be on the safe side.

On edit on second thought also ask the vet about a cat safe laxitive.

[Lefta Dissenter]

3. He'll probably be fine

just watch for vomiting or other signs of distress.

Not sure about the Laxatone - I don't use that product. How about a teaspoon of vegetable oil added to his food?

Our 17-year-old cat is (we hope) recovering from a blood clot that had completely paralyzed his back half. I was sure we were going to have to put him down, but now he's wobbling around, actually using his legs! It's been a tense week!

Good luck with your kitty.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Good luck with your kitty!

He sounds like he has a will to walk-I wish him a speedy recovery!

[Lefta Dissenter]

12. thanks for the good wishes!

We were pretty discouraged for a while - my husband was trying to make a little cart for the cat to pull himself around on. He would walk just fine if you'd carry his back end for him - like doing the wheelbarrow race! But his back end was completely limp. The cart didn't work out too well, so it's a good thing it looks like we won't need it.

But not once did that cat want to give up - so we weren't going to, either. Now he's just pissed off that he can't go outside. Even when he couldn't walk, when we'd go to the door, he'd drag himself along the floor at almost a RUN, trying to get to the door to sneak out. I wonder if his little kitty biceps have developed? (I can joke now, but I wasn't thinking there was anything funny about this a few days ago).

Today was the first day that he actually pooped without my having to give him a little kitty enema!!! :party: :party: :party: Do we know how to have fun or what!!?

[Valerie5555]

7. Holy mackerel so your old boy survived what could amount to a "kitty

stroke," one of our meowers lived to be 17 and she was lost to "unrecognized hyperthyroid syndrome," and the other lived to be 15 and had to be put down a few years ago due to kidney failure.

[coralrf]

30. Laxatone (vasaline) will not work..

it has no merit in treating or preventing any condition in the cat. None. Vegetable oil is digestible and absorbed very quickly in the beginning of the GI tract consequently the myth that it can be used as GI lubricant is silly.

Are you treating the HCM?

[Bill McBlueState]

4. call the vet in the morning

but cats' digestive systems are set up to handle weird stuff. If it's just your basic string, not coated in anything weird, I think he'll handle it okay.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. Thanks everyone-will call the vet in the morning.

He only ate one piece of sting, thankfully.

[Myra]

10. You're not being overprotective, call the vet!

And fer the love of god, if you see it coming out...the other end,
do *NOT* pull on it. That could be fatal; for the cat.

[coralrf]

27. It just takes one..and it need not be a long piece.

disregard those that dismiss this as a normal thing. I see thousands of cats a year and have learned how dangerous such prattle can be.

[sendero]

8. Cats...

...eat stuff like that all the time. I predict a full and mess-less recovery!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. I don't have kids so I'm an over-protective cat-mom

I think he'll be OK but I worry!

[coralrf]

25. Cats eat stuff like that on occasion..

and it is a coomon cause of death in them.

http://www.catmine.com/health/linear_foreign_body_ingestion.htm

http://www.vetinfo.com/catingest.html#Linear%20foreign%20bodies

http://www.catnetwork.com/health.htm#LINEAR

Read up on it..dont just spew thoughts as facts...

[Lefta Dissenter]

13. and a word of warning about CURLING RIBBON

Unlike string, curling ribbon doesn't just wad up into a slippery gooey mess and slide out the other end. Curling ribbon can be BAD NEWS for cats, and, for some reason, they love to chew on it. My sister lost a cat as a result of his having eaten curling ribbon.

DO NOT USE CURLING RIBBON ON YOUR PACKAGES IF YOU HAVE CATS! AND IF GIFTS COME INTO YOUR HOUSE WITH CURLING RIBBON ON THEM, REMOVE IT RIGHT AWAY AND THROW IT OUT!!!

[Dirk39]

14. As long as it was a real turkey and a real string,...

I don't see any kind of problem. I've pulled one meter of a string out of my cats mouth after she did eat it. No problem at all. Just fun. But you never know about Americans and Turkeys:-)
Hi from Germany,
Dirk

[Kathy in Cambridge]

15. It was the cotton string you get from the bakery

I save it for when I make brachiole (traditional italian dish) so hopefully it will pass or be digested.

[Dirk39]

17. No problem I guess, at least it wasn't one for Lilly...

if it doesn't leave her mouth,it will come out otherwise. Cats love cotton strings and I guess millions of cats did eat million inches of cotton. Don't ruin the economy!
Dirk

[coralrf]

24. It will not be digested..

it is made of cellulose. The cat is an obligate carnivore and does not have cellulases, enzymes to break down cellulose, and therefore the stuff survives in the intestines of those animals.

It will not just go away. It is a common killer of cats.

[Lefta Dissenter]

16. Dirk, you sure that wasn't a tapeworm? :)

oh my gosh, I can't believe we've all been so slow to get a Turkey joke in. Jeez, I'm ashamed.

[Dirk39]

18. Now I understand everything...

this is the reason I failed in getting that button back on my jacket. It was so hard to put that tapeworm through that needle. Harder than it is for a rich man to go to heaven. My girlfriend was just laughing at me and now, one more time, DU tells me the truth. I would rather live with a tapeworm than without DU. I love DU and the before mentioned cat has more than a chance to survive...
Hi,
Dirk

[Lefta Dissenter]

19. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That was the funniest post I've read in a long time, and I NEEDED that laugh! :) THANKS!

On that note, I'm going to bed!

Nitey night! :)

[SoCalDem]

20. We had a cat who liked to eat Christmas tree tinsel

A few days later she would be yowling her head off, racing thru the house dragging a little tinsel train behind her :).. One year of that, and no more tinsel for us.. Ick!!

The gross things we do for our pets & kids, eh??

[scarlet_owl]

21. My dad had a boxer named Pawn who ate a plastic shopping bag.

We found this out on one cold morning that dad decided to take the dog with us as he walked my sister and I to school (this was a long time ago). Anyway, Pawn stopped to take a shit, and we see part of a plastic bag protruding from his anus. My dad pulls on the bag and gets it out. We were walking on a very busy street and I'm sure someone saw my dad pulling a bag out of a dog's ass. I guess this story isn't useful to your problem, but it's kind of funny. Good luck with your kitty.

[coralrf]

23. String..or linear foreign body

in the GI tract is a very serious problem in the cat. Cats often eat string like objects but the frequently end up plicating, 'purse stringing' the small intestines which is serious.

If the string was typical cooking string it will not break down. It is one of the most common items I have removed from cats and I never see indication of decay. It is rather rough in texture which facilitates hanging up and causing the problem.

I would take the cat to a Veterinarian today rather than face a very expensive emergency room visit tonight.

[Philostopher]

26. Hey, Rose -- how's the cat?

I didn't post last night, because others had posted any advice I might have had -- watch the cat and check with the vet, since bowel obstruction can kill 'em -- but now I'm curious as to how things might have gone...

[trof]

28. You could have a very unique

Christmas tree ornament there.
;-)

[jonnyblitz]

31. I have heard that people have used hairball remedy

to lubricate and help it pass through but take your cat to the vet just to be sure. Based on what I have heard the string thing with cats can go either way so the vet is the best way to go. keep me/us posted kathy. :hi:

[grannylib]

32. My cat ate string once and it ended up coming out (about six inches of it

anyway) from her...uh...butt...and we had to pull the rest of it out (actually we just held the string and she ran and was not too happy judging from the odd noises she made) but she was OK

[jonnyblitz]

33. delete

i thought i was sending a PM...ooops

[jukes]

34. Props to CoralRF

This is a serious problem. Anecdotes suggesting it will "pass" may unduly reassure you. I'm sure that it frequently transpires that the cat rids itself of this stuff w/o problem often. Problem is, if it doesn't, you may well witness an excruciating death.

Get to your vet.







(edit:typo/spelling)

[jonnyblitz]

35. exactly and I ditto the props to CoralRF

this sort of thing could go either way based on my google research since first seeing this post.

[Padraig18]

36. He should pass it.

our dog, Grover, ate some mint-flavored dental floss last fall, and it QUITE visibly passed the next day. :P

[Kathy in Cambridge]

37. UPDATE-Took Reno to the Vet-they xrayed

and couldn't definitively see the string because he had some food in his intestines. I have to wait and see if he poops. If not, I have to bring him to have an endoscope put up his bum (YUCK)! Poor baby!

He is eating and acting normally so here's hoping he passes it!

The vet told me it can kill him! :-(