My cat ate a piece of string!?

BlackRose · May 30, 2012

I think my cat ate a piece of blid string or whatever it is from their fishing rod toy today. The string came apart from the rod a little while ago and they'd been playing with the two bits separately since and enjoying it immensely.
Problem is my one cat is a chewer and both cats like to chew the end of the string. I take it from them once they've caught it and have started chewing it.
Over time it had gotten quite frayed so I was gonna cut off the end today. I keep toys like this away from the cats at night so they're not unsupervised playing with them. I went to get it today and obviously forgot.

They started playing with it and the end bit isn't there anymore.
I'm sure it must've been my boy that ate it and there is no evidence of any of it on the floor. It piece wasn't very long but not sure exactly how long.
Will this simply pass out in his toilet or should I be worried it will entangle in his organs or something? He seems fine and is playing so hasn't been effected yet.

Bab1084 · May 30, 2012

I have found a piece of string off the mop in my cats poop once that i didnt know it had eaten so hopefully it should pass.

Just keep an eye on your cats and if either of them stops eating or starts showing any other abnormal behaviour take them to the vet.

garlicpickle · May 31, 2012

My cat ate a piece of ribbon once and it came out in her poo around a week later

Kare · May 31, 2012

It is inside the cats gut, the gut is a closed unit. It Cannot entangle his organs.

feorag · May 31, 2012

:2thumb: That reminds me of my mother telling me not to swallow chewing gum cos it would stick to my organs and bones! :lol2:

ilovecornsnakes · May 31, 2012

i think the main problem with eating string is the risk of choking as they swallow (if one end is in their stomach and the other hooks on the barbs of their tongue they get stuck) or if its attached to a needle that can puncture something.

Christie_ZXR · May 31, 2012

Kare said:
It is inside the cats gut, the gut is a closed unit. It Cannot entangle his organs.

omg! That is the most obvious thing when you think about it. I've always been convinced string could get tangled around something if a cat ate it... :blush:

Me thinking that probably actually stems from the chewing gum thing as a kid you know :lol2:

feorag · May 31, 2012

:lol2: so I'm not the only one whose mother terrified her with that old wives tale! :bash:

The problem is not that it can get tangled, but that it can 'spread out', which means one end can come out the anus, but the other end can still be working its way through the gut.

We had this with one of our cats years ago - it was a piece of that fine plastic film which supermarkets used to use to wrap cooked meats in (cos he pinched the meat and ate the plastic too :bash). The end of the plastic came out with the poo and was hanging off his bum - a gentle tug told us that the other end was still firmly travelling through the gut and not ready to come out yet, so we cut the end of the plastic as near to his anus as possible and left the rest to follow its natural route which it did the next time he used his litter tray.

Kare · May 31, 2012

I heard a story like that about a puppy that chewed an old cassette tape, the story went he came to greet his owner when the owners came home with tape running right through from his mouth to out of his bottom! :gasp:

I had a dog, a temporary resident, who ate a rubber ducky, but like a really soft rubber like those squeaky flimsy dog balls or those squeaky pigs are made from. It appears he swallowed it whole as the majority of it reassembled itself like a little inflatable on top of his poop as soon as it came out the back end when it got access to air again

Morgan had a toy penguin for christmas and ate its soft fabric flipper, was a very special poop with a large yellow foot to stand on a few days later.

BlackRose · May 31, 2012

Lol all these stories are hilarious! Only cos you know the animals are ok tho and you can imagine it.

Thanks for the info

feorag · May 31, 2012

I would just keep an eye for the string coming out eventually. It may come out in a 'ball' which would be great, but if it comes out like a string, then you may have to cut it off as it comes out.

pigglywiggly · May 31, 2012

one of my dogs swollowed a pair of marigolds.

vet was pouring liquid parafin down her for 2 weeks with no sign of said gloves.

he was getting ready to open her up to go fishing when she vomited them back up, slightly discoloured but still in 1 piece

:lol2:

sarahc · May 31, 2012

and one of mine ate a packet of multi coloured elastic bands resulting in rainbow poo.The worst was when one stole a block of butter and ate all of it including the foil.The fatty poo slicks that came out decorated with gold foil bling were the hardest ever to clear up,all done in the house during the night.

vetdebbie · May 31, 2012

On the other hand - long pieces of string can cause horrendous problems, so it you get any kind of signs of ill health take the cat to the vet and tell them about the string.

BlackRose · May 31, 2012

Thanks. How soon would I expect to see any problems? Anything specific I should look out for?

vetdebbie · May 31, 2012

any time from now really. Anything from dullness, depression, inappetance, through to vomiting, abdominal pain, collapse.

Kare · May 31, 2012

BlackRose said:
Thanks. How soon would I expect to see any problems? Anything specific I should look out for?

You have already said it was not a long piece, and it occurred days ago.

I very much doubt there will be any issues at all, and if there was any due then I am sure it would have occurred already. The string will be well on its way out by now.

I do not think anyone can accuse you of not playing attention to the health of your cat, in fact the contrary is true.:lol2:

If your cat seems quite unwell then I am sure you will not hesitate to call a vet, and mention the string, but in the mean time please relax and do not go into the spiral of stress you did with the last issue.

BlackRose · May 31, 2012

Thanks. I won't. I usually keep a close eye on the litter tray every day anyway and if is see anyone going in there I wait while I'm there to inspect it afterwards lol....just to make sure alls healthy with them down there.
My girl doesn't like it though as she's very tidy and cleans up after herself and her brother (he just scrapes a bit and gets out). So when I go and fiddle anout with it after she's just spent up to twenty minutes tyding she looks up at me and I swear she looks cross and sighs.
So back in she goes.

Ten minutes later she will walk into the room and glance at me as she goes past.

I havnt seen anything in the tray yet. I didn't actually see either of them eat it but I can't find it anywhere and I know that bit of string was still there before they had been playing with it.

hedwigdan · Jun 2, 2012

If you think your cat swallowed a sizeable piece of string, defenitely get it to a vet! my cat of six years was recently put to sleep after her intestines were slit open after she swallowed the string from a hoodie

This cost almost 2,000 euro in vet bills and in the end she didn't survive..

1930sam · Jun 2, 2012

I would check that it hasn't slipped underneath the tounge and is hanging into the oesophagus on either side.

My cat ate a piece of string!?

BlackRose

Bab1084

garlicpickle

Kare

feorag

ilovecornsnakes

Christie_ZXR

feorag

Kare

BlackRose

feorag

pigglywiggly

sarahc

vetdebbie

BlackRose

vetdebbie

Kare

BlackRose

hedwigdan

1930sam

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