WHO WANTS TO SEE THE INSIDE OF MY CAT?
Posted by Karen on Jun 12 2008
This is a story from a couple of years ago, but the lesson is timeless……..
Yeah, I learned the hard way.
Here’s how it went down (no pun intended)…..
It was just two days before we were leaving on a vacation. The house was pretty clean already. The bags were mostly packed. The cat was scheduled to go to the kennel. We decided to take a little break from our preparations. The kids curled up to watch a movie while Mike laid on the floor and worked on his laptop. I was sitting in a chair and cross stitching by Mike’s feet.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I set my cross stitch frame down on the floor right by Mike’s head. I said to him, “Keep an eye on this so the cat doesn’t get into it.” He grunted acknowledgement. I went to the basement and put the laundry from the washer to the dryer and I came back upstairs. I was gone 5 minutes, tops.
And I found my cross stitch frame right where I had left it. But the floss, and more importantly the needle that had been connected to the floss were GONE!
And Nick was screaming something about the cat behind the TV. Just then the cat darted out from behind the entertainment center like a bat out of (you know where)….
And trailing from his mouth was a red thread.
I lunged towards him, caught him, and in one gulp, he swallowed the thread.
Great.
As our vet was closed, we decided to monitor him overnight. I thought it would be best to keep him locked in our bedroom that way if he started hacking up blood the horrible mess would be contained in one room we’d be able to hear him and act quickly to save his life.
That proved to be one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve ever gotten. See, he didn’t like being cooped up in our room. So he did every single obnoxious thing he could think of doing. And he thought of a lot.
The next day I called the vet and made an appointment. I took him in and explained that I wasn’t 100% sure that he ate the needle. There was a chance it slipped off of the thread and was somewhere in the carpet waiting to go through my toe. But the vet decided x-rays were in order.
And here’s what they found:
When the films were done, my vet was busy in another room, so his partner came in to show me the x-rays. To say he was a bit excited would be an understatement. He acted as if this was a life threatening emergency and that Mowana needed to be rushed into surgery. Now! He described the horrible consequences of waiting another minute.
I had to leave for vacation in 2 days. The kennel we use loves him, but I thought it would be mean to subject him to major surgery and then leave him. Not that I wouldn’t have done it if it was 100% necessary.
In the meantime, my vet came back in the room and looked at the films. He himmed and hawwwwed and said, “You know, the needle is in the large intestine already. It has made all of the difficult 90 degree turns. The blunt end of the needle is leading. It has another inch or so to go before it comes out. It’s a straight shot.”
He then said, “Take him home, feed him as much Petromalt as you can get down him and…..(pause)….search his stools. Call me tomorrow and let me know one way or another.”
And that evening, exactly 24 hours after the incident, Mowana pooped a long turd (or is it terd?) And I got to dig through it oh so carefully looking for a needle. And BINGO! I found one rusty poop caked needle!!!
At which point Nick asked, “Are you going to use that one again?”
So I stand by my advice…..
on 12 Jun 2008 at 6:27 am 1 Dawn @ Coming to a Nursery Near You said …
yup, that’s a timeless lesson, alright. LOL
Poor kitty. Glad everything came out alright *G*
on 12 Jun 2008 at 7:13 am 2 Kristi said …
I can’t believe that a needle was able to pass like that…good to know. I wonder what the cat thought she was eating.
on 12 Jun 2008 at 8:29 am 3 Mary said …
See this is why we miss you when you are gone. Where else can I find this stuff.
on 12 Jun 2008 at 8:52 am 4 ValleyGirl said …
Oh, this was a delightful post. Blecgh. But hey, searching through cat TURD is a heck of a lot cheaper than surgery!!!!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 9:17 am 5 Maribeth said …
OMG! Good thing it came out. A friend’s dachshund ate a pair of panty hose and they operated, but the dog didn’t make it. Oh these animals we love! They can make us just crazy!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 9:27 am 6 Tina said …
I was riveted from beginning to end. A gift, Karen - you have a gift.
on 12 Jun 2008 at 10:35 am 7 Mary T. said …
I’m glad that the outcome of this CATastrophe was happy. Sometimes cats are not so lucky. Ours just died on Monday somehow. I’m not sure if he ate something or it was an internal thing. Maribeth is right, it’s amazing how much we love them and how it affects us when they’re gone. I’m glad you’re ok Mowana!!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 10:40 am 8 Midsummer Night said …
Oh wow!!! That is amazing!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 10:50 am 9 Deb - Mom of 3 Girls said …
Sounds like good advice!
I’m glad that everything ‘came out’ ok…
on 12 Jun 2008 at 11:38 am 10 Jenn said …
Glad your cat is ok!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 12:04 pm 11 Sue said …
Love the way Karen “threads” things together….
on 12 Jun 2008 at 12:20 pm 12 Tammy and Parker said …
Got an amazingly amazing package.
Wanted to make sure you knew how much we appreciate your love and friendship.
on 12 Jun 2008 at 4:23 pm 13 jen said …
Yet another story to convince me to NOT get a pet. Sigh…
He is one lucky kitty.
on 13 Jun 2008 at 12:14 am 14 Denise @ EatPlayLove said …
Cats are such interesting creatures. Needles, huh? This is yet another reason why no matter how many times my 4 year old begs, I will never own a cat.
on 13 Jun 2008 at 1:08 am 15 Valerie said …
Wow!! Wonderful lesson, but alas, there aren’t any nor well there ever be any pets in my house. Just not a pet person, thanks Karen, for giving me another reason not to have any pets. I do well to make sure my two year old doesn’t eat something he shouldn’t. Don’t have the energy to watch a cat too.
on 13 Jun 2008 at 7:09 am 16 Patricia (Pollywog Creek) said …
Wow! That is quite a story - and photo.
When I was just a wee thing myself, I swallowed an open safety pin. This was just a few hundred years ago, and even though we were living in Jacksonville, Florida, the Navy was preparing to fly me to Philadelphia where they had the equipment to remove it. In the end, they were able to remove it under anesthesia in Jacksonville. I have very little memory of the whole thing.
on 13 Jun 2008 at 8:47 pm 17 Kiki said …
Cat turd… kitty litter… you have a strange obsession.
on 18 Jun 2008 at 5:05 pm 18 DICK said …
Yah folks but ask her what she does with her discarded cats. That’s another story
on 22 Jul 2008 at 3:20 pm 19 melissa said …
it’s amazing the things animals get awaynwith doing. We had a dog who loved to eat the bathroom garbage. Morning walks were never boring.