# HELP! Cat Ate 6 Inches of Her Cat Charmer



## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Yes, she was unsupervised for 2 minutes, and I think she ate 6 inches of the toy. The end is now ragged and it's 6 inches shorter than it should be.

Will this pass or should I get her to the vet, or should I make her vomit? I've Googled it and people have said that their cats have passed it, but I don't want to take any changes.

Thanks in advance.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Hmmm. While it is worrisome, if this were my cat, I think I'd take a wait-and-see approach. If the cat ate considerably more than 6", I'd ask my vet about a purgative if I had caught the little booger red-pawed. With only 6", it should be pushed through just fine. However, I'd watch her closely for any behavioral changes that would indicate a problem; listlessness, hiding, vomitting, straining to 'go' and watch for the charmer to make its' grand exit.
You may want to call your vet to alert them of what she ate so they can be forewarned about any surgical procedure they may have to do to retrieve said item. They also may have more signs to tell you about that you can watch for.
Best of luck. Aren't kitties stinkers?
I hope it all comes out okay in the end. (pun intended)
Heidi


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Nini's cat ate 12 inches of cat charmer. I think it took her cat 3-4 weeks to finally throw it up.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I know you're a concerned cat "parent" and that's good. Better that than the other way. But you need to get used to these things happening or you'll be in a constant state of panic. The "wait and see" approach is best. And chances are you'll find most of those missing six inches under the couch some day when you move out. :lol: And if not, they'll be gone forever, because only rarely do you actually get to see them in the litterbox.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I'd take the wait and see approach as well. But I'd also give her a small daily dose of hairball remedy for 3-4 days, that will help keep things lubricated and make it less likely to get tangled and help pass it through.

Holly got hold of a large decorative elastic (one of those gold things you can put on gifts) (Dad's fault not mine, he had it around a large file folder, dropped it and waited a couple minutes to pick it up. Big mistake, he looked for for hours). Anyway, all I ever found was 6-7 chewed up pieces less than an inch long in a pile of vomit about 2 weeks later. No idea what happened to the rest of the darn thing.


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

I hate to be an alarmist, but perhaps I've seen too many linear foreign body horror stories. If you are going to "wait and see" be sure to go to the vet at the first signs of vomiting, refusal to eat or discomfort of any kind. Even if its the middle of the night or a weekend. And be prepared for a lengthy and expensive operation in that event.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

I agree with Kobster. This could become quite serious. I would watch her very carefully--at least.


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## Smirkitty (Apr 19, 2008)

My cat Salvador (RB) w4 a great charmer and would charm the little old lady next door for treats. She once gave him a piece of bologna and didn't remove the red whatsis around it. He ate it, and it got tangled in his innards. The vet gave him some meds to relax him and a lot of stool softner and kept him overnight, warning that if it didn't worl, surgery was the onlh other option. He did pass the offending red whatsis, and was fine. 

If you note ANY discomfort, please seek medical attention, if it doesn't pass, it could kill her. 

But first please tear your house apart looking for the missing length of charmer.


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Thank you all for your very caring replies. Shortly after posting, I did call her vet, ended up at the Tufts emergency center. She's quite small and I'm do not do well with health uncertainty. Perhaps with more cat experience, I would but... 

They tried to get her to vomit - stubborn kitty would not. They are keeping her overnight and will do en endoscopy in the morning if she hasn't vomited overnight. They did an xray and see something in her stomach. She ate very little since breakfast (but I don't know when or much about cat digestion) but the vet wasn't certain what it was. They'll do another xray in the morning to see if it's stil there.

I know it's going to be expensive if they do the endoscopy, but far less then surgery so I'm comfortable with the decision. And haven't I learned a valuable lesson. Thanks again.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

On a human, an endoscopy is just a "look-see" -- a diagnostic procedure -- they can take tissue samples for biopsies, but I don't think they do surgery (I may be wrong, maybe I should call my sister, the nurse in the family). So if it's the same for cats, if they find something in there, they're going to want to open her up. Is the OP quite clear on what's going to be done and what it's supposed to accomplish? There may be a surprisingly large veterinary bill when a wait and see approach would have been riskier, but cost nothing. Risk is relative, though. An endoscopy isn't without risk, either.

The OP is on the scene and the only one capable of weighing all the factors and making the decision, but if I had noticed six inches of one strand of cat charmer missing, I wouldn't have been too concerned, because as a matter of fact, I DID notice one of the strands of my cat charmer chewed off just recently, and seeing as how I had no idea when it occurred, didn't see any sense in pursuing it.


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

while we wait for cmw0829's cat to have a good outcome,
I was wondering what practical guidelines do people use
to determine what their cats can safely play with.

for example, right now one of my cats is playing with a
"live strong" rubber bracelet, she can't break or swallow.
is that basically the only criteria you all use as well?


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Sounds reasonable to me. So many of those toys in pet stores are just crap. Easy to pull apart. I tug and pull on them and look for little pieces that can be bitten or chewed off. If there are pieces that a cat can bite off and swallow, I don't buy them. Then just to add onto that, I like to look for things that are made out of natural materials. If Mellie chews on a little mousie made from leather, I'm not too concerned if she bites off and swallows a mouse ear.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I think what you let a cat play with depends on the cat. If I had a houseful of cats like Kobi, they could play with pretty much anything they want because he doesn't chew anything. On the other extreme, Holly chews *everything* and I have to be careful about what I give her or what she finds. For example, lots of cats love to play with q-tips and do so with no issues. Holly loves them too, but she bites the ends off, stick and all and they disappear. No idea if she's eaten them or if they just get lost. That 'live strong' bracelet would be not be a safe toy for her, she would have that chewed in pieces in no time. 

If I ran Holly to the vet every time I thought she could have eaten something she shouldn't have, I'd be broke. There was that elastic band. The ties off of a pair of sweat pants, the string from Da Bird (Santa is bringing a new one for Xmas), a hair elastic, the push pins she pulled out of my bulletin board, the ends of the q-tips and a few more I'm sure I'm forgetting. That's why I play 'wait and see'.


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## ShadowKitty (Nov 18, 2008)

I am very careful with what I let Shadow play with and I wouldn't take a 'wait-and-see' approach with missing stringy things anymore due to the infamous Drawstring Incident. The Incident was a bit confused because Shadow had been having problems with diarrhea for some time and the vet suspected IBD. The approach was to stop the diarrhea by feeding her baby food (and it would stop even bad episodes within a day or two), wait until the diarrhea was gone for a couple of weeks then slowly transition to a prescription food. Unfortunately, the diarrhea came back every time she ate a new food.

So, sometime in one of the new food transitions Shadow pulled out a drawstring from a pair of sweat pants. I did not know this at the time, all I knew was that the diarrhea came back. So, as usual, I put her back on baby food. Two days went by and she still had diarrhea and was started to look real sick. I took her to the vet who told me to keep feeding the baby food. Another two days went by and she was still having diarrhea. She was eating well and playing but she looked very uncomfortable and was spending a lot of time hunched over looking like she was in pain. I was getting very concerned and was going to go back to the vet and demand something better when she barfed up this 3-4 ft long drawstring. The diarrhea stopped immediately.

My guess is that the drawstring was in her stomach all that time and hadn't worked its way into her intestines or I think it would have killed her. Later the vet said she hadn't displayed the main symptoms of a foreign body obstruction.


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Good morning everybody.

Tim, with the endoscopy, they said they'd be able to extract it at the same time. So a bit different than a human procedure I think.

As of 9 AM this morning, they'd done another xray and what was there last night is no longer there. She's displaying discomfort in the abdomen and was trying to vomit. She's being hydrated and lubricated and they're hoping it will pass by this afternoon. If not, next step would be surgery.

I'm hoping that she has a strong digestive tract. 

I guess I'm in no different a place than if I'd watched her myself, but I am a whole lot more comfortable having professionals determine what's going on. I have a tendency to take too long to get myself help, but overcompensate with the other members of my family.

Please send good thoughts. It's so quiet here. Thanks for caring.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Sending good thoughts and purrs your way. =^..^=


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I think that Julie's story is just a good example of how the best person to judge is the cat's caretaker, as it's the caretaker who's most attuned to the cat's behavior, and if she senses something that's not right about the behavior, it's a clue something's not right with the cat.


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm glad you got her checked out right away. I hope it all comes out okay (pardon the pun).


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi everybody, final update.

By 4 PM she hadn't passed it and they felt that the intestines would be compromised. They did surgery and found the strand all bunched up and twisted on itself just past her stomach, so it had not been moved very far. Per the vet, they were able to extract it through an opening in the stomach which they said was more forgiving surgery. 

I'm sick about this. I know she'll heal, but hope she'll be back to her young self again. She ate this morning so might be able to come home today although they might keep her another night for observation. 

Thanks for the good thoughts.


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## ShadowKitty (Nov 18, 2008)

It's a shame she couldn't throw it up or pass it. Did they get it out during the endoscopy? That's a lot less invasive than full-blown surgery. Hopefully your kitty will be back to normal very soon.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Whew! I'm glad she'll be okay. This certainly seems like a situation where wait-and-see could have resulted in a dead kitty. I'm glad you trusted your instincts...
h


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I'm very glad you didn't listen to my "wait and see" advice and trusted your own instincts, too. Like I said in a previous post, it's the person on the spot that's best able to judge the situation. We can only speak from our own experiences, and our experiences of the same situations may have had benign outcomes. So advice always has to be taken with a few grains of salt.

Best wishes and hopeful of a quick healing.


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## Smirkitty (Apr 19, 2008)

I'm typically a wait and see personality, but Tim is right, you're the first person observer so you're best equipped to make the judgement call. In my Salvador's situation, his behavior changes gave me the clues I needed to know he needed help. 
In your cat's situation I actually had 2 worries. One was the lenght of the ingested object, the other was its absorbancy. Those fleece carcharmer things are like sponges!
Glad it's out, and hope for a speedy recovery!


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

It sounds as if the outcome will be fine. I'm so glad you took her to the vet!


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## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

I had a cat who had the surgery to remove an inch+ long piece of foam from his small intestine...he chewed it off of the mat under my weight set. 8O Anyway, the surgery went fine, and he recovered very quickly. He just had to wear a cone on his head for awhile so that his incision would heal ok. And my vet said his choice in objects to swallow did not show signs of higher intelligence, lol. 

Karie


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

is there a relatively safe over the counter way you can 
induce vomiting in your cat without paying off some vet?

i know hairball stuff lubricates vomit, but what induces it?
is ipecac syrup alright? ...then in what dosage?


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I asked my vet about this once and the answer is yes, but I don't remember what or how much. I do remember my vet saying that vomiting needs to be induced within an hour of ingestion or it's too late, and honestly I don't remember at this point how large of an ingested object we were discussing. I'd suspect there might be a point beyond which vomiting is too risky. But if you're familiar with what a good-sized hairball looks like, that's probably about what size. Most of this is just speculating, so I hope someone with a firm answer will come along, too.


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

coaster - that's a good point about what size and shape item was swallowed.
in this case, the cat charmer may have done more damage to the esophagus
trying to vomit it out, then it did getting stuck in the intestine. I'm still a bit
surprised the vet didn't endoscope as soon as he saw that mass on the Xray.
But I guess it's just like playing Monday morning quarterback to presume it.


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

I now have a little E-collared kitty (aka "Conehead") who's having a lot of trouble navigating through her favorite tight spots - move, bump, move, bump. It's pretty funny, sad to say. And they shaved her front legs for the IV so she looks like a groomed poodle. But she's doing very well so far, doesn't seem to be in pain and is eating and eliminating.

Re: the endoscopy - which was the suggestion after she failed to vomit - they were either unable to reach the on call person who could have handled it or that person recommended a "wait and evaluate" solution. I'm not 100% sure. Being upset at the time, I could well have misunderstood. 

Bottom line, she received good and compassionate care and is now OK. I'm convinced that if I'd waited at home for it to pass we would have had a different outcome. If she'd been a 15 pounder maybe it would have been different but she's just a little 6 lb. kitty.

Cats will eat the weirdest things. Before this incident, she'd taken to carrying the kitchen sponge around the house and I wouldn't be surprised if she had taken a few nibbles of it. Another thing that needs to be put away...


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

And I want to thank everybody for their responses. It was good to know that I had a place to come to get advice (or since I acted too quickly to see your advice ) at least to share my problem.


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

If you don't mind me asking, 
what was the total Vet bill
for this unfortunate incident?

I only ask so I don't get sticker
shock should one of my own
7lb cats suffer a similar episode.


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Petspy, it came to $2,100. More than the estimated $1,000 to $1,200 for the endoscopy, but less than that initial $3,000 estimated for surgery. Imagine feeling good about that. :lol: But she's worth it.

I'm kicking myself because the shelter strongly recommended buying insurance which was $5.99 for the first month, then $14.99 thereafter. They said, "Make sure you buy it for the first month, then you can cancel if you want to." Given that this happened just shy of 4 weeks since she was adopted...oh well...live and learn.


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

http://www.petinsurancereview.com/cat.asp


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I love stories with a happy ending. Even if they're expensive. :mrgreen:


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## Kitty.Kat (Dec 20, 2008)

Cmw, 

I definitely think you did the right thing by taking your cat into the vets as a safety precaution.

I have a friend who had a cat that swallowed a balloon ribbon (which they did not find out until the vet did surgery). But the ribbon was cutting up the cats insides, causing the cat to vomit and get severely sick. The ribbon was not detected in the xrays, or any other tests that were done. They ended up doing the surgery, because the cat would not stop vomiting, and thats when they found the ribbon inside of her.

So I think any precaution done to prevent a cat from getting to that point beforehand, is always a good step instead of the wait and watch method, and causing the kitty possible pain.

My cat has been severely sick this week, and has been staying at the vets since an emergency visit Tuesday night, because he would not stop vomiting. The xrays, bloodtests, dye tests, and everything else came back negative, so they did surgery on him today to figure out whats going on inside, and finally after 4 days of not being able to eat or drink, and vomitting everything up, they found out he had a viral infection, which caused his stomach and intestines to be inflamed. So I understand how you feel. I know I have felt devistated and sick myself, worrying about my cat being ok. I hope your cat is doing well now. Please keep us updated.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Kitty.Kat, I hope your cat fully recovers. atback


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm so glad she is going to be okay.


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

Oh Kitty Kat, your poor kitty. I hope he's doing better. That's got to be the worst to know there's something wrong but to not know what it is. 

Mine's doing fine - back to her normal self but is frustrated since we haven't let her play with the toys that cause lots of jumping. So she's paying us back with behaviors that I attribute to boredom.

Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon. Do they know what caused the inflammation?


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