Rick's World

Link: http://www.aspca.org/apcc

Things didn't go as planned last night. I planned on it being a night out at the movies. I was going to go see "Over the Hedge". That didn't work out. Instead I ended up having to rush Jewel, my kitten, to the pet emergency room.

Last night, as I was walking around the house, I happened to notice Jewel sitting in the bathroom with something odd in her mouth. I turned on the light and got a brief glance at what looked like a piece of string. It looked like those strings that tend to hang off an old, frayed towel. I immediately grabbed her and tried to get it out of her month, but it was too late. She had swallowed it. I knew that it is a very bad thing for a cat to swallow strings, threads and stuff like that. Those things have a tendency to get clogged up in the intestines, causing the intestines to get all bunched up and twisted. This is a painful and likely lethal problem. I figured that the best approach was to make her vomit the string back up. So, I hopped in my car and went over to the pet store, just before it closed and asked the people at the vet there if they knew of a product I could buy in the store to make her vomit up that string. They told me that it's not a good idea to do that. They suggested I take her to the pet emergency room and have her checked out by a doctor. So, I called the emergency room and told them I was coming. I headed home, grabbed her and headed off to the emergency room.

We arrived at the emergency room and checked her in. The doctor came and examined her. I explained the problem - that I thought she had swallowed a string, but I didn't get a very good look at it, so I wasn't too sure what it was. I explained the hazards of what can happen if a cat swallows strings. He then recommended an injection to make her vomit. It turns out the injection is actually a sedative, but it has the side effect of making a cat vomit, almost right after the injection. So I agreed and the doctor took her off to give her the injection. A few minutes later, he came back and showed me the string she had vomitted up. It was definately the towel string, as I thought. He then advised me that she would be groggy for the rest of the night and to not give her anything to eat that night, since it might upset her stomach, after the vomitting. So after paying, and leaving I brought her home.

It was kind of funny, but a bit sad to see her trying to walk. She stumbled out of the cat carrier, walking around as if she was drunk and could barely stand. She kept trying to walk despite her being 'tipsy', but she didn't have much luck at it. I finally picked her up and put her in her bed, hoping she would go to sleep. She didn't. She continued to stumble after me wherever I walked in the house. Finally, I sat down and she proceeded to climb into my lap and go right to sleep.

This morning, she's fine and back to normal. It was a bit of a scary night though. This was my first ever pet emergency in the 3 1/2 years I've owned pets.