Cat just ate string (should I be worried?)

[TuesdayNameChangeArama]

Newish cat just got hold of and ate about 2.5cm of wrapping string.

Wool texture.

I tried to pry it out of her mouth but she swallowed it.

She seems normal, gagged a bit as it went down, has eaten since.

Should I be concerned?

I would go to the vets to be checked out - I'd really worry about it wrapping around their intestines or causing a blockage! Worth it to get checked.

Yes, agree vets tomorrow. My cat once ate some ribbon which I only realised when when it protruded the other end but ended up tangled with intestines and required surgery to remove!

the first Christmas my cat did this, they cost me a fortune. My cat loves all string and ribbon. And plastic. I would say the will sick it up or more likely pop it out. Mine often had strong sticking out of its bum. Definitely call the vet though.
We really try but they find pieces of rug etc. try not to worry too much. Our cat has never learnt!

Yes, this is dangerous. Happened to my sister's cat and he had to have part of his stomach removed because it had all got tangled; on a special high calorie diet the rest of his life but still thin as a rake while his brother who kept eating his food blew up like a barrage balloon.

It probably depends on what fibre it is.

Can you try (very carefully) burning a little bit? If it melts, it will be some sort of plastic which is probably worthy of a chat with the vet. If it goes on fire, it will probably be cotton which should break down with stomach acid.

Thanks everyone.

We've spoken to our OoH vet and they say to watch and wait for 24 hours. Use a litter tray for that period so we can keep an eye on her bowel movements, and feed her 4 small meals rather than two big ones.

I burnt a bit of the string and it's cotton (catches fire and smells like hot clothes out of the tumble dryer). It was about this much...

That bloody cat.

I feel terrible, I should have been more careful.

But that cat will be the death of me! 😀

I know you’re worried, and I don’t want to patronise, but you will find that holding a poo together on the litter tray. My camera roll is full of pictures of my cats poo and it sticking out of her. Honestly try not to worry too much. It’s thought it would get stuck round their organs but my cat would rather eat string than food!

I think it will be fine, it's a tiny piece and hopefully cotton will break down as it's plant matter. Cats stomachs can dissolve half chewed mice and birds.

(My cat is a sod for swallowing stuff if he thinks I'm going to take something off him, e.g carpet floof, Cornetto wrappers and post-it notes are a favourite).

That's quite a small amount so try not to worry - she'll probably poo it out tomorrow!

Hopefully that will come out the other end soon. That's not enough string for a poo necklace.

12 hours on. No sign of either the string, or anything worrying in her mood or behaviour.

(Naughty) cat tax...note she's not naughty for this specifically, just generally a very naughty little cat.

you will get used to checking her poo! Enjoy your naughty cat, you will soon have lists of what she’s eaten!

It'll probably take about 24 hours to come out in her poo - that's my experience of having a greedy dog anyway!

Literally zero regrets, she'd do it again...

My cat actively looks for any string or plastic. Your house is no longer your own!

Your car is gorgeous though!

That is the most innocent looking cat I've ever seen a 🤣

One of my previous cats used to take plastic out of the bin. She was a nightmare!

That is a cat that does not give a fuck 😂

The cat of a friend of mine ate some string (unbeknownst to him) and when it was time to come out the end got stuck, rather than being fully ejected; sadly will it was home alone. The cat freaked out and did the wall of death around the kitchen with several inches of shitty string hanging out it's bum...

Several days of cleaning later he decided to give up and redecorate.

Absolutely no fucks given.

We adopted her after she was found as a stray, 6 months old, already with a litter of kittens, she is extremely hardy. There is nothing she can not kill.

My cat ate a hair tie a while ago and the emergency vet told us to come in so she could make him puke. It didn't work so we were sent home with laxatives for him. Cost an arm and a leg because it was out of hours.

If it has come out since then I've missed it. He has suffered no ill effects, although I'm now very careful he can't get hair ties because I've heard they can accumulate in the stomach. Possibly the one he ate is still in there.

She sounds a bit like our youngest - he was semi-feral and came to us at five weeks. He has a stomach of steel and gives no fucks about anything. He'll pinch toast out of the toaster, open Amazon parcels (and eat the contents), can open cupboards and has even tried to open the oven multiple times

She will be fine!

My (now dead) cat was a bit of a shit.

One birthday I made a chocolate cake for my dad. It was on the side, well out of reach (so we thought), we came home and he had eaten half of it. He was proud as punch as he showed us how he got up there!!

Another time my headphones kept going missing (this was in the day of £6 wired headphones), I had to buy so many of them. Then at the end of summer, my mum dug up the patch he had taken to pooing in. There must have been five or six pairs all chewed up and (probably) shat out.

The time I'll always remember is when we all came home from work and he was really, really poorly. He wouldn't touch his food, wasn't even eating treats out of the palm of our hand, retching. We were about to call the vet when he sicked up a bird's foot. We think it was a seagull. He, of course, then ate a whole pigeon the next week and made himself sick again, and about a month after that nicked a fish out of next door's pond and, you guessed it, made himself poorly again.

Cats are made of hardy stuff, and like to scare us!!

The string is out.

We handled the poo examination process like a rigorous science experiment.

I've taken a photo for posterity (don't worry, I won't share).

I hoped that’s what your update would say. Sometimes I’m not even expecting anything to be expelled and I’m amazed what I see in the litter tray! I always thought things got stuck in your stomach but it seems cats get rid of stuff pretty quickly and easily. I’m pleased the saga is over … until the next time! Xx