Cat eaten half an elastic hair tie?

[moreveganeis]

Help. Our cat has eaten about half an elevator hair tie band. DD found the remaining part and it’s been chewed into several pieces. I am hoping the ingested part is in equally small parts. Have checked Dcats mouth and it has disappeared. 😟.

my instinct is to watch and wait and hope it passes through (I’m extremely relieved that it wasn’t a whole band) but anybody had this? What should I look out for?

I've not had a cat eat a hair tie but she did eat some Christmas ribbon. Not to panic you but she was really, really unwell and it was touch and go whether she would pull through.

My friend had this and the vet gave her a window to watch and wait, then after that the cat would need surgery. Watching and waiting was a success, but I would be inclined to seek advice before following this approach.

My cat ate one whole once and the emergency vet said to bring him in. She gave him some drugs to make him puke but unfortunately he didn't, even though he looked as sick as a dog.

We were told to give him laxatives and see if it reappeared. We never saw it again and he seemed to suffer no ill effects luckily. It may still be in there...

I've heard it can be really dangerous though as they can twist around the gut so I don't regret trying to get it out and just hope it doesn't cause problems in the future. You hear of cats that start puking and it turns out they're full of elastic bands. 😕

Puking and failure to poo are bad signs that it's twisted round the guts, as I recall. And if that happens it will be emergency surgery.

I'm a vet. What's an elevator hair band? What is the longest possible length swallowed (if not chewed into pieces)? What's it made from?

@Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I meant an elastic hair band like those in the picture. The bits we retrieved are about half of the band

So the longest possible bit is about 3-4cm

That's really unlikely to cause an issue. It is much longer linear foreign bodies that cause the gut to kind of scrunch up along their length. Do keep an eye on appetite, whether there is any vomiting and stool production, and contact your vet if concerned, but she'll likely be fine.

Thank you. That’s very reassuring. We will keep a very close eye on her and make sure she is eating and pooing normally.

Sorry to say, my cat once ate a length of thick thread, and it was touch and go. I’d take him jn

How is your cat this morning?

And please remember that the quality of advice you receive on the Litter Tray directly corresponds with the quality of your cat photos 😉😸

She seems fine this morning. Eaten all her breakfast and some dreamies. She’s cross because she wants to go out but fine in herself.

That’s good. She’s very lovely