A Warning for All Seamstresses with Cats

If you have read the blog for a while, you may already know that I am a huge animal lover and rescue advocate. I have 5 rescue kitties and 2 rescue dogs. I love all of my animals and do everything I can to keep them safe and healthy. When we came back from the beach Sunday, our Russian Blue cat, Posey, was throwing up all over the place. It kept going on all Sunday evening. We called our vet on Monday and the doctor was out until Tuesday, but they got us down for a morning appointment Tuesday. Posey continued to throw up Monday night. When we got to the vet Tuesday morning, we got news that surprised and terrified us. Wrapped around the base of Posey's tongue was thread. The vet told us this is a life threatening condition for cats. Because of the motion of their tongues and the propulsion action of the intestines, basically the thread was being sucked and tightened throughout her digestive system and essentially having a sawing motion the whole way. This can slice into the walls of the intestines. Also, as the intestines pull, the thread tightens causing the intestines to accordion in on themselves and cutting off blood flow which causes the intestinal tissue to die. Posey was taken back for emergency surgery. We were told to prepare for the fact that her intestines may have been too damaged and she may not make it through. We were horrified, especially me since it was MY thread and MY sewing room. We got a call several hours later that Posey did indeed survive the surgery, thankfully. However, the thread went from the base of her tongue all the way until right before her anus. She required seven intestinal incisions to remove all of the thread. Fortunately, at the post-op recheck this morning, she was looking good. She had a normal temperature, the sutures looked good, and her gum color was good. She was alert and bright. However, we are now looking at a week to ten days of recovery, a huge abdominal incision, a week of antibiotics and pain pills and a modified diet. Not to mention, this was a very expensive surgery. I just wanted to share this with any of you who sew around cats.

This may be a commonly seen type of picture - this can also be deadly for your cat. The vet told me of another cat who came in who had ingested approximately 50 ft of ribbon. That cat didn't make it. Fortunately, my Posey is home and healing tonight. Please share this with anyone you know who sews with cats around them.

This is Posey in a picture before her surgery. And the following are pictures from yesterday.

  

And this is a picture of the thread that came from her intestines.

I pray this advice spares someone out there from going through this with their purry babies.