Laces are attractive little things for pets to play with. The owner's inattention often leads to the ingestion of these inedible objects. Threads, rain and ropes are dangerous because they reach the gastrointestinal tract and roll into clubs, blocking the passage. It doesn't always help. If changes in health are noted, if the cat ate the rope, the doctor decides what to do.
Is it dangerous if a cat eats threads?
Thus, if the tip of a thread or, for example, a Christmas tree “rain” gets into the cat’s mouth, it can swallow up to several meters of its length. This can cause intestinal blockage and is therefore very dangerous for the animal.
What to do if you find that a cat has eaten threads? Provided that the animal feels normal, you can try to help it at home. If the thread was recently swallowed by the cat, you can try to induce vomiting. To do this, salt water is poured into the animal’s mouth - at the rate of 2 teaspoons of salt per liter of liquid.
If some time has already passed since the threads were swallowed, they have probably reached the cat's intestines. In this case, a little Vaseline oil is poured into the cat's mouth through a syringe. It will facilitate the passage of a foreign body through the animal’s intestines. In this case, it is better not to feed the cat for some time. When the threads begin to come out naturally, do not pull on them under any circumstances! This is deadly for the animal because it can injure the insides of the cat. You can only cut off the end of the thread sticking out from under the tail.
Symptoms, diagnosis
Manifestations depend on the length of the swallowed lace. If the cut is small, it comes out naturally without any problems. If you get hit by a long rope, your health worsens. This happens immediately or after 2-3 days, a week. Sometimes the signs don't appear at all.
Alarming symptoms:
- loss of appetite, refusal of water;
- constant nausea, vomiting;
- problems with stool (diarrhea, constipation);
- pain in the abdominal area;
- expectoration, frequent swallowing;
- apathy and immobility.
If these symptoms are detected, you need to take the cat to the clinic. For diagnostic purposes, the veterinarian will examine and palpate the abdomen, perform x-rays with and without contrast, and gastroscopy. Then he will decide on the method of extraction.
How dangerous?
Cats are famous for their curiosity, so they can often swallow objects that are not intended for food. Pets often end up with laces, New Year's rain, and threads in their mouths. On the tongue of pets there are so-called hard villi; their direction does not allow the cat to spit out the thing that has entered the oral cavity, so the animal has to swallow it. Even if the tip of a thread is in the mouth, the pet can swallow it whole, up to several meters. If a cat has eaten rope or dental floss, the problem should not be ignored. Eating such items can cause intestinal blockage and even lead to death.
How to prevent thread eating
Control and prevention are the key to helping prevent your cat from ingesting floss.
- Avoid tinsel and ribbon around the house during the holidays, and if you use it to wrap gifts, keep a close eye on your cat and place gifts away from where they can be accessed by your cats
- Keep yarn and other thread-like materials away from cats when not in use
- Keep a trash can that has a lid in your bathroom to help prevent your cat from swallowing dental floss or other thread-like products, it's more common than you think!
- Observe your cat when she plays with sticks and other toys on a string.
- Enrich your cat's daily activities and meet their physical and mental needs to prevent boredom and stress-related chewing.
What should the owner do?
When the owner catches the pet eating threads, it is important not to hesitate. First of all, you will need to take the cat in such a way that it cannot resist and scratch the person. Then the pet needs to open its mouth and carefully remove the thread if it remains on the tongue. However, the owner may not have time. If the cat has already swallowed a foreign object and no serious deterioration in its condition has been noticed, it is permissible to provide first aid at home. When a pet ate a thread not long ago, the first thing the owner needs to do is try to provoke vomiting. Veterinarians recommend preparing a saline solution. To do this, you will need to add 2 teaspoons of salt to 1 liter of purified water and mix thoroughly. The resulting composition must be poured into the cat’s mouth and wait until he vomits.
If the pet ate threads a few hours ago, they should have already reached the intestines. In such a situation, you should use a syringe without a needle and Vaseline oil. A product is carefully poured into the animal’s oral cavity, which helps facilitate the passage of threads through the gastrointestinal tract. After the manipulation, veterinarians recommend not giving the cat food for 2-3 hours. In addition, the owner needs to make sure that the pet goes to the toilet. When the threads begin to come out of the anus, the owner is strictly forbidden to try to pull them out. This precaution is due to the fact that the possibility of damage to internal organs cannot be excluded.
To prevent the threads from disturbing the cat, they are carefully cut off.
A pet that has swallowed thread does not always feel well. The following symptoms may be noticed:
- apathy;
- weakness;
- vomit;
- anxiety.
How to help a cat if more than 2 hours have passed
If a cat has eaten a thread and more than 2 hours have passed and the animal has not vomited, you should monitor its well-being. If the pet remains playful and his appetite does not spoil, it means that the thread has already entered the intestines and all that remains is to wait for its natural release.
To prevent the danger of a thread several meters long becoming entangled in a cat's body, you should speed up the process of removing the object by giving the animal a laxative. It is best to inject Vaseline oil into your pet's mouth using a syringe. After this you need :
- Make sure your cat goes to the toilet.
- Check whether the thread has begun to come out: whether the tail of the thread peeks out from the animal’s anus. If the tip of the thread is visible, it is forbidden to pull it out so as not to injure your pet’s intestines!
- Carefully cut the thread without touching the anus so that it does not disturb the cat.
- Continue to monitor the animal and cut off the thread gradually coming out until it comes out completely.
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How to remove a thread that has not been completely swallowed
If a cat eats a thread and the owner manages to notice it, the pet needs to be helped immediately. The animal itself will not be able to spit out the object due to the structure of its tongue, the roughness of which prevents anything from falling out of the oral cavity. Therefore, if you catch a cat eating thread, you need to intervene and carry out the following actions :
- Take the animal so that it does not resist and, if possible, does not harm the owner.
- Force open the cat's mouth.
- Using your fingers, carefully remove the thread if it remains on the tongue.
In such a situation, the owner is forbidden to hesitate, since cats swallow inedible things at the same speed as regular food.
If your pet has swallowed a rope but is in stable condition
In this case, veterinarians prescribe 7-10 ml of Vaseline or glycerin 3 times a day . And watch during the day. If the cat is cheerful, eats and his health is not deteriorating, you should wait until the foreign object naturally appears outside. But if the rope remains halfway in the intestines, you cannot pull with force! The correct thing to do is to carefully trim the piece. The remaining portion will stimulate the animal to have additional bowel movements.
What to do if you couldn’t remove the thread
More often it happens that pets swallow the thread, and the owner does not have time to monitor it. This can be dangerous for the cat, especially if the thread is thick, long or stiff. Often, the entry of such a foreign object into the animal’s body causes vomiting.
If several minutes have passed and the cat has not vomited, the owner should help and induce a gag reflex in him. To do this, it is recommended to pour water and salt into your pet’s mouth at the rate of: 1 tsp. salt per 1 liter of liquid. There is no need to pour all the water into the animal, just wait for the necessary reaction. There should also be an ill-fated swallowed thread in the vomit.
What to do if your cat feels bad
If the cat has eaten the thread, it does not come out, and the pet’s health worsens, he becomes lethargic and refuses to eat, you need to contact a veterinarian, as the situation becomes dangerous.
When examining a cat, the doctor will give recommendations and determine the next steps to save the animal. The owner, in turn, needs to tell the veterinarian how long the pet’s condition has been worsening since he ate the thread.
In mild cases, the doctor can solve the problem on the same day by using an endoscope to free the insides of the cat’s body.
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— The information presented is based on materials from international conferences and the experience of doctors at our clinic. The latest data on the incidence and susceptibility of companion animals to Covid-19 is taken from the WSAVA (World Small Animal Veterinary Association) lecture dated 04/17/2020.
“We are sure that every cat or dog owner wants the best for their pet, and one of the manifestations of love and care for him is to provide his ward with tasty and proper nutrition. Everyone has their own ideas about this, as you can see, and the debates can be very heated.
— In dogs and cats, as well as rabbits, which do not even go outside, a parasitic disease such as Cheyletiellosis often occurs. These parasites are external cutaneous scabies mites that live on the skin and fur of animals that feed on skin debris. The disease is always accompanied by profuse dandruff, sometimes with itching, so if you find peeling skin and dandruff in your animal, you should definitely contact a veterinary dermatologist.
What to do if your cat ate a needle and thread
The most dangerous situation is when a cat swallows a needle and thread, since the risk of damage to the intestines and other insides of the animal from the needle tip increases significantly. Such cases require the owner and pet to immediately contact a doctor for surgery.
Surgical intervention is not considered difficult and in most cases cats tolerate it well. It is aimed at removing thread and needle from the pet’s body.
The postoperative period requires care for the cat, but passes quickly.
If a pet has eaten a thread, the owner needs to act decisively to save it. And for the future, it is recommended to remove from the animal’s field of vision all foreign objects that could cause harm to the cat.
If your pet has a piece of rope visible from his mouth
He hasn’t swallowed it yet, you can slowly pull it. Do not pull too hard, as you can damage internal organs. The rope has already entered the stomach; you should be very careful not to scratch the animal’s mucous membrane during removal. If you manage to get a foreign object, it is worth organizing a gentle diet for several days and giving the cat a soothing remedy for the stomach, for example, chamomile decoction 5 ml 3-4 times a day.
