Rescue Group Issues Warning After Cat Ingests 38 Common Household Items and Dies
Certain household items have a reputation for disappearing into thin air. Socks lose its mates, bobby pins seem to sneak off and hide in the most unlikely places, and hair ties vanish without a trace.
But sometimes when hair ties disappear, they create surprisingly dangerous threats — especially if a cat also lives in the house.
A trio of cats was brought to the Charleston Animal Society in South Carolina after their owners reportedly left them outside and moved, abandoning them and leaving them to the elements until a good Samaritan noticed them.
For weeks one of the cats, a white cat named Juliet, seemed fine — but she was harboring a terrible secret.
After being at the shelter for some time, Juliet suddenly went off food and water and was clearly quite ill. X-rays showed that the cat had a rather large blockage in her stomach, and the staff was shocked at what they found when they opened her up.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dr. Leigh Jamison, the Associate Director of Veterinary Care, said, according to a post by the Charleston Animal Society.
“What Dr. Jamison and the lifesaving team found was simply unbelievable — a seemingly endless bundle of strings that continued to come out as Dr. Jamison surgically removed them,” the post continued.
As it was teased apart, the bundle proved to be a huge clog of hair ties — 38 of them, to be exact.
“Juliet is in fair condition, but she is being fed very carefully at this time with a feeding tube,” Dr. Jamison said. “This blockage has caused a liver condition that we are watching closely.”
Sadly, while Juliet seemed to be pulling through initially, she passed away despite the team’s efforts.
“Our expert veterinarians and lifesaving team perform what we think are miracles every single day,” an update on the original post stated. “Unfortunately, even with the best care, not every animal makes it. Even though Juliet was loved and was not suffering during her last days, she did succumb to this tragic accident. We are all heartbroken.”
Some people commented to say that their cats often play with hair ties, but never realized that something like this could happen — but it’s not unheard of.
“Hello again from your friendly neighborhood vet!” veterinarian Jessica Pruitt Kleiner wrote, according to a post by Contra Costa Animal Services.
“Today I removed 15 elastic hair ties from a small cat’s stomach. Hair ties can be a lot of fun for kitties, but it is fairly common for them to eat them during play. This kitty probably ate one here or there until finally his little tummy just couldn’t hold anything else — including food, and it became an emergency to get them out.”
Have you ever heard of this happening?
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