STRANGEST thing...

My cat's favorite toy seems to be those crackle balls (which is great, because they're REALLY cheap), the ones that crackle and crinkle. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make it into a toy that I could play with him with... so I looked for string to tie around it. I couldn't find any, so I settled for dental floss. I was running, dragging it all around the house and he was chasing it like crazy. The phone rang so I dropped the toy and went to answer the phone... and when I came back, I saw him with not even a foot of the floss hanging out of his mouth and then the ball. The floss was about 3 feet long to begin with. At first I thought, "Is the rest of the floss all just in his mouth?" So I looked into his mouth to find that he was actually swallowing it!!! I pulled on what was left of the string... and it all came up (he didn't gag or meow in pain, which I was expecting). It makes me wonder though what kind of weird things cats eat.

Strings of any kind, cats can swallow and actually become entangled around their intestines and be fatal. You were very lucky you caught it just in time.

I am certainly glad you got it out OK but I have no idea what a crackle ball is, if you happen to have a picture I would like to cover another area of my ignorance.

Thank goodness you got it out OK. Pami's right, string is very dangerous to cats. It's not something you want to leave lying around.

it is also something you don't want to pull out, at least not quickley. Just in case it got tangled around his intestines.

Thanks guys for your responses... I've learned a lesson, I never really thought that cats would try and eat string. I'm really glad I got to him in time too, though I was only out of the room for no more than a minute.

Persi, here is a picture of crackle balls http://www.shop.com/op/~Mylar_Crackl...-prod-36009000

I'm sure you have seen them before.

I'm glad you got to him in time! Cat's do eat strange things....

Thanks for the link. I'm def going to get my kitts some!!! They'll LOVE them!

That dental floss could have killed him. Never, EVER use it again for a cat toy. You are lucky he did not swallow this.

The best and safest thing to tie around a kitty toy is a shoelace (I use a long leather bootlace for Gizmo and she loves to chew on it as well as on the toy.)