Forwarded w/ permission:
WARNING – Get Rid of Toys made from Pipe Cleaners!!!
I just want to warn everyone of a danger that never occurred to me
until this weekend.
At various shows, I have received little cat toys made from pipe
cleaners – often twisted to look like a bug or caterpillar – and I
have just tossed them into the show bag for future use. I thought
this was a nice little bonus from the clubs who did this and have
never had a second thought about giving them to my cats. This
weekend, I tossed one into my cat's cage on Saturday afternoon and
watched while he tossed it and chased it and generally had fun with
it. Later when I returned to my cage I found the toy MINUS one of
its antennae! I looked everywhere in the area (even sifted the
litter) but could not find the missing portion of the pipe cleaner.
I watched the cat closely for the rest of the weekend; he seemed OK
until Monday morning as we were standing in the security line at the
airport when he started to vomit. He vomited several times on the
way home so the moment we got home, I headed for the vet. Sure
enough, the x-ray showed the pipe cleaner segment lodged in the
stomach with a very sharp point visable and in a position that the
vet did not think it would pass on its own. Therefore, we had to
have emergency surgery to remove the pipe cleaner segment; it all
came out in one piece and the cat should be OK but this was a very
scary situation.
I have now disposed of all the pipe cleaner toys that I had and will
never risk giving one to a cat again. I would recommend that anyone
reading this do the same. I will post this on the few lists that I
have access to and will ask a friend to post to the CFA list
(permission to post to any other list is given).
Donna Fuller and Zhivago
WARNING – Get Rid of Toys made from Pipe Cleaners!!!
I just want to warn everyone of a danger that never occurred to me
until this weekend.
At various shows, I have received little cat toys made from pipe
cleaners – often twisted to look like a bug or caterpillar – and I
have just tossed them into the show bag for future use. I thought
this was a nice little bonus from the clubs who did this and have
never had a second thought about giving them to my cats. This
weekend, I tossed one into my cat's cage on Saturday afternoon and
watched while he tossed it and chased it and generally had fun with
it. Later when I returned to my cage I found the toy MINUS one of
its antennae! I looked everywhere in the area (even sifted the
litter) but could not find the missing portion of the pipe cleaner.
I watched the cat closely for the rest of the weekend; he seemed OK
until Monday morning as we were standing in the security line at the
airport when he started to vomit. He vomited several times on the
way home so the moment we got home, I headed for the vet. Sure
enough, the x-ray showed the pipe cleaner segment lodged in the
stomach with a very sharp point visable and in a position that the
vet did not think it would pass on its own. Therefore, we had to
have emergency surgery to remove the pipe cleaner segment; it all
came out in one piece and the cat should be OK but this was a very
scary situation.
I have now disposed of all the pipe cleaner toys that I had and will
never risk giving one to a cat again. I would recommend that anyone
reading this do the same. I will post this on the few lists that I
have access to and will ask a friend to post to the CFA list
(permission to post to any other list is given).
Donna Fuller and Zhivago
