Silas Ate A Cat Toy!

I tried posting this before, but I don't think it worked. Sorry for the repeat in case i did.

I am worried. Silas got sick 2 days ago, and threw up a whole cat toy. It was these mice with long furry tails. He already ripped the tail off but swallowed the head part. I am really worried! I have taken away all his little toys, but I feel so bad! Those are his favorite. He walks around with them all the time. But I know that could have been dangerous! He has never done this before.

Cat toys sure can be dangerous so I totally understand your concern. I would focus on getting him very safe large toys that he can't shred and swallow too quickly. You will still need to monitor the toys as at some point he will tear them down. To avoid that, you need to get them away from him when they begin to show any tear and wear.

Molly, I was amazed when I went shopping for Christmas prezzies for the kitties at how many cat toys would not be safe for them. Before you (you as a general term, as a reminder for everyone ) buy a toy, be sure to look at it for small parts that could be ripped off and ingested, like eyes, ears and noses on mice. Look at the quality of the workmanship (as much as you can in store). Just like anything else, there are goof cat toy makers and there are those that do it as cheap as they can even if it's dangerous to your cat. I try to think of cat toy shopping in the same way as shopping for a toddler. Can it fit in their mouth? Small parts? Parts that could fall off? If it is small, be sure to only allow kitty to play with it under supervision. I know many members have a drawer where they keep interactive and supervised play only toys, and once kitty figures it out they get really excited when they go to the special drawer.

We got our new cat a toy from the baby department because it didn't have separate eye or nose pieces. Most of the cat toys I looked at had parts our first cat would tear off and eat in a short time, so that's why I went to the baby department.

Our cats have a blast with plastic bottle caps. They can bat them around and carry them around. I use the lids with thick, rigid plastic and smooth interior with just the spiral part for screwing in on. Some have sharp parts on the inner edge. They can't chew them up.
They look pretty silly when they carry it with it covering part of their face.

It is scared that cat swallows a foreign object. I had a terrible experience that I found my cat Ginger who ate the artifical grass (plastic) from my flower arrangement two years ago. Though she vomitted some of the grass; the problem was I didn't know how much she ate. I brought her to the vet and was suggested that she needed a surgery. The edge of those artifical grass was sharp and too dangerous to stay in her little stomach/intestine. I paid a lot $$ of this surgery but I had no choice. Cats are just like kids, very nosy and curious. They can't tell us what they eat or swallow so it is our responsibility to keep them safe whenever they play, eat or sleep.

RBG, one of my cats does that too, with the bottle caps. As soon as you unscrew the top from a water bottle or soda bottle, his ears perk up and his whiskers tremble. :tounge2:

He looks very silly with the cap in his mouth, but of course gets offended if we snicker.