The Continued Nub Saga: Possible Swallowing Emergency ?

Hi everyone,

I have been posting recently with regards to my about to be 10 year old cat (his birthday is tomorrow), Nub, and his recent constipation issues. 

Unfortunately, I just came home to a different possible issue. I was away for about 6 hours and came back to find that one of the cats' toy mice (the kind made with fur) had been cracked open. The fur and cardboard innards seemed to be all or mostly there, but the hard plastic pod which contains a bell was missing. 

I cracked open another identical mouse to see what that pod looked like, and it's rather big (maybe 2-2.5 inches long) and hard, and smooth though if busted open it could be jagged. I have looked everywhere I can possibly think of in my apartment, but have not found the pod anywhere. 

I have 2 cats, so theoretically either of them could have eaten the pod. Nub is the one with the greater tendency to eat things that he shouldn't, though I have never seen him try to eat anything of that size/material, he typically tries to eat string, toilet paper/paper towels, and paper, as well as people food. The cats have even killed a real mouse twice and I did not see either of them try to consume it, it was just left intact.

The only thing I could think could have happened is that Nub sometimes likes to leave me toy mouse 'presents' and maybe he would have tried to pick it up and swallowed it accidentally, and/or he has also been pretty hyperactive recently so maybe he ate it out of boredom?

I called the emergency vet and they told me to shake the cats to see if i hear a bell, I did but didn't hear anything, but of course that doesn't mean definitively that the cats didn't eat anything. Otherwise, they said basically that there are 3 options:

1. Bring the cats to the emergency vet now and they will do xrays. If one of them ate the plastic pod with the bell inside, they would see the bell on the xray. If they see that, they could give the cat an injection to induce vomiting, and if that didn't work they could reach into the stomach and extract it that way, which is easier/cheaper/less risky and traumatic than surgery. 
   
   If one of the cats swallowed the pod without the bell, however, they might not see the plastic alone on the xray. 
    
2. Wait until tomorrow and take the cats to be xray-ed at their regular vet, which would be slightly cheaper than at the ER. Again, if they swallowed the pod without the bell they might not see it on the xray. If I wait, however, and one of them did eat it, the pod would have moved to the intestines by then, which would mean that it would no longer be possible to remove it non-invasively. We would have to wait to see if the cat can poop it out on its own (which in Nub's case may be problematic since he has been having poop issues in any case), and if not, it would require surgery.
   
   Of course if one of the cats showed any symptoms of illness before tomorrow, I'd have to take them to the ER tonight regardless, but they said that if it's in their stomach they may not show any symptoms since the stomach is big.
    
3. Wait to see if the cats exhibit any symptoms of obstruction (nausea/vomiting/not producing poop/lethargy/etc.), and if so bring them to the vet at that point, which would then lead to the same outcome as #2 (xrays, try to get them to poop, if not then surgery). 
   
   There is then the added complication that because of Nub's recent constipation problems, he might have poop problems anyway, and then I might not know whether it's regular constipation or a foreign object. 

Sorry this has gotten so long, but I'm sort of freaking out at this point (it has been difficult already dealing with Nub's health recently so this is just an added stressor). I have asked for a couple of non-expert opinions and people seem to recommend waiting rather than taking him to the ER, but of course if then it turned out there was a removable obstruction and it ended up requiring surgery, that would be difficult to deal with. 

I figured I would take the question to this group of cat owners and see what people think is best or if anyone has experienced something like this before. 

 

In my opinion, nobody ate the pod. Cats end up eating things like string, hair, etc because of the "V" shaped tiny cups on their tongues.

Or of course kittens might chew and eat something out of boredom.

I would highly doubt that an adult cat would have any desire to eat a plastic pod.

The bell however, possible I guess, but that would likely poop out.

I choose #3

catwoman707 said:

 
In my opinion, nobody ate the pod. Cats end up eating things like string, hair, etc because of the "V" shaped tiny cups on their tongues.

Or of course kittens might chew and eat something out of boredom.

I would highly doubt that an adult cat would have any desire to eat a plastic pod.

The bell however, possible I guess, but that would likely poop out.

I choose #3

Click to expand...

I agree with catwoman707. That is a pretty big pod, and if Nub has never eaten anything of that scale, no matter how curious and energetic he is, would probably not touch the pod. If he has eaten the entire pod, then he will probably start vomiting in the next couple hours- he may or may not throw up pieces of the pod, which in that case you know to choose Choice #1. Fingers crossed he didn’t.

He may have somehow gotten to the inside bell and eaten it though- my Baloo loves to eat jingly things like bells, but only small ones that eventually pass through his system. Unless it was relatively large, he will probably poop that out.

I would choose choice #3 (if he doesn’t exhibit abnormal symptoms tonight) as well, because Nub most likely and hopefully did not eat the plastic pod. If he does start to exhibit signs of everything you listed, however, bring him to the emergency vet immediately (choice #1 or #2) because you would not know if it’s the foreign object itself (which could lead to more serious issues like inflammation) or if it’s his constipation, which can be treated.

I completely understand about the stress- my 23 year old cat, Nala (who ran across the Rainbow Bridge last year) had a whole host of health problems as she got older, including constipation. She once also ate the rubber part of a doorstop, and thanks to the emergency vets’ quick work, was removed out of her small intestine before inflammation started. Poor Nub- he must be going through a lot lately.

Best wishes for you and Nub- you must be going through a lot lately; thank you for keeping us posted.   

Have you looked under furniture? Fridge? Stove? Look everywhere.

If it is not found then I would go with #2 right now. It will ease your mind.
Having the vet take X-rays and try a retrieval with the endescope is a lot
cheaper than the surgery and home recovery.