HELP!! Cleo may have eaten an ear plug!!

I'm in a little state of panic right now and it's my fault! As usual, I had trouble sleeping last night and was reading. Before I fell asleep I placed the book across the openned drawer of my nightstand instead of on top of the nightstand (which already had a stack on books!)

Well inside the drawer I have these spongey earplugs which Cleo loves to chew ...that's why they were in the drawer! It didn't dawn on me last night when I finally tried to fall asleep. Sure enough she woke me up digging in the drawer. So I got her off and pushed the drawer shut and fell back to sleep. Then a little later, I wake up again to the sound of puking! My first thought....hair ball as usual. But when I checked....there were three "very wet" ear plugs!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know for sure how many I had in the drawer and I'm still worried that she has one inside her. She's acting fine. She's eating and drinking fine and seems to be acting normally. I figured one of these would suffocate her if she still had one in her. But I keep thinking what if she were able to swallow it and it went into her intestines??!?

My vet is closed for the holiday today. But the animal emerg. clinic is open if I need to get her to a doctor. Luckily it's only 2 blocks away!
I'm waiting to see how she acts. She's acting perfectly normal. I figured she spit them all up....but the "What if's...." keeps going off in my head.


What should I look for as a sign or symptom that she may have injested one of these ear plugs so that I can rush her to the emerg. clinic??

Keep a very close eye on her for the next couple of days. If she is not pooping regularly, if she is straining in the litter box, if she seems to be keeping too quiet and not moving, or of she has a tender abdomen then you need to see a vet immediately.

They are small enough and squishy enough that if she just ate one she should be able to pass if easily. The danger is if she ate several.
Use your powers of observation- I would not panic but I would be watching her very closely for a couple of days. Especially her poops.

I second what Cearbhaill said.

Keep watch on her and wait for Cleo to poo it out. I know how you feel waiting, Z ate a rubber band once and I was haunting her box and running after her every time she used it, she must have thought I'd gone mad. I jumped up and down when she pooped it later.

One thing that will help is some hairball meds to help grease up the earplug so it'll come out faster. Don't panic, but be worried and watchful. The chances of a problem are there but an earplug is better than a big ball of string or a rubber band.

Just to be safe ... I would call an emergency vet, if yours if not open today (July 4th) and ask what they suggest you do.

My cat lucy ate 5 ear plugs(the soft foam rubber types-not the silicone looking ones) 2 years ago...she got 2 out from puking, didnt see others pass but shes alive and well...and if given the chance would gladly down more lol. I'd watch out for vomiting with no result and if she stops being her normal self(playing/eating/drinking/pee/poop). RJ

Thanks!! So far, so good. She's eating and drinking, but hasn't taken a trip to the litterbox yet. She's just laying down sleeping, which is normal for her.
I sure hope she puked them all up and none are left in her system. I'm going to have to more careful in the future with that drawer. In the meantime, I'm still shadowing her.

My kitten just pooped out a bloody earplug -- I think the blood is because she was spayed three days ago though. No worries, she is fine. She has been bouncing off the walls despite my best efforts to keep her calm after the surgery. I just need to keep the earplugs somewhere else. She scoops them out of the bowl by my bed with her paw and then plays with them quietly at night. Hope your kitty is ok!

The blood should be nothing to do with her spay - she shouldn't be bleeding internal and even if she was it shouldn't be able to get into her bowels.  If she was bleeding externally you would be able to see if.  Suspect the ear plug caused a small tear inside her rectum and that's where the blood is from.