My cat has been eating my hair ties, but he seems okay now… should I be worried?
His hair tie-swallowing habit is pretty new, so I still have a few renegade ties lurking around my house — remnants from those glorious days when I could just leave them on the counter tops with reckless abandon. I try to keep them away from him now, but I still find them in the litter box from time to time. Whenever he finds one unattended… shoop! Down it goes.
Then last week, I walked into my bathroom and found that he had pried open the doors to the medicine cabinet, where I keep a pile of hair ties. He'd obviously helped himself, and I found a few of them in his litter box over the course of the next few days. But it wasn't until yesterday, Sunday, that I noticed anything different in his behavior. He was lethargic, and his abdomen looked bloated. I observed him carefully throughout the rest of the day, and noticed that he wasn't using the litter box like usual… and even worse, that I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him poop. It was too late at night to call the vet, so I started researching everything I could online.
I'm worried that he has an intestinal obstruction. Except… the most common symptoms, apart from constipation, appear to be vomiting and loss of appetite. Even last night, when he was obviously uncomfortable, he was asking for food like he normally does. I didn't think I should feed a cat with intestinal blockage, but I offered him a small portion anyway and he gobbled it right down. No vomiting whatsoever. And this morning… he finally pooped! I swear I have never been so overjoyed to see poop in my entire life. It looked perfectly normal, too — though I couldn't see any hair ties, which concerned me because the source of the blockage was probably still there.
I was gone for the earlier part of the afternoon today, but I've been watching him since then. He's still a little sluggish, and his stomach still feels a little bloated, but he forced out another hair tie this evening and seems better for it. Since passing the hair tie, he's been knocking stuff over, getting into cupboards and chasing toy mice under the refrigerator where neither of us can reach them, just like he usually does. Between the voracious eating and the playing, he's almost back to his old self!
I've been feeding him small amounts of food throughout the day, with some baked squash stirred into it for extra fiber, and I'm hoping against all hope that he's well down the path to recovery. Trouble is, I don't know how many hair ties he swallowed in the first place. Is it possible that there are still a few kicking around his digestive system? Could he still have a partial obstruction?
Any advice from long-time cat owners or someone with veterinary experience would be great!
His hair tie-swallowing habit is pretty new, so I still have a few renegade ties lurking around my house — remnants from those glorious days when I could just leave them on the counter tops with reckless abandon. I try to keep them away from him now, but I still find them in the litter box from time to time. Whenever he finds one unattended… shoop! Down it goes.
Then last week, I walked into my bathroom and found that he had pried open the doors to the medicine cabinet, where I keep a pile of hair ties. He'd obviously helped himself, and I found a few of them in his litter box over the course of the next few days. But it wasn't until yesterday, Sunday, that I noticed anything different in his behavior. He was lethargic, and his abdomen looked bloated. I observed him carefully throughout the rest of the day, and noticed that he wasn't using the litter box like usual… and even worse, that I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him poop. It was too late at night to call the vet, so I started researching everything I could online.
I'm worried that he has an intestinal obstruction. Except… the most common symptoms, apart from constipation, appear to be vomiting and loss of appetite. Even last night, when he was obviously uncomfortable, he was asking for food like he normally does. I didn't think I should feed a cat with intestinal blockage, but I offered him a small portion anyway and he gobbled it right down. No vomiting whatsoever. And this morning… he finally pooped! I swear I have never been so overjoyed to see poop in my entire life. It looked perfectly normal, too — though I couldn't see any hair ties, which concerned me because the source of the blockage was probably still there.
I was gone for the earlier part of the afternoon today, but I've been watching him since then. He's still a little sluggish, and his stomach still feels a little bloated, but he forced out another hair tie this evening and seems better for it. Since passing the hair tie, he's been knocking stuff over, getting into cupboards and chasing toy mice under the refrigerator where neither of us can reach them, just like he usually does. Between the voracious eating and the playing, he's almost back to his old self!
I've been feeding him small amounts of food throughout the day, with some baked squash stirred into it for extra fiber, and I'm hoping against all hope that he's well down the path to recovery. Trouble is, I don't know how many hair ties he swallowed in the first place. Is it possible that there are still a few kicking around his digestive system? Could he still have a partial obstruction?
Any advice from long-time cat owners or someone with veterinary experience would be great!