The Cat who Ate.... EVERYTHING

The Cat Who Ate... EVERYTHING!

**********Warning- There are pictures. They are gross. Stop reading here if you do not like gross!!!**********

A few weeks ago, this very handsome red cat came in to the clinic for loss of appetite and vomiting. "Jake" was feeling good, running around the house and the yard as always, but anorexia from a cat who would normally eat anything sent up a major red flag for his owners. He didn't seem painful on palpation, but the doctor was able to feel something large in his abdomen. The x-rays revealed that something was in there, but what? A tumor? A bird? For the next few hours, we gave barium, x-rayed some more and waited for the barium to go through. And waited.... and waited.

Well, finally we couldn't wait any longer; the only choice was an exploratory surgery to remove whatever was causing the obstruction, because it wasn't coming out any other way. The doctors opened his stomach, expecting to find a ball or some other hard object. Instead, they began to pull out string after string. Headbands. Q-Tips. Grass. Hair ties. Curling ribbons. Food wrappers. Shoelaces. Partially digested food. His stomach was like one of those clown cars-stuff just kept spilling out!

In the end, it turned out that this ten pound cat had 1/3 pound of stuff in his stomach that didn't belong there. It had most likely been collecting there for months! Jake had never changed his behavior, had never acted like he was in pain. His appetite did not decrease until the day before his surgery. Cats are absolutely amazing creatures- sure, he wasn't very bright to eat all of that stuff, but no human would have been able to stand that discomfort, much less go on leading a normal life!

Weeks later, Jake is doing great, and up to his same old naughty tricks. But his family is keeping much closer tabs on their garbage, and anything else he might get into his mind to eat! Because, apparently, he will eat anything.