Q: Dear Dr. Richards,
Two months ago, my three-year-old Russain blue became seriously ill, with symptoms of prolonged vomiting, severe dehydration, anorexia, and lethargy. Your website was one of several I reviewed for information on these symptoms as the veterinarians who were treating her tried to find the diagnosis.
Almost three weeks into her illness, the diagnosis became obvious when she started to pass yarn in her stools. Again, I went back to your website for information on "linear foreign bodies."
Unfortunately, this topic is not covered on your web site, nor is there information warning cat owners about preventing this type of health problem by keeping cats away from yarn, thread, dental floss, and similar household materials. After searching through over two dozen cat and pet manuals available in national bookstore chains, I found very little information there either.
Because the Internet has the potnetial for reaching many individuals, I would like to encourage you to put some information about this topic on your web site, warning cat owners about how to prevent this problem from occurring, as well as information on symptoms and treatment if a cat does ingest a linear foreign body.
As a cat owner for 20 years who also has a hobby of weaving and an entire room of yarns, I was totally unaware of the dangers until this incident with my cat. I hope you will consider adding some information to your web site so a tragedy can be prevented for another cat owner.
Thank you,
Connie
A: Dear Connie-
We will post your note on the site. Cats do appear to be much more prone to swallowing string and similar things like tinsel, yarn and fishing line than dogs. If there is obvious evidence of string disappearing down a cat's throat it is best to have your vet remove it rather than grabbing one end and pulling. The digestive tract has a hard time moving string through. Sometimes, instead of the string moving, the intestines will just bunch up around the string and if it is pulled it saws right through the intestine or esophagus. When cats appear to have symptoms of an intestinal obstruction such as persistent vomiting while being reluctant to eat, it is best to consider the possibility of a linear foreign body. Often these do not show up well on X-rays so it is sometimes necessary to do exploratory surgery to find them. It is best to keep string and yarn where the cat can't get into them and people with cat should probably avoid putting tinsel on their Christmas trees.
Mike Richards, DVM
