Cat Hazard Alert # 6 – FISHING TACKLE
This week has been such a busy one at the Cat Hospital and we have seen a number of emergency and critical care patients rush in through our doors!
One very lovable little guy that we helped yesterday is Sugar, a 12 week old kitten that got into a bit of mischief with his human daddy’s fishing gear. Cats are attracted to fishing gear because they can often smell the fishy odour left from previous fishing expeditions. They also like the shiny fishing line especially if there is a dangling hook on the end to swat!
In the middle of the night, Sugar thought it would make a fun game playing with a fishing hook and line he found but unfortunately in the process he got the hook caught through his upper lip. Because of the small barbs in the fish hook, once the hook was embedded into the tissue of his gum it was unable to be removed. Sugar’s family rushed him to the Cat Hospital first thing in the morning, and we admitted him to hospital to give him some pain relief and a deep sedation to allow us to remove the hook.
The hook was removed surgically and the wounds flushed with copious sterile saline. Fortunately there was no major damage caused by the hook. Sugar was given extra pain relief for his recovery and an injection of antibiotics.
We were so pleased to see this charming lad recover very quickly and within a few hours was enjoying cuddles from the nurses and trying to play with his toy mouse in his litter tray!
Sugar’s unfortunate experience is a reminder to us all of how careful we need to be in ensuring we keep our household safe for our furry little family members.
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