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Has your cat ever eaten something it shouldn’t have? Perhaps a bit of a plastic toy, shoelace or even a big seed? Today, we’ll be talking about foreign body obstructions in cats. There are different types of obstructions- linear and non-linear. Some examples of linear foreign bodies include string, shoelace, dental floss and anything really that can catch in the gut and cause the intestines to bunch. We’ll go into more detail on this below in an exciting case. Examples of non-linear foreign bodies include plastic toys, gum nuts, peach pits and so many more. These types of foreign bodies get ingested and lodge themselves typically in the small intestines where the diameter of the object is too large to pass through the small intestine.

Here is an example of a case we had recently. A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Renee’s own cat, Chi Chi, ate something she shouldn’t have. She broke into the toy room to find her favourite toy and ingested 47cm of string! String is an example of a linear foreign body. This means that the string can get caught somewhere in the gut and cause the intestines to “plicate” or bunch up. When this happens, the blood supply to the intestines can get cut off and surgery would be required to remove the dead or dying intestines to prevent it from rupturing and leaking gut contents into the abdominal cavity which would result in sepsis.

There are a few ways to solve foreign body ingestions, depending on what it is your cat has eaten. If the foreign object was ingested recently (generally within 1 hour- though this varies. e.g. string can take longer to be cleared from the stomach than a peach pit), then you might be able to make your cat vomit and bring it back up. This is known as an emesis. However, if the object your cat ate is caustic or something that will cause damage coming back up, this may not be the best option. The first thing your vet may recommend (depending on the object and how long ago it was ingested) is abdominal radiographs. This helps us to determine where the object is within the abdomen and whether or not surgery is required. If the object is within the stomach or the start of the small intestine, an emesis or endoscope might work. If it is further down, surgery is generally required unless it looks small enough to pass on its own. There are different ways the vet may make your cat vomit- oral medications vs injectable medications. In the case mentioned above, Chi Chi was given a type of soda crystal to induce vomiting and she brought it back up straight away as she had only ingested it within the last few hours.

If an emesis fails and the object is still stuck, an endoscopy may be available if the vet suspects the object is still in the stomach. Otherwise, your cat may require emergency surgery to have the foreign object removed. During surgery, the vet inspects the entire gut from the stomach to the distal colon and once the foreign body is found, it is removed and the entire gut is inspected again. This is done to ensure there are no sneaky remnants. If it is a linear foreign body that has resulted in bunching of the intestines (plication), any dead intestine will be resected. Of course, we have to be careful when we do this as we don’t want to remove any more than we have to.

Once the surgery is complete, we are not fully out of the woods just yet. We have to wait and watch our patients for any signs of dehiscence- this is when the intestines that were stitched closed open back up. If this occurs, surgery will be required to correct this and flush the abdomen out. This does not happen often, but is a possibility. Your vet may recommend strict rest for 2 weeks and a few revisits following the surgery to ensure your cat recovers well.

If you ever suspect that your cat has eaten something it shouldn’t have, immediately call your vet and let them know what you suspect it has eaten and when you think they ate it. This will generally be able to give us an indication of whether an emesis or other diagnostic procedures are warranted. Thankfully for little Chi Chi, the string was removed from her stomach by performing an emesis. She felt much better after the vet had given her an anti-nausea medication before heading home. Hopefully she learns her lesson!

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