Recently, Kyla the Maine Coon kitten came into our clinic feeling unwell, off her food and vomiting. Maine Coons are an increasingly popular breed of cat. They grow to roughly double the size of your average moggy and often exhibit some dog-like behaviours, such as carrying objects around in their mouths.
Kyla was given fluids and admitted for monitoring. She continued to refuse food and vomit so was given barium in order to track the progress through her intestines, looking for possible causes of the vomiting.
Sure enough, X-rays showed that she required surgery to remove some NERF bullets that she had sneakily eaten and were now blocking her intestine. Kyla made a full recovery and is back to her lovely playful self. However, Kyla’s mum says she hasn’t learnt much from her experience and is often seen carrying around pieces of foam in her mouth. Her house mate (also a Maine Coon) has a preference for toilet rolls.
Although it is more common to have intestinal obstruction in dogs from swallowed objects we do see this in cats – more so in kittens playing with objects. Cats often play with and swallow long threads which can get caught in the intestine and cause them to fold in on themselves like an accordion. This can be serious so please take care with kittens and playful cats to ensure they don’t accidentally swallow harmful objects.
By The Welcome Bay Vet Team
