Kitten ate metal part

[August]

Good freaking grief.  

It's 1:30am here and I had gone to bed.  As usual, the Tinies woke up and started playing around tearing through the apartment... I was just about falling asleep when I heard a strange scratching sound so I got up to see what it was.

All 3 boys were hovering around a folder (with my house notes and stuff) I keep under a cabinet where it just fits (and is difficult for even me to get out easily).

This folder closes with two stretchy strings and small metal bars (see photo).  It seems to me that the stretchy string is all here,... but I can't find two of the metal bars.  I have no idea where they are or if someone ate them, and if someone ate them, I don't know who -- yeah, I know, probably Wednesday -- but it seemed like it also could have been Tuesday.

The metal parts don't feel sharp to my touch, but still,... urgh!  It totally never even occurred to me that that folder could be a danger.  They probably only noticed it now since I was looking at the house flyers today.  


I'm thinking to wait this out and see, since I really can't tell who ate them.  Unless anyone thinks otherwise?  I will see Dr. Ueda this Thursday and will show him the folder and parts.

Jeeeeeeez.  I hope I'll be able to get to sleep tonight.

Photo 1 : The folder
Photo 2 : The folder closer

[August]

Photo 3 : The metal bars - two are missing

[merrihart]

uh oh.     I hope you find them in the morning.  If you can sleep.

The metal bits are pretty malleable, if that makes a difference.  That is, they change shape easily. 

I hope your kitties are ok.   

[Sandi K]

uh-oh is right.  Tell these kitties to behave and quit acting...err...like normal kitties.  I see some more gray hairs for August in the near future. I hope they didnt eat it and that you find it flung off somewhere from them just playing with it. {{{hugs}}}

[catbird]

Hoping the metal pieces have just been batted into some small, dark crevice somewhere.  If not, they don't look large or sharp, but I think a call to Dr. Ueda would be a good idea, just to help you know more concretely whether this is something to worry about or not.

[bug]

Have a really good look around to see if you can find them, August. If you can't, bring the likely culprits in for an x-ray. Metal is something that might not pass easily. One of my friends cats ate a nut (as in nut and bolt) and it was sitting in his intestine. It wasn't going anywhere. Those things are aluminum and much lighter but it would still be good to know if they're moving down the chute. Maybe give the apt a really good vacuum -- use a fresh bag and then open it to see if you can find the pieces. Geez already, kittens!

[Fizzy1]

Okay, Tinies, knock it off already    Your mom is going to build a beautiful house just for you and if she has to spend all her hard-earned money on your vet bills,  there won't be any fun things built

I with bug and catbird, a call to the vet might be the thing to do.

I'll be thinking of you all, and hope they didn't eat them!

[August]

I looked and looked for those darn metal pieces and couldn't find them.  Guh!   

I'll give Dr. Ueda a call and see what he thinks.

(It's only 7am here...the Tinies had been bonkers while my friends were here but then calmed down until last night and now are bonkers again.  I guess I'll want to watch my bed covers closer when Chami comes to my bedroom!)

Thanks (just as I was writing, Chami ran into my bedroom followed by Lulu and Wednesday and then Yoyo     --- so I went out into the main room and played with a teaser for 20 minutes or so, then Chami started looking up at the ceiling and acted like something was up there -- my gosh everybody's bonkers!)


I was saying, thanks for writing that they're being normal kitties.   




]

[merrihart]

Oh, I hope your bed didn't get watered again with all those kitties chasing Chami.

[alek0]

Could they have gone under the furniture somewhere? Those strings are rather elastic, if metal came off it might have flown quite far away.I guess give your vet a call when office opens, and in the meantime search the place thoroughly and also vacuum thoroughly just n case. These may pass through since they are not sharp, but better see what the vet thinks.

[August]

That's an interesting thought about the possibility that the metal parts may have snapped off from the elastic and gone somewhere not in the area I looked.  I'll look around more.  Thank you!


ETA : As I suspected, Dr. Ueda is off today and tomorrow.  I need to go out to a meeting now so will search the apartment more for the metal parts...

[lesliek]

Sorry to be so late responding. I agree they have flown pretty far, but if you can't find them xrays are in your future ! They are pretty soft, but have pointy ends & may not come through without a problem.  Sounds like feliway diffusers & rescue remedy are a must in the near future ! Was it a full moon ?

[bug]

I'll bet it was that Godzilla sighting from the other day that got them all crazy  . From watching my kitties, they'll bat little things like that around until they wind up under furniture or carpets and they can't access them anymore. I hope they didn't eat the dang things.

[Mandycat]

August,
Those little buggers sure are going to give your gray hairs!  Do the metal bars pull off of the elastic fairly easily?  If so, they may have been pulling on the elastic so hard that the popped off and flew across the room  - at least I hope they are around somewhere and not in a tummy!  Unlike the ribbon, they would have been able to get the little bars out of their mouth.  Does the end of the elastic looked chewed or just frayed like the bars were pulled off of them?  You should probably ask the vet what he thinks, but meanwhile, I think you are going to be searching in poop!   

[August]

Yeah, and these items are things that I've actually seen them make disappear.  Just imagine the things they may have eaten that I don't know about!  


So you can just imagine my surprise to go into my bedroom to do a really thorough search for the metal bars this evening... to find a big pool of urine on my bed.  When the heck did that happen?!  I had a waterproof pet cover on the bed, so it was mostly absorbed by that.  Mostly.  It's had to have been hours since it happened.

And I can smell urine on my newly dry-cleaned down comforter.  

I think that's going in the trash when I move.  Along with my entire bed LMAO.  I hope I'll have money to buy a new mattress.  


So anyway, I still haven't found the metal bars... It's Monday night and I will see Dr. Ueda on Thursday.


ETA : Oh yeah, I was going to write that I did check on the bands and if I thought the metal had popped off or had been chewed off,... it's a hard call.  But the metal parts were on the inside of the flap of the folder, so it makes me want to think someone chewed on the outside of the stretchy string and that the metal parts fell off and then were played with or lost.  It was near my bed, so they may be somewhere under my bed with all sorts of stuff under there.  I pulled on the other sides and the metal bars do not pull off easily (I couldn't pull them off anyway).

Good gawd.  I gotta do the laundry now.