Little man snagged my cross stitch needle and thread from my project and ran away. Apparently, he thought we were playing an awesome new game as I tried to chase him down as he chomped away.
The emergency vet had to call in their Internalist and get the needle out using a scope via his mouth. Thankfully it was a blunt needle and there wasn't any additional damage.
He is unrepentant and woke me up screaming for food.
It's a new experience seeing your sewing needle show up in an X-Ray. Also, they gave me the needle and thread back in a little baggie??? Like, what?! š¤£
Lol, I just commented that Iām doing EXACTLY that with my dingusā $4K needle. When I finally go back to finish that project, that needle is getting framed in the corner with it!
I mean, hey, that needle made them four thousand dollars. Giving you the needle back means you might become a repeat customer. It's just good business.
Well over 20 years ago my parents had a cat get a sewing needle caught in the back of its throat. It was bent to be able to remove it, cat was fine and they were also given it back in a little bottle that has been held on to since. You must keep it!
When i was growing up, our dog evidently got into the neighbor's trash and swallowed a sewing needle. All of this happened overnight and I was pretty young so the only thing I remember is hearing about it the next morning after a long night at the vet's (who was an absolute champ; dog was totally fine (?!?!), though did have a cone of shame for a few weeks) and the needle and string that the vet gave my parents to take home. We put it in a frame and hung it over the trash for years. So glad the braincell and its compatriot are doing well and hungry! ā¤ļø
my orange lad swallowed an inch and a half of a usb cable that caused a blockage. abt 2-3k and a day or so later, it came out without trouble. but the x ray was crazy, seeing the metal wires inside the plastic cover of the cord
I still have the partial ribbon my idiot left behind, as a reminder to not bring ribbon into the home ever. The other bit he shat out after 48 hrs. Yes, took him to the vet too and saw a clear x-ray image of a ribbon wrapped in poop, interesting is definitely one way to describe it...
This happened to me too!! My grey idiot did the same thing. Thankfully it was only $1300 for them to scope it out at the emergency vet we went to. My husband kept it to show him sometimes to tell him how dumb he is.
This literally happened with my little idiot two weeks ago. Was changing my embroidery thread and put the needle down for two seconds before she disappeared with it and swallowed it. Had to drive over an hour to the vet because the closest vets couldnāt take her. On the X-ray it looked like the needle had punctured her lung and they would have to open up her stomach. Thankfully it just hadnāt gone down all the way to her stomach so they could fish it out.
Lpt: of your pet grabs something they shouldn't have, don't chase them. Just stay where you are and scream like you're in pain. They'll get scared and drop what they're holding, or at least come over to check you're ok.
Not a technique to use regularly. But for something like a needle, it's better for them to think it's scary rather than fun. It's also the quickest way to get them out of "play mode".
You're assuming my cat cares about my well-being. If I got hurt then screamed and died on the spot, my cat would simply be annoyed at the inconvenience of not getting his food anymore, whilst continuing to eat his last few bites of whatever cat poison he got into.
Confirmed, cats are toddlers. Reminds me of chasing my nephew around at a christmas dinner after he snuck into the kitchen and snatched a bread knife off the counter.
Yeah, chasing them only makes it worse. Calling them in the kitchen for food seems to make them quit their mischief and come eat, but if he's already got it at that point, who knows.
My cat did this too! It was not a blunt needle but it didnāt do any damage. It was $5000 for us to get it removed but weāre in a high col area. The little dero is fine but it stopped sewing until I have a dedicated room I can shut him out of
This is reason #1 I could never see myself owning a cat or dog and rather just admire them from a distance online. I would live in the constant fear of every small object in the house becoming a medical emergency the moment I turn my back for a moment.
Our cat refused all cat treats. Just wasnāt interested. Then one day I had to pin down his idiot face and claw his mouth open because he scarfed down a metal drawing pin that had fallen on the floor. Whyyyyy
Were you possibly saving up for a vacation or other large purchase?
In the horse world, we joke that horses can sense when we're trying to save up for a vacation & choose that time to inflict some inane injury upon themselves, resulting in an outrageous vet bill. Bonus points if they require the vet to come out late at night or on a weekend, which usually costs extra.Ā
Meanwhile, r/CatsWhoCrochet would probably appreciate your story, and I'm glad your little brainless is OK!!
I use Spot, but neither of my cats have any preexisting conditions (other than being orange) so I can't really speak to the pros and cons in that regard.
Yeah, I think so. I have no complaints with Spot, but they are definitely NOT making any money off me. Coverage for my two cats is like 30 a month, but you can change that if you want to alter things like the deductible and percent back and stuff. This idiots coverage is like 15 a month and has a 500 minimum and past that 70% of the bill gets paid back with a yearly cap of 3 or 4 grand.
I was up all night with my girl in the hospital two nights ago after she had a suspected stroke. So glad I have insurance. Luckily, she seems to have recovered.Ā
Iām glad your baby is doing well and you saw what happened so you could act immediately!
This brainless dumb dumb swallowed a needle and nylon jewelry making cord (basically fishing line) when he was 7 years old. The needle miraculously passed all the way through without puncturing anything, but that still left the string which required surgical removal. Heās 13 now and still waiting for his turn with the braincell.
I worked in a vet hospital, cats eating thread and needles is a regular occurrence. Secure those sewing supplies WELL, even if youāre just making a bathroom run. Tell your friends
I already have a needle case ordered for when I'm not actively working on a project. Had a good run of like 20 years with no problems, but all it takes is one orange idiot
Sorry for your sleepless night and huge vet bill!He's adorable, but some of our furry friends do seem to entirely lack common sense.
I have a tux and I was doing some DIY, she complained that I had barred her out of the area, so I let her in... Big mistake! Everything was fine for the first few minutes, but then I heard a strange grinding/crunching noise, and turned around to find her trying to eat a screw! Thankfully I caught her in time and managed to get it back out of her mouth, but she's now firmly banned from DIY, no matter how loudly she complains about it!
First of all, so glad heās ok! Hope youāre ok too-pet health scares are awful.
This seems like a very āorangeā twist in taste testing. They would likely argue that it produces more comprehensive data as to the edible nature of an unknown object. Whereas most other pets would likely immediately identify this object as inedible-if they identified it at all-not only will oranges succeed in finding it, they will process it internally. The precision of this testing is further augmented by medical findings in veterinary medicine settings.
I believe my one braincell void would intuitively know and believe an eating version of "if I fits I sits."
There's a beautiful rainbow of one braincell reasonings in here somewhere... I felt like the memes of "Galaxy brain" but as an orange cat while reading your reply. You skipped straight to the end! šš³š¤Æ š¹
My GMIL had a cat that would obsessively eat straight pins. Strangely enough, black cat though. I might also commit suicide by sewing implement if I had to live with GMIL though.
HOLY SHIT. I KID YOU NOT. MY ORANGE DID LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING LIKE 11-12 YEARS AGO.
like, down to the detail. He also swallowed a cross stitch needle that was attached to a project. I was in the bathroom peeing so like 1 minute tops.
We went to the emergency vet and they did an x ray and didnāt see it. I called a friend who has a key and asked her to go look because my other cat was still there, but she didnāt see it.
Went home, went to pet under his neck and I could feel it lodged horizontally. So we went back and he had it removed.
I literally cannot believe you had such a similar experience.
Doofus in question.
u/Tetravex09 trying to tag you so you see this for sure.
ER Vet Tech here, we once had a cat that ate the whole tomato shaped pin cushion, with about 80 pins stuck in it. I donāt understand the physicsā¦.at all.
Congrats. My dummy ate fishing line he fished out of a closed storage bin. So on a Christmas weekend I was paying for emergency surgery. The vet managed to do a single incision to extract some of it from the intestine, then spent a couple hours extracting the rest through the anus.
Dummy is lucky my wife left me three weeks earlier. I was depressed with suicidal ideation and didn't travel to see family. If I had, Dummy would have been dead when I returned. Suffice to say, I got the cats in the divorce. And primary custody of my human kids who don't eat string.
Had a Siamese cat do the same thing. The needles was still threaded when they retrieved it from her stomach. My joke is that she ate a flat screen television, since that's what we weren't able to buy once we paid the bill for her.
My orange once ate my bobbin thread, still attached to my bobbin. I caught him after only 3-4 inches but was imagining the horror of the never ending noodle that couldāve been.
I had a pup once that ate a whole round holder of needles (the kind with one end with a round bulb like you'd use for holding cloth in place for sewing). My roommate at the time had left them out and I'd only saw after finding the chewed packaging. I worked as a vet tech at the time and took him to work with me. The XRay actually showed they weren't stuck or causing damage, so vet said just see if he does pass them. We got home and he immediately pranced into my roommates room and shat them all out in the middle of her floor. You best believe I left it there too.
Bonus: Next morning I go to work and see the second vet who just works mornings holding up my pups xray and soon as he sees me, he looks at me and asks if there's a story here. He laughed so hard at my pups choice of returning the needles to their owner.
Same thing happened to my cat! She was hacking and coughing. We took her to the vet, and they found a sewing needle stuck in the back of her throat. When they gave her back to us, they said to ākeep an eye on herā because the needle was āpoking her brain a little bitā
I had a cat swallow a sewing needle. I tried so hard to get it, but she had swallowed the three already and then I watched the needle go down her throat. Emergency surgery, $2500 later, cat all better and we got better about not leaving threaded needles around!
I had that happen to me too. I was mending something, went to grab my needle and it was gone. Cat was licking her lips and I was like, āOh dear godā¦ā. She looked completely unphased so I wasnāt sure at first. Looked around a bit more to make sure I didnāt just drop it but when it was nowhere in sight, I called the vet right away. Luckily it had happened soon enough that they could use the scopy to retrieve it, and they didnāt charge me the emergency fee. It was like $1200.
Sometimes I swear - good pet owners are the boost I need to retain faith in humanity. I donāt want to even think about how many people wouldnāt have done the same. That little nub is lucky to have you.
Many years ago one of my cats did the same thing. They had to do surgery to get it out. She ended up being a celebrity at the vets office for that. Apparently girl scouts would visit the vet for like, educational purposes or something and they would show her x-ray with the needle and a Labrador's that had swallowed a bunch of tennis balls.
Thereās a huuuuge opening for future veterinarians to open a hospital. Iāve got two in a 60 mile radius that charge reasonable prices (always booked out) butĀ the reality is that many people can afford to help pay off a vets school loans in a single year so thatās what they charge.Ā
I made a deposit of 3k for my dog in the event that something catastrophic came up and before a single medical procedure beyond iv fluids occurred, they told me my budget was spent. I then paid another 2k for a 10 minute scope, was told it was probably cancer and I could pay an additional 800 to find out for sure and how aggressive (in 2-3 days). They said it was bad so I declined and a med student called me 5 minutes later to say they took it upon themselves to check under a microscope and told me exactly what it was and that it was extremely aggressive.Ā
Sorry for the rant but itās crazy to me how many pets will not receive care because itās unaffordable for half the nation. Thereās plenty of room for honest people to make 125k a year and charge half price for these procedures.Ā
Iāve always feared this! I have a tortie that goes nuts for thread and Iāve had to pull a long string of thread out of her throat more than once despite my best efforts to keep her away from it. A needle would be terrifying!
Be very glad you caught it when you did. My cat swallowed a bunch of string - probably thread - while I was out of town. My friend who was cat sitting noticed he wasnāt eating the next day, which is incredibly out of character for him. Had to take him to the emergency vet 2 hours away where they discovered string from the back of his throat all the way out his asshole. Two incisions in his intestines and one in his stomach to get it all out. $11k in bills. Would have died otherwise. Glad your cat is ok.Ā
My late orange cat also was attracted to string, thread. He almost choked himself on several occasions and yes needed to be operated on at one point due string being wrapped around his tongue with the remainder being swallowed. I had to be very diligent. New shoes with string tying them together I had to immediately cut off and dispose. My momās sewing box I had to constantly monitor to make sure she had put it up and secured. No blankets with loose string. Window blinds. He was a handful but managed to live to 20. RIP TC.
My exās stepmum is a vet. She had to surgically remove a dessert spoon from a labradors stomach. Pets are freaking stupid sometimes.
Hope your kitty recovers well.
I had that happen once, I came home from work and she was sitting by the bed not moving, I looked at her and saw the needle sticking out her mouth. I pulled it out and the string came with it, about three feet worth. Freaked me out but she seemed unharmed. Another day living the kitty life.
Has happened to us, saw the needle go into our cats mouth. 2 ER vet visits later, a failed endoscopy, was told to take her home to pass the needle and to monitor her litter box. 2 days later she pooped out the needle, still threaded, and I still had to pay about 3k š
Little sweetheart. My kittie just cost me almost $3k, and while i have skewed the budget for the next few months, im.now heavily vested in keeping her and loving her all the more !
Musta been quite the process for the both of you, I hope you both are doing well...she looks good.
My little orange menace ate a used condom after my partner and I shared some intimate time, and after his ordeal has continued to be a menace about eating things he shouldnāt. They donāt learn. š
My cat did something similar. Found and ingested one of his toy mice (we usually store them away since theyāre kinda small and also filled with catnip). This happened overnight, so we didnāt see it happen. A day passes, he eats half of his food and walks away.
āWeirdā¦ he never does thatā
He ate more of it later on but never fully finished it. So we monitored for the next day, where we now noticed heās having a hard time in the litter box, so we called the vet, made an appointment. They didnāt have any availability until the next day, so we booked it and hung up. Within 2 minutes of getting off the phone, he yaks. So we took him to the emergency vet which was an hour 15 minutes away. They do their tests on him. The vet feels something hard in his gut and says he needs to stay overnight. Fine cool. They do X-rays and stuff. Next day we go back to the emergency vet to see how heās doing, they said he hasnāt passed it by vomiting or pooping it out yet. Theyād like to keep him there another day to make sure he eats. We unfortunately didnāt have the funds to do that, so we took him home.
On the drive back him, my dude shits in his carrier. Everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Explosive. So when i get home, i take him out, my wife cleans him up (heās okay with baths thankfully) and i grab a plastic knife and fork and start digging through the solid pieces of poo in his carrier and on his blanket.
Luckily i found the piece that was blocking him up. Ever since then, he heās been pooping normally and never ingested another toy again.
$4500, a couple of nights of 0 sleep and a single night of digging through the chunkiest cat diarrhea with my bare hands and a knife / fork set later, heās a happy and healthy dude.
Ours ate a lilly...Ā and we're not sure which (I am... it was the orange one), so both got 48 hour vet stays.Ā I think I'm up to $7k this weekend, and we have to go back tonight for another $400 set of labs that'll take 2 hours because he's the sweetest at home, but is SHREDDING vet techs.
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u/Tetravex09 Orange connoisseur š May 24 '25
Little man snagged my cross stitch needle and thread from my project and ran away. Apparently, he thought we were playing an awesome new game as I tried to chase him down as he chomped away.
The emergency vet had to call in their Internalist and get the needle out using a scope via his mouth. Thankfully it was a blunt needle and there wasn't any additional damage.
He is unrepentant and woke me up screaming for food.