As we all know, all cats chew on grass, it's part of their nature.
I have two semi-feral cats in my yard, a girl about 6 yo, a boy about 3 yo, they are rather friendly and affectionate. Both have been fixed.
Early October, on the first Sunday of the month, I saw him off food, he wasn't as hungry as his usual, but because he roams in the neighborhood I thought he had eaten somewhere else. Same thing all day long, though, and at 9pm I saw him too lethargic. His ears were hot, so I pushed him in the carrier and ran to the clinic, where they found a tense abdomen and a temperature of 40.5°C (105°F). They decided to keep him at the clinic for the night. The next morning they ran an ultrasound scan and a complete blood panel. The results were of an ongoing infection, an enlarged lymph node and a reactive intestine. They held him two days, then the cat was released with a diagnosis of an enteritis, and came back home, with the advice to follow a Gastrointenstinal diet for a month. A follow up visit was due three weeks later.
Meanwhile the cat was feeling better, was eating fine and all was good, so I thought that the check up was just a routine visit.
Three weeks later, though, the ultrasound scan said the situation had worsened, the intestine was still reactive, and especially the lymph node had enlarged three times the size it had a month earlier, when it was larger than the usual already.
The vets were concerned and decided to hold him for a biopsy of the intestine and lymph node, but when they got into his abdomen saw that the enlarged lymph node was going to burst, and they found a fragment of a blade of grass in it, a thin and short blade of grass.
What had happened?
The cat had chewed on the grass, he swallowed it, a tiny blade of grass pierced through the intestine wall and made its path to the abdomen. The hole in the intestine wall repaired on its own right away, the blade started migrating through the abdomen until it got in the lymph node, where it was "phagocytezed" and attacked by the immune system, causing the lymph node to enlarge.
A few days too late and that lymph node would have burst and the cat would have died with septicemia.
The poor cat stayed at the clinic another night, then he came home with a 13 cm (5.12 in) long incision along his belly, and a total vet bill close to €1,000 (first two nights, scans and blood work, and surgery and following check ups)!
The surgeon who performed the operation said that in 40 years of service he had never seen anything like that.
Does any of you have heard of such an incident?
I have two semi-feral cats in my yard, a girl about 6 yo, a boy about 3 yo, they are rather friendly and affectionate. Both have been fixed.
Early October, on the first Sunday of the month, I saw him off food, he wasn't as hungry as his usual, but because he roams in the neighborhood I thought he had eaten somewhere else. Same thing all day long, though, and at 9pm I saw him too lethargic. His ears were hot, so I pushed him in the carrier and ran to the clinic, where they found a tense abdomen and a temperature of 40.5°C (105°F). They decided to keep him at the clinic for the night. The next morning they ran an ultrasound scan and a complete blood panel. The results were of an ongoing infection, an enlarged lymph node and a reactive intestine. They held him two days, then the cat was released with a diagnosis of an enteritis, and came back home, with the advice to follow a Gastrointenstinal diet for a month. A follow up visit was due three weeks later.
Meanwhile the cat was feeling better, was eating fine and all was good, so I thought that the check up was just a routine visit.
Three weeks later, though, the ultrasound scan said the situation had worsened, the intestine was still reactive, and especially the lymph node had enlarged three times the size it had a month earlier, when it was larger than the usual already.
The vets were concerned and decided to hold him for a biopsy of the intestine and lymph node, but when they got into his abdomen saw that the enlarged lymph node was going to burst, and they found a fragment of a blade of grass in it, a thin and short blade of grass.
What had happened?
The cat had chewed on the grass, he swallowed it, a tiny blade of grass pierced through the intestine wall and made its path to the abdomen. The hole in the intestine wall repaired on its own right away, the blade started migrating through the abdomen until it got in the lymph node, where it was "phagocytezed" and attacked by the immune system, causing the lymph node to enlarge.
A few days too late and that lymph node would have burst and the cat would have died with septicemia.
The poor cat stayed at the clinic another night, then he came home with a 13 cm (5.12 in) long incision along his belly, and a total vet bill close to €1,000 (first two nights, scans and blood work, and surgery and following check ups)!
The surgeon who performed the operation said that in 40 years of service he had never seen anything like that.
Does any of you have heard of such an incident?