Cat eats corner of carpet, and it's been 3 and a half days

lunasu

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Thank you very much for those who addressed my concerns in the last thread on post dental cleaning recoveries. My girl has a quick recovery the dat after and is back to her normal self.
This is again about my 3 year old Maine Coon girl Fugui.
Unfortunately, because she has pica and likes to eat items that should not be eaten, she chewed on and swallowed a corner of the entrance rug the first night after her surgery. It might be that she is uncomfortable from the anesthesia and dental cleaning, and just developed stress from being to the vet. The rug she swallowed is approximately 2 inches on both edges, thing rubber at the back, and fuzzy on the front, with its pile height of about 0.2 inch. I attached a photo of it with this thread.
She has defected every day since home, eating, drinking, playing, and urinating normally. She defecated half of her regular amount of daily stool every time, but will defecated twice per day, and her poops look exactly the same as she usually has. She pooped only once today, and the poop is half of her regular amount of daily stool. No vomit, no diarrhea, no lethargy so far.
My anxiety level is extremely high at this moment, as she has gone through 2 foreign body surgery already, each of them took her a cone, 14 days of activity restriction in crater, hand feeding 6 small meals a day, and $3000 vets bill. I am truly terrified. I can still went in great debt and afford another, but it is so painful for her to go through all of those again. And it will be so painful for me.
I talked to her vet, who suggest keep close eye on her since she hasn't developed any symptoms yet.

My question is:
Will a foreign body stay in her body for this long without causing symptoms? I don't hope to stress her out by taking her to an emergency and get X-Rays and ultrasound.

Any similar experience or ideas will be sincerely appreciated!
 

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lunasu

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I would say to just keep an eye on her for now. It might not have been enough to pose a problem. All you can do is watch her.

But, given her past, you really need to consider how you can help to stop her obsessions.
Pica In Cats: Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment - All About Cats
Pica in Cats | International Cat Care (icatcare.org)
Thank you for the helpful links! I've tried so many different things in the past: enriching her environment, remove anything that might cause risks, play with her interactively for at least 30 minutes a day, and feed her freeze dried raw food. They certainly helped, but if there is one single thing that I missed that triggered her, she will go for it like this time. I consulted at least 4 vets about how to treat this problem, and read about all possible articles and journals online, the best answer I got so far is to be careful and put things away from her reach.
Her first obstruction was a piece of rubber from toys and since then she doesn't have any access to any cabinets at home. I installed baby locks. The second time it was my previous roommate's hair tie when her door was forgotten to be shut. I'm living by myself now so I have more control over what she can and can't have access to.
Still so much stress TBH.
 
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lunasu

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Four and a half days till now. She eats, plays, drinks, grooms, urinates, and defecate normally. Seems so comfortable lying on our bed. Still no luck finding the carpet pieces in her stool though. Will keep monitoring.
It's really stressful since I'll be out of town for 5 days this Saturday. Do have a camera to monitor her closely, but hopefully she gets it out before I leave. A lot of prays....
 
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lunasu

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Also her vet doesn't suggest an ultrasound as she has no symptoms. So the emergency vet won't do it before I left.
 

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You and she just may have dodged a bullet on this one! Hoping so :crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers:. And, as noted above, maybe she didn't eat it all??? Who will be taking care of her in your absence? Make sure they have the vet and the ER vet numbers available, just in case. And see what you can do to rid even more opportunities for her to eat stuff she shouldn't while you are gone. If any of her unusual eating behavior can be tied to stress, you being gone could exacerbate it.
 
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lunasu

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You're positive she swallowed it? I could imagine you've probably practically used a magnifying glass on your living space :heartshape:
I'm 100% she ate it...:bawling: I live in an apartment and is the type of person that organizes everything in its position. I also vacuum my place every day, should have spotted a piece of poor rug if she just tore it without ingesting. There is nothing left on the ground, just a rug being bite off at its corner.
One thing I'm not entirely sure, though, is if she shallowed it in full, or tore and swallowed it. :confused:
 
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lunasu

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You and she just may have dodged a bullet on this one! Hoping so :crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers:. And, as noted above, maybe she didn't eat it all??? Who will be taking care of her in your absence? Make sure they have the vet and the ER vet numbers available, just in case. And see what you can do to rid even more opportunities for her to eat stuff she shouldn't while you are gone. If any of her unusual eating behavior can be tied to stress, you being gone could exacerbate it.
Truly hope so!!! :crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers: My friend will come, feed, and play with her a bit everyday. Will need to rely on friend to take kitty to the ER if she needed it. They are a 24 hours ER though and that won't be a big problem.
I cat proofed my apartment again right after this incidence, she doesn't have access to everything she shouldn't now
 
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lunasu

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It's been 5.5 days!!! She is acting so normal and comfortable still. None of my worries has come true. I now know that the rug is made of latex and polyester though:alright:
Maybe she defecated it out and I just missed it somehow? Mysterious.........
 
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lunasu

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This is a 7 day full day update: exciting news!!! I found the most part of the polyester and the attached latex in her poop just now! The 2-inch I found is apparently not being torn apart and we are so lucky that she managed to pass it out from the other end. I am leaving like in a couple of hours so she definitely makes it a HUGE relief before my trip.
For the reference of cat parents who found this if you have same experiences: our timeline of cat passing out linear foreign body is about 7 days, given the fact that my girl is free feeding and will defecate once daily under normal circumstances , and her bowel movements have been slowed down by anesthesia from the dental procedure. I also fed her hairball solution every day since the injection. I would say give it a 3-5 days of max window to expect cat to defecate a foreign body out. However, if you found it right away, try go to the vet immediately so that they will do endoscopy or making kitty throw up the foreign body, and the anxiety from “waiting for a destiny” from the other end could come to a peace of mind.
I sincerely thank all the contributions, love, and kindness in these days. Hope all your cats are safe and sound too!
 
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lunasu

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:hyper::banana1::woohoo:


:gift:
Lol, she probably feels a bit better too :thumbsup:
She might be waiting for this moment to come lmao. I am watching her sleeping via the camera though. I think we just got very lucky this time :alright: :woo:
 
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