My Plumber Endangered My Cats

[bunnelina]

We woke up this morning to the sound of our kitten Possum choking on a strange piece of elastic. It turns out that our plumber was replacing some hoses yesterday, and they come tied up in all this elastic. He cut them apart, pieces flew everywhere, and he didn't bother to pick them up.

I found five pieces eventually, and who knows how many Possum and the other cats found? And ate? Naturally, I'm worried about an intestinal obstruction. It would be just our luck, cat-wise, these days. I try to be so careful about rubber bands, yarn, and all that stuff. And suddenly, this....

I tried to get more information from the plumber, about how much elastic there originally was, so I could tell our vet, or just relax, but he was clueless. So I tried his boss and he was totally rude! He told me cats can handle eating anything and then he hung up on me after sarcastically shouting at me to "Have a nice day!"

I believe in being polite, quiet, and reasonable. Up to that point, I wasn't even blaming the plumber for being careless. But "Have a nice day" made me angry. I get to spend my next few days watching for an obstruction, if not in Possum, then maybe in one of the others. That's hardly "nice." I suspect there's quite a bit of elastic missing from the few bits I found.

Now I have to figure out how to get Possum to eat his tuna Laxatone three times a day to help any elastic pass. He hates it! All my other cats love it. He won't try it off a spoon or on my finger. I will try it on a plate next, but he seems to dislike the smell. Any tips would be appreciated, since he's supposed to get it nine times and I'm batting zero.

Thanks for listening!

 

[strange_wings]

Try a different flavor or dose it out like you would liquid meds (squirt on the back of the tongue).

If this ends up being serious and that elastic needs to be surgically removed - you could have a pretty good civil case against the plumber (the boss, not the individual), provided that they don't try to hide that same elastic material that is on their other products. His rudeness will only come back to bite him in the butt, because even if Possum is fine you're now going to tell people how rude he was to you.

IIRC, you should be able to find business list sites online to add your bad review to.

 

[bunnelina]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Try a different flavor or dose it out like you would liquid meds (squirt on the back of the tongue).

If this ends up being serious and that elastic needs to be surgically removed - you could have a pretty good civil case against the plumber (the boss, not the individual), provided that they don't try to hide that same elastic material that is on their other products. His rudeness will only come back to bite him in the butt, because even if Possum is fine you're now going to tell people how rude he was to you.

IIRC, you should be able to find business list sites online to add your bad review to.

I'll pick up the malt flavor tomorrow, thanks. He usually tries anything but you'd think I was trying to feed him rubber cement. It's so thick and sticky that I worry he'll choke on it if I squirt it in his mouth.

My negative reviews of that plumber are already all over the web, joining several others. And I have a little blog, so here's hoping the local news site picks it up.

 

[the_food_lady]

Whenever I've had to give my cats either furball stuff or anything of that nature, and they won't take it off my finger, I'll use a 10cc feeding syringe. I'll pull the plunger out of the syringe, squeeze the stuff down into the barrel....gently place the rubber end of the plunger over the end, turn upside down so that the "stuff" slowly settles down into the barrel...then move plunger down barrel just enough to get air out. As the stuff is thick, I'll run the outside of the syringe under some running hot water so it's a little less thick. Then put kitty between my legs on the floor and squeeze into mouth. I have a nice warm washcloth ready so that if any gets on fur/face, I can immediately wipe off. Always works for us.

 

[farleyv]

Call the Better Business Bureau and start a file on him there too.

 

[bunnelina]

Originally Posted by the_food_lady

Whenever I've had to give my cats either furball stuff or anything of that nature, and they won't take it off my finger, I'll use a 10cc feeding syringe. I'll pull the plunger out of the syringe, squeeze the stuff down into the barrel....gently place the rubber end of the plunger over the end, turn upside down so that the "stuff" slowly settles down into the barrel...then move plunger down barrel just enough to get air out. As the stuff is thick, I'll run the outside of the syringe under some running hot water so it's a little less thick. Then put kitty between my legs on the floor and squeeze into mouth. I have a nice warm washcloth ready so that if any gets on fur/face, I can immediately wipe off. Always works for us.

This sounds like an excellent technique! Thank you for explaining it so well. I just managed to get a little into him with my husband holding him, transferring the stuff from my finger to his mouth, and it wasn't pretty. The washcloth is an important part of the project!

 

[darlili]

Oh, my gosh - first, best wishes your baby is ok. I'm having a plumber over next week to install some new faucets and a water filtration unit. I had already told them I had cats as a head's up (for them if any particular plumber had an allergy, and for them to be alert for pets in general when they come). Now, thanks to your sharing this, I'm going to be triply sure to ask them to bag (or give me) any materials while they're working.

I've got to say, I've been lucky with workmen at my condo - they're always been meticulous re clean-up and nice about my cats (my girl insists on supervising every job), but this is a great reminder to everyone while doing work around the house.

 

[ebrillblaiddes]

You could fill up one of those hollow treats that they put pills in.