A naughty moggy almost consumed among his 9 lives after swallowing 11 of his owner’s flexible hair ties.
Nero, a much-loved two-year-old black and white cat, privately took the bands from owner Amy Richards’ night table, prior to swallowing them.
Amy had no concept where they were inexplicably vanishing to, up until she found one after Nero threw up.
When he continued being ill for a couple of days and raised a 2nd hair tie, his anxious owner took him to Westway Vets’ 24-hour medical facility in West Road, Newcastle.
Nero the cat one he was feeling much better. Picture: Vet Partners (Image: Vet Partners)
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Vets carried out an ultrasound scan which revealed yet more hair ties, all collected in a clump in his stomach, which would require to be urgently eliminated in case they triggered a possibly dangerous blockage.
To prevent intrusive surgical treatment, the group of veterinarian Lucy Carr, scientific director Caroline Scobie and veterinary nurse Tilly Gladstone rather performed a fragile treatment to take out the staying hair ties utilizing an endoscope with a grabber gadget on completion.
The innovative innovation makes it possible for a small electronic camera to be given into a family pet’s stomach while under anaesthetic, and after that the endoscope is manoeuvred so the grabber gadget can acquire a foreign body.
In overall, 9 hair ties, in addition to the 2 Nero raised by throwing up, were meticulously taken out of his stomach in a treatment lasting an hour and a half.
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Vet Lucy said: “We couldn’t quite believe that he had swallowed so many hair ties in total, but they just kept coming out. At Westway Vets, we have removed all sorts of things like socks, toys and even a rubber duck from dogs, but this is unusual with a cat.
“Hair ties are a common hazard but for a cat to eat so many is certainly out of the ordinary and really extreme. He has been very lucky because they could have caused an obstruction which could have been life-threatening.
“We had a 50-50 decision to make on after the scan showed them all in a clump. The endoscope is minimally invasive and using it meant we could avoid surgery when there is a greater risk of infection afterwards and a longer stay in hospital.
“It meant Nero was able to go home the same day and was absolutely fine.”
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Amy and her partner Jamie Lamb, who reside in Heaton, have actually owned Nero given that he was an eight-week-old kitten, and think his curious character resulted in him consuming the hair ties.
Luckily, he has actually made a complete healing and Amy applauded the Westway Vets group for conserving his life.
Amy said: “We’ve never seen him eat one of the hair ties but we can only assume he was helping himself when I left them on the bedside table. He is naughty and very curious, but it seems ridiculous that a cat would eat 11 hair ties.
“I am so grateful for what the team at Westway were able to do for him. We were offered the opportunity of surgery but didn’t want to go down that route and the procedure he had meant a much quicker recovery.
“I really appreciate what they did for him and all hair ties are now locked away in a drawer out of his reach!”
