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Veterinarians removed 38 hair ties from this cat's stomach

Cardinal Pritchard ··Jan 2, 2023 · NottheBee.com



My note: I thought you might like this story. It made me smile. As a retired veterinarian, I will admit I have done the same surgery many times on cats. One time, I removed hair ties TWICE from the same cat. It was always amazing what we would find inside the stomach or intestines of a dog or cat. One of my favorites: a very slinky pair of underwear out of a Golden Retriever, and the fun of showing the owner what we found! P.S. Golden retrievers like to eat socks too. Lori York, DVM

Here is the story from NottheBee.com:

(Photo is my cat Chester. He has never eaten hair ties)

Here's something you don't see every day: Yeah, I guess poor little Juliet must've thought the hair ties would make it easier to get rid of all those hairballs she keeps spitting up, you know, keep em organized. It was worth a shot! Anyhow, here's the story. Apparently this cat was left behind in South Carolina by a family who moved out of state. Not only that, but two other cats were left behind with her. I just gotta stop and say, WHAT THE HECK? Like, how can an honest pet owner just leave behind three of their own like this? Just rude. Anyhow, a Good Samaritan happened to bring these cats to the Charleston Animal Society, and only after this did doctors notice something was up with our little feline, Juliet. Juliet was brought to Charleston Animal Society along with two other cats by a Good Samaritan who said they had been left outside a home when their family moved out of state. Juliet seemed fine at first, but after several weeks, she began not eating and became lethargic. Radiographs showed she had an unusual sort of blockage in her stomach that would kill her if it was not removed. What Dr. Jamison and the lifesaving team found was simply unbelievable — a seemingly endless bundle of strings that continued to come out as Dr. Jamison surgically removed them. "I've never seen anything like it," Dr. Jamison said. Yup, and the blockage was hair ties. 38 hair ties. Enough to make 19 sets of pigtails! After everything was pulled out, the surgery team counted more than three dozen hair ties blocking Juliet's stomach, which had prevented her from eating or processing food…No damage was found in Juliet's intestines, however, a buildup of fat in her liver has caused a serious health condition that she is currently being treated for. "We have to make sure that as we feed her, we keep her electrolytes in balance," Jamison said. Crazy! Glad they could get those out, and I hope Juliet has an easy recovery. The Charleston Animal Society had a tad bit of advice for pet owners, and I'll share it with you so we can all learn a lesson through Juliet's experience. There is a lesson in all this for cat owners. While cats love to play with bouncy, stringy objects like hair ties and rubber bands, they should never do so unsupervised, because swallowing them may require medical attention. Good advice!

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