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So I wake up to the cat making throw-up noises, and I notice he's got a piece of ribbon hanging out of his mouth. I manage to pull about a foot out and cut it off, but there is more, maybe another foot I'm guessing if this is the piece of ribbon I saw before.
Should I just pull it out? It seemed to be kinda stuck and I didn't want to damage his little internal organs. He seems ok for now, hiding under the desk, but not having trouble breathing or anything.
What to do?
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Keep an eye on him. Take him into the vet right away if he stops eating. Cats can't go very long at all without nourishment.
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I'd take him to the vet, or at least call the vet. 2 feet of ribbon is a lot; if there's still a foot in there, I'd be worried.
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I think cats have pretty robust digestive systems, so maybe he can pass it, although that could be messy too.
Had a cat pass a rubber band once, well almost, had to help it out the last little bit.
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need to get to a vet. If the ribbon blocks his intestines....
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. . .as long as he/she didn't swallow the canary. . .
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A consultation with a vet is definitely called for...
Chances are good that it will, uh, "pass" by itself... but I would definitely want to get the opinion of a real vet on that.
He might say "give him a laxative, he'll be OK.. and keep him away from ribbons..."
Or he might say "Uh, oh.. I'll schedule the OR, get him here in the next hour...".
Like I said, my own opinion is he'll probably just pass it... but I'd call my vet ASAP.
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My sister's cat died after eating a Christmas ribbon. The problem was, the intestines couldn't "pass it", so they just ended up crimping themselves into an inoperable knot. The convulsing action of the intestinal muscles essentially caused them to "crawl" up into a tiny ball along the length of the ribbon.
This is not to scare you...just to let you know that calling the vet would probably be warranted.
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Again.... call the vet. If it starts to come out "the other end" do not pull it! You can do damage to his intestines. One of my cats got ahold of ribbon and my husband managed to retrieve it from the mouth. He pulled it out very gently. My vet told us never pull it out if you meet resistence and never, ever, pull it out from the nether region.