Picture of Needle Inside Cat

Needle & thread perforated stomach.
Photo copyright Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic

Below is an X-ray picture of a needle inside a cat. This cat swallowed a thread that was attached to the needle - see picture on the right. It is so easy to drop a needle and thread on the floor, then forget about it or not notice that it has happened.

Your cat might just start playing with the thread, chew on it, and voila, before you know what has happened she has swallowed the lot. Photo right: this photo has been used with permission for teaching/educational purposes at this website.

Cats do swallow what appear to be strange things yet may refuse to take a pill that helps them, as the vet who took these pictures, rightly says.

The photographs on this page were taken at the Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic. Photo below: this photo has been used with permission for teaching/educational purposes at this website, a subdomain of the mains site: PoC.

Cat swallows needle. Photo copyright Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic

Needles in the gastrointestinal tract can perforate it. I guess the lesson to be learned is to keep things that might be swallowed by our cats, off the floor or off surfaces where our cat goes. String is another dangerous household item that can harm a cat. And then there are a multitude of substances that are toxic to cats inside the home and immediately outside the home including certain plants and particularly lilies. We shouldn't get paranoiac about these things but it is sensible to be aware and vigilant especially at Christmas.

Foreign bodies can get caught in the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach and gastrointestinal tract.

Hairballs are the number one offender of solid, foreign material in the gastrointestinal tract. Other objects that cats swallow are: plastic toys, ribbon, pins, splinters of wood, tights, rubber bands, tinsel, feathers, string, to name some of them. String should not be pulled sharply out of the mouth if it can be seem as the other end may be caught up in the intestine causing it to cut the internal organ if pulled.

Most foreign objects pass through the cat. If you think your cat has swallowed a foreign body take him/her to your veterinarian, quickly.