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[linnea]

Okay, party people. I need help from fellow pet owners. My mom got the little boys some cheap cat toys from China for Christmas. One of them is a toy penis that is probably made from Chinese cat fur. Anyway, I noticed today that its TAIL IS GONE. That means that dollars to doughnuts, one of the bad cats ate the tail. I'm unsure who it was, since both Milan and Lennybruce were entranced with the toy penis. I examined the toy penis's remaining tail stump, and it looks like its tail is made from suede.

Do you think they ate off the tail, or do you think it might be lying around somewhere? I can't afford to take them to the vet, but I will have to if they start showing s/s of illness (fever, lethargy, shitting blood).

Dammit. I'm not sure what I should do. Do you think they'll digest the suede tail, or do you think it will hurt them?

[AugustWest]

I wouldn't worry about it unless they show some symptoms.  If it's suede, (i.e. leather a/k/a cowhide) they should be able to digest that just fine.  They're little carnivores, you know?

[wombat]

How big is the missing piece? 

I agree with AW that I wouldn't do anything in the absence of symptoms. One thing is that I'd keep looking carefully under all the furniture before I panicked. I don't know how all the cat toys end up there, but they do. Another is, if you have a decent vet you should be able to ask them on the phone if they think this is something you need to bring them in for, and what symptoms to watch for if not.

[wombat]

Seems this is a common problem. But I am too sleepy to find any more authoritative advice right at the moment.

[linnea]

The missing piece is about 1.5 inches long, so it's pretty small. But I also don't know how that translates to kitty intestine sizes.

Thanks for that link. It looks like I'll need to watch for any obstruction symptoms: ie: nausea, vomiting, excessive salivation, straining to defecate. I doubt any of them will present, but if they do, a trip to the vet would be necessary.

I just smeared a huge amount of cat hairball remedy on both of the little dudes. They're gonna get more tomorrow.

[AlohaDawg]

I wouldn't worry. My guys would eat a pound of tinsel each every Christmas. Nice, shiny poop in the litterbox.

How much lead could even the Chinese get into a little ribbon of suede?

[V-Adore]

If it's any comfort, we buy the chats similarly chintzy mice (mostly because they destroy them at the same rate as really nice expensive ones), which are fairly regularly gnawed on thoroughly and sometimes de-tailed, and we have yet to see any signs of trouble. Well, one of the cats is pretty slow and dopey, but he's been like that since Small Times.

[side_show]

Huh.  We've always given them toy mice, and the tails and eyes always disappear.  I have never thought of where the tails go until now.  They've probably gone through about 100 mice by now and none of them have had any digestive problems.  I wouldn't worry.

The SO got the cats the Cosmic Kitty Alpine Cat Scratcher for Christmas.  It's their second one and they love it.  The last one was destroyed when my aquarium leaked, so the cats are probably wondering why we took away their favorite scratcher for a couple years.  When the SO unwrapped it all three cats lined up to take a turn.  They love it, and the little grooves can be filled with so much catnip.

For toy mice the only ones they don't destroy are these kind.  The store we bought them at had them branded as "Tough Enough" or maybe "Tuff Enuff" or some other weird spelling for the brand name.  Anyway - these are the only mice they don't destroy.  They do play with them, but they seem to prefer the fur ones (but maybe because they're newer toys?  They do go back to the Tough ones after the others have been destroyed or lost forever under the dryer.)

[wombat]

I wouldn't worry. My guys would eat a pound of tinsel each every Christmas. Nice, shiny poop in the litterbox.

That is really interesting, because I've always been led to believe that eating tinsel meant instant death.

[AugustWest]

That is really interesting, because I've always been led to believe that eating tinsel meant instant death.

Well sure, for humans...

[side_show]

According to the veterinarian I worked next door to tinsel can cause serious internal blockages - she told me she has put down many cats over the years because the owner couldn't afford the very expensive surgery to remove the blockage, or because the internal damage is too bad.  I've heard other people tell me of their cat having a tiny tinsel tail poking out of their butt and the vet telling them to carefully trim it as it comes out to prevent internal damage from the cat attempting to pull it out during grooming.  Knowing that it can kill them I long ago bought Lee Valley tin tinsel which is prettier and reusable year to year.

This site says real tree needles and the water they sit in are toxic to cats.  This is news to me - one of the cats occasionally nibbles the needles of our tree.  He doesn't eat them though, but he seems to like to feel them on his teeth and whiskers.  The other cat used to drink from the old tree stand all the time, but our new one doesn't have a reservoir they can get at.  They seem fine. 

I used to have a tiny fake tree - maybe 2 1/2 ft tall, and I would regularly come home to find that the cat had knocked it over and dragged it down the hall or into another room, and one night I woke up to noise and caught him dragging it down the hall.  I don't know what the hell he was doing, but he used to do the same with pillows.  I taped it to the floor with a bunch of packing tape, but I would come home from work to find that he'd pulled up the tape and pulled it across the room anyway.  I'd reapply the tape and he'd do it again and again.  He definitely wasn't eating it - there was no sign of chewing.  Such odd behavior.

[wombat]

People who write those lists of what's toxic to pets rarely consult primary sources.Here is a good source from an actual veterinary organization. They don't mention tree needles.  One thing it says is that poinsettias are not as toxic as everyone says - and if you go to the AKC website you'll see that this year's press release on holiday hazards the repeat the same old list with poinsettia on it.  So even organizations with big press departments just copy all the other lists on the internet...

As far as I can tell the only risk of tree water is that standing water can get full of gross bacteria. Some sites say this, others just list 'tree water' as though it has some mysterious poisonous power.  Of course, stuff you add to the water to feed the tree can also be bad, but that's not the fault of the water.

[side_show]

People who write those lists of what's toxic to pets rarely consult primary sources.Here is a good source from an actual veterinary organization.

The pamphlet says Avocado is dangerout to cats, which was something I hadn't heard - and my cats love avocado - so I searched "Avocado Cat" and the first hit was fora cat food made with avocado, followed by an article about how every part of the avocado is poisen to cats. Hunh?

[smick]

Obviously you've found the venomous confluence of the Cat Food and Avocado lobbies.

Soon they're going to be starting up their television campaigns.

"AVOCADOS: Bad for CATS... Bad for AMERICA."

[theinevitable]

for some reason, I really like the phrase "every part of the avocado is poison to cats."

"what's this, son. This is... this is poison."
"no, dad! my... I'm just holding that for my friend! it's guacamole!"
"no, son. it isn't guacamole. it's poison. this is poison."
"aren't you thinking of the rinds? avocado rinds could be poisonous..."
"no. Every part of the avocado is poison to cats."

I guess because it isn't that it's "poisonous," it is "POISON."

also, the word Poison is one of the ones that looks really wrong if you type it out too many times.

Maybe we're reluctant to think avocados can be poison because we love them so much. But, you know, every rose has its thorn.