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| Marcy is alarmed |
Marcy and Penelope Kitten are hanging out in the bedroom. Marcy is napping when all of a sudden she bolts awake.
Marcy: What are you doing, Penelope?
penelope kitten: eating.
Marcy: What are you eating? OMG. Are you eating string?!
penelope kitten: no. spaghetti
Marcy: That’s not spaghetti. That’s STRING! You can’t eat string! You’ll die!
Marcy starts yelling for Cynthia. Penelope Kitten chews faster.
Marcy: Cindy! Cindy! Cindy!
Cynthia rushes in. Marcy points to Penelope Kitten.
Marcy: Look!
Cynthia looks at Penelope Kitten and starts screaming.
Cynthia: What are you doing, Penelope? Oh no!
Cynthia grabs the piece of string Penelope is chewing on and about 3 inches emerge from her mouth.
penelope kitten: what? i’m eating spaghetti.
Cynthia (still kind of screaming): That’s string, Penelope. Cats can’t eat string because it will get wrapped around their intestines. And if that happens you’ll need surgery or… or…
Cynthia starts to cry.
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| penelope kitten |
penelope kitten: gasp.
Cynthia: Where did you find this? I never leave string out for this very reason. Oh no no no no no nooooo. How could I be so careless. Oh no.
Marcy: It’s from that badge you had around your neck.
Cynthia looks at the badge with the decimated string and figures out that Penelope Kitten ate about 6 inches. Which is bad but not so bad that she needs to go to the vet for X-rays. Also, the string appeared to be cotton and was very chewed up. Almost in pieces.
Cynthia stops crying and switches into high gear.
Cynthia: Here’s what we do, Penelope.
- I added olive oil to your wet food. Eat it.
- I’ll put some white petroleum jelly on your paws so you lick it off. The olive oil and vaseline will help coat the string so it passes easily. (hairball remedy will also work)
- Then, eat some pumpkin which will form a “pillow’ around the string so it won’t get caught on your insides.
- If we see the string come out either end we will be sure to NOT pull on it since that could cause serious damage. (cut off the string instead)
- Then, we watch you like a hawk for the next 72 hours. If there’s any change in your behavior or energy level we will immediately go to the vet for X-rays.
penelope kitten (unhappily): okay. but i don’t like jelly.
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| penelope kitten |
penelope kitten: i like spaghetti.
Cynthia watches Penelope Kitten for the next three days and sure enough, over those three days, Penelope Kitten coughs up and poops out a couple inches of sting at a time.
Penelope Kitten never felt the effects of eating string but Cynthia spent the three days feeling like the worst pet parent on the planet and looking stricken.
Marcy: It’s okay, Cindy. We’re all stupid and careless every once in a while.
Penelope Kitten obliviously and happily bops around the house.
penelope kitten: i’m fine. i feel great. let’s mambo. squeak.
17 Comments
OMG how awful and scary!! I'm glad Penelope kitten is feeling okay. That pic of the cat consoling the crying human makes me cry! But the kitty pics are awesome and I love the cat faces making a heart!!
She's fine. It was scary but we didn't take her to the vet when it happened because the string was a thin cotton string. If it had been a different material and/or longer we would have gone but even then they wold have told us to do what we were doing. They operate if an X-ray shows it's wrapped around the intestines.
xo,cynthia
why's everyone so worried. i'm fantastic.
squeak,penelope kitten
Best…public..,service…announcement,.,ever! I'm so sorry to hear about p-kitty, but I'm glad she's better. The pictures r adorable…she knows she's a mama's girl 🙂
Also, i submitted this msg 3 times before it showed up, so if you find other random msgs from me – that's what happened. (My phone always does that) 🙁
Thank you so much, Merrie! Your first comment just made my day!
I have been hearing that there've been problems with readers trying to comment and either they don't go through or are being asked for a number verification. I checked my settings and they are still the same so I can only assume that blogger is buggy again. I find this so frustrating and hope it gets work out soon. Or like… immediately. anyway, it may not have been your phone but my site. Thank you for the heads up!
xo,cynthia
Aaaaaahhhhh! I really thought she was eating spaghetti at first. I am so glad that you caught in in time. That is scary. I am sorry you were so hard on yourself. Us imperfect humans make mistakes. And this one was an accident. I wish I could have given you a hug when this was going on. About a year or two ago, Ollie got into a bag of hershey kisses and ate them AND the wrappers. He was throwing up aluminum chocolate and it was awful. I was so worried. These fur babies break out hearts.
Penelope, I am so glad you are okay. Stick to real spaghetti. Ollie highly recommends it.
Jenni
Oh gosh – aluminum chocolate. Serious heart attack. Thank you for the virtual belated hug. I still need it when I think about Penelope and that string.
xo,cynthia
i love ollie
squeak,penelope kitten
Oh noes! This was stressing me out, so I can only imaging how you felt. I love how you embed such powerful PSA's in your quirky, light-hearted cat conversations. It's quite clever and so impactful. I never knew this about string, and now I'll never forget. Of course, Penelope is clueless and happy. Why should the pet stress? They just have to eat, sleep, and be beautiful. Worries are for stupid humans. lol
<3 Liz
http://www.withwonderandwhimsy.com
Awwww… thank you so much, Liz! I am so happy that people are liking my disguised pet PSA's. It really makes me happy! "worries are for stupid humans" – love that!
xo,cynthia
Cynthia, don't beat yourself up. Remember the time I left out the Flintstone vitamins (this was pre-childproof caps) and you ate nearly the whole bottle? And look how great you turned out!
All parents have lapses and our kidd/tties usually survive. It's character building.
Love, Mom
Thanks, Mom! I vaguely remember eating those Flintstones vitamins. Actually, I thought I ate Dad's One-A-Days because they looked like Red Hots.
xo,cynthia
Was this your 200th post or something?! Because I wrote a huge reply and it never published. 😉 I just wanted to say, I don't think you're a bad pet mom at all. Because you instantly knew what she was doing was dangerous, and you went to all that effort to make sure she would be fine. Don't be so hard on yourself, like Jenni said, it was an accident. Hugs!!
Awww… thank you. It was one of those instances where you keep hitting replay and thinking – if I just put that badge away.
I am so sorry about the issues you had posting a comment. I had a bunch of people tell me that they couldn't get their comments to go through. I blame it on Blogger. It seems to have been specifically for this post but it looks like the problem is fixed now? I get crazy frustrated when anything goes wrong on Blogger. It rarely happens but when it does it is not pretty. I wish there was a way to contact them but they keep their fortress surrounded by a moat and alligators.
How on earth did you know this was my 200th post?!
xo,cynthia
Because *you* couldn't comment on my 200th post either! It was just a wild guess, though! O_o
Oh my gosh! That's right! Holy Cow! What a great guess!
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