Choking

Earlier, Pigeon, who normally sleeps with me every night with his paws wrapped around my neck, started to moan and groan in his sleep. If you haven’t ever heard a cat moan in pain, count yourself lucky. It puts you in concern mode right away. He was trying to retch but couldn’t. I quickly flipped him over and using a pen, I opened his mouth to do a quick sweep of foreign materials. Nothing found but I got bit for my troubles. I carefully lifted his tongue looking for anything, string, wire, thread wrapped around it but nothing. He was not a happy boy, so I put him upright and was stroking his throat when he screamed and tried to retch again.

I took some white bread and cut the crusts off and tore the bread into small pieces letting them soak in milk until they were almost dissolved, and using a syringe, squirted some back in his throat and waited. Within twenty minutes, it all came back up, but nothing but the food returned. Often if you use this trick, the cat will swallow whatever is obstructing his throat, and if unable to swallow, it will come back up sometimes with the object in tow.

So he is in the bedroom now, clearly in pain and the vet opens in a few minutes and off we go to see what is wrong. Thankfully, he isn’t a feral- far from it so hopefully the visit will go without having him sedated through it. He’s my boy, he has to be okay Even though there are no available funds right now, this is something a vet needs to address immediately or it can go wrong very quickly.

3:00- The vet just called and sadly, Pigeon is quite sick and they are likely to keep him overnight. He is extremely constipated and full of gas and if there is an obstruction- the gas is so thick that it obstructs their view. They said that because he is so impacted he is trying to throw up the pressure because it has to come out to make him better. They are going to attempt to give him an enema and see if it makes things better for him. They will call me back if they are successful enough to let him come home tonight, but said that due to all of the impaction, they don’t see that happening right away. I’m glad I took him in despite what it will cost. These cats are keeping me together right now. They are my life.

5 thoughts on “Choking

  1. Pigeon, we are so worried when we were reading this. We hope everything is ok with you after your visit. Please keep us updated when everything is back to normal. We feel so bad. Have a great day.

  2. Sorry to hear Pigeon is not feeling well. I know what you are going through, my baby girl Peaches has had trouble with constipation since she was 3 years old. She has been doing well since I started her on Miralax twice a day, she eats mostly canned food with RC Feline Gastrointestinal Fiber Responce dry food. She has problems every once in a while but not bad enough where we have to see the vet. I just give her a little more miralax for a few days and she starts doing well again. I also add water to her canned food. She is now 11 years old. Hope Pigeon starts feeling better soon.

  3. Poor little cat. Here’s hoping the enema clears whatever is causing the blockage. Then Pigeon feels better. And so will you, Mary Anne.

  4. Sending love and prayers for Pigeon (and for you). I think I can send a little money. Clearly you need him.

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