This is the story of Peanut, a troublesome two year old Burmese with a penchant for foam.
Peanut presented to the clinic at the end of July for an appointment with Dr Aoife as he had been vomiting, was lethargic and had a reduced appetite.
His owners reported that he often had been spotted eating non-food items including foam off hockey shin guards! This condition is known as “pica”, an eating disorder where an individual eats things that are not food and have no nutritional value. Pica is more common in certain breeds of cats such as Burmese, Siamese and other oriental breeds. If you are interested in learning more about pica, check out: Pica in Cats | International Cat Care (icatcare.org). Besides foreign body ingestion, other causes for Peanut’s symptoms were considered including infection, gastritis or other dietary indiscretions.
The following day, Peanut was no better so Dr Aoife admitted Peanut for a blood test and abdominal x-rays with Dr Vic. His blood test did not give us many clues as to the cause of his vomiting but confirmed that all his parameters were stable. Peanut’s x-ray showed that his stomach was really dilated with gas. Our vets thought this seemed very suspicious for a blockage either in his pylorus (the opening of the small intestine from the stomach) or in his small intestine, and sufficient to go for an exploratory laparotomy (investigative abdominal surgery).
Dr Vic and Dr Aoife with our team of nurses, monitoring his anaesthetic and assisting the vets, opened up his abdomen and quickly found a firm piece of material in his duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). The vets made a small incision into the intestine and retrieved a firm piece of foam … which we later confirmed was a piece of a yoga block! The surgeons closed the intestine and then searched the rest of the gastrointestinal tract for any further foreign material before suturing Peanut’s abdomen closed.
Peanut recovered well from his surgery though was a little bit hypothermic (cold). The nurses took great care to warm him up and keep him comfortable and Peanut was discharged back to his owners that evening. Over the next two weeks, Peanut regained his strength, returning back to his mischievous self.
