Vet team removes kitten stuck in brick

A vet has described rescuing a kitten with its head stuck in a house brick as one of the most unique cases she’s ever seen.

Jo Veitch and the team at Clyde Vet Group’s small animal hospital in Lanark came to the rescue of six-week-old Yogi after his foster carer discovered him with the brick stuck around his neck.

The rescue kitten was unable to pull his head back out of the brick, which was being used to stabilise a cat tower, or crawl all the way through the hole due to his shoulders.

Dr Veitch, fellow surgeon Fabienne Giraud and a team of nurses freed Yogi from his predicament by relaxing him with a sedative and syringing a lubricating gel around his neck and into the hole to ease his head out.

The kitten was then provided with oxygen and intravenous fluids while he recovered and was said to be quickly eating again after the sedation wore off.

‘Very lucky’

Dr Veitch said Yogi was “unscathed” by the incident, which could have been much worse: “He is a very lucky kitten because he had been at risk of suffering brain damage because the pressure from the heavy brick on his neck could have prevented enough oxygen reaching his brain.”

She continued: “I’ve been a vet for 20 years and have never seen anything like this before, and neither have my colleagues.

“It was a team effort to free Yogi and we were all delighted that the lubrication method worked because our only other option was to cut the brick.

“One of my colleagues had even rushed home to get a chisel and hammer, but fortunately they weren’t needed.”

‘Being curious’

Yogi, his mother and his four siblings were found in a garden in Bogside, North Lanarkshire, and they have since been living under the foster care of Cat Concern trustee Anne Herdman, who has helped rehome more than 160 cats in her 11 years volunteering for the charity.

“I have no idea why Yogi thought it was a good idea to poke his head through the brick, and all the cats I’ve had in that pen before haven’t paid the brick any attention,” she said. “I can only guess that he was being curious, or maybe he saw a spider running across the floor and tried to follow it.”

She thanked Dr Veitch and the Clyde Vets team for rescuing him, adding: “It was such a relief when they were able to free him, and he seems to be none the worse for his little adventure.”