Vets urge caution after surgery on cat that ate dozens of hair bands

A North Yorkshire vet has warned pet owners to be vigilant after performing emergency surgery on a cat that had eaten dozens of hair bands.

The eight-year-old tortoiseshell, named Tiger, was initially taken to Minster Vets’ branch in Malton after she started being sick regularly.

Although she was given an anti-sickness injection, the problem persisted, and she was further examined at the practice’s main hospital in York after excreting two hair bands.

Following an x-ray, vets discovered a mass of a strange material in her abdomen, which was removed in an urgent operation. The team subsequently found the mass was made up of 43 separate hair ties belonging to Tiger’s owner and her two daughters, which Tiger may have been eating for weeks or even months.

Although Tiger has now made a full recovery, vets are using her case to highlight the items’ potential dangers to pet owners.

‘Incredibly lucky’

Clinical director Sarah Ford said: “I once had a case of a cat eating 10 hair ties, but I couldn’t believe it when we counted 43.

“They were all tangled and knotted together so had created a big clump, and her stomach was so full there was hardly room for anything else.

“Tiger is a lovely cat and is fortunate that her family really care and brought her to us when they suspected something was wrong. She has been incredibly lucky as the danger would have been if they had passed into her intestine and caused a blockage, which would have been extremely serious.

“Our advice to owners is to keep hair bobbles, hair ties and ribbons well away from cats – preferably in a drawer – as they are clearly very tempting to play with, chew and swallow.”