My cat is eating tinsel!
By nelly5
@nelly5 (1424)
United States
December 4, 2007 2:21pm CST
Okay, first let me say, sorry if this post gives a little more information than what you want to hear, but I have to share this.
One of my cats has been eating the tinsel off my christmas tree. Here is the funny (gross) part about the entire situation. My oldest son who is 12, called me at work to tell me that the "tape worm" is coming out of my cat. I asked him how he knew and he said, "because it is hanging out of his butt" GROSS..LOL. So when I got home from work that day I had to check the cat out and realized it was tinsel hanging out of my cats butt...my son thought it was tape worm!!!! LOL LOL ROFL!!
Okay, so, (more disguisting information), I had to pull it out of my cats behind...gross. Then I just caught him eating more of it today, why would he want to eat that crap???? It doesn't even digest in his system. I don't know why he is doing this. I am going home tonight and removing the tinsel off my tree. I don't want this to hurt him or make him sick.
Now I just have to figure out how to keep him out of my tree, it has no certain shape to it now, the branches are bent every which way. Also, there were ornaments all over the livingroom when I ran home on break. I have a mess to clean up when I get home..grrrr.
Have any of you cat lovers ever had these type of problems with your cats, please share your stories.
1 person likes this
9 responses
@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
5 Dec 07
sprinkle your tree with pepper or cayenne, or something cats don;t like like vinegar, they leave everything, including the tinsel alone
1 person likes this
@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
5 Dec 07
bitter apple is and was intended for dogs, and it doen't usually work on cats, i'vr had cats for years and years and the only thing i know works is acidic things, even if you want to use oranges or something, it'll work.
1 person likes this
@nelly5 (1424)
• United States
5 Dec 07
Thanks for the advice. I have heard that some pet stores sell something which I believe is called, ummm, bitter apple spray. I guess it is to help deter the cats from the tree. I am just trying a spray bottle of water right now...everytime I see him near the tree he gets sprayed..and runs off. I hoep it works.
Thanks for the post. Have a great day/night.
@xreesex (114)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Ack! Be careful, I can't imagine it is good for the cat. I had a cat when I was younger who somehow managed to eat half of a styrofoam plate. He went crazy after that. He started to bite himself, and eventually had a ton of bald spots. he only lived a little longer after that. So sad =(
@nelly5 (1424)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Awww, that is sad to hear, and that worries me now that I have read your response. My cat was acting really wierd last night, wasn't himself. So now I am really worried about him. He is such a friendly cat and I would be so sad if anything happened to him, my 9 year old son would be very upset, considering it is his cat that he received for his birthday. We are not putting tinsel on our tree again. Thanks for the post.
@Seattle2007 (344)
• United States
8 Dec 07
Hi there...tinsels are one of the most common holiday dangers to cats as they are very attractive (like string), however these are the most deadliest for cats. The reaons are it could become twisted within the intestinal tract when it bunches up and can even cut through the intestinal wall. Either could be fatal. Many cats end up hospital requiring surgery so it's great that you are remove the tinsel quickly.
Here are articles on this:
http://www.galenorn.com/catscorner/ccholidays.htm
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1621 (see final Q&A)
http://www.holisticvets.com/NewsLetter/Burning/Burning%20Dogsv2.htm (see section Winter Stuff you need to Know)
My sources 28 year friendship with a veterinarian
1 person likes this
@nelly5 (1424)
• United States
14 Dec 07
Thank you so very much for the wonderful links you posted. I can't believe how lucky I am. My cat ate tinsel more than once and we did not have to make a trip to the vets office. I even pulled the tinsel out..(the first 2 times) and it says not to do that...man, I really hope I didn't hurt him, I would feel so bad. The 3rd time, I cut the tinsel as it came out. Gosh, I really hope that he is going to be okay. It has been a week now since the last piece of tinsel and there hasn't been any problems. He is acting normal. I hope that means that everything is okay and all the tinsel is out of his system. Thanks again for the response. Have a great day/night.
@nelly5 (1424)
• United States
5 Dec 07
Yes, that part about the tape worm is so funny! It certainly was very shiny tape worm, you are correct..lol.
So I told one of my girlfriends about it, and she laughed harder than she had laughed in a really long time. Well she had to stop over last night, we both arrived at my house at the same time. When we walked in, there was my kitty with more tinsel hanging out of his back side and she could not believe it, she laughed so hard. It was pretty funny, but yet, I am still worried about him, I hope that he will be okay.
Thanks for the post. Have a great day/night.
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
5 Dec 07
Tinsel is very bad for cats. It can cause serious problems. According to my cats' vet it can get bound up in their intestines and kill them. I haven't had tinsel on my tree in years because as much as I love it, I don't want to risk my cats getting sick from it.
1 person likes this
@jdeforge (224)
• United States
5 Dec 07
My first year with Leroy he ate tinsel. It wasn't just hanging out of his butt...lets put it this way. He had "soap on a rope" if you catch my drift. He was doing the butt scoot all over the floor..ya gross haha. It was too funny to even be mad at him.
Honestly, you won't stop cats from eating this, just like plastic. Christmas trees are just glimmering, fun, play things with sparkley things to eat, chew and swallow. I just opt for no tinsel.
1 person likes this
@draconess (650)
• Canada
4 Dec 07
Definately take the tinsel off the tree, that can be really dangerous to your poor kitty's digestive system. Also be really careful pulling it out like that- it can cut their insides up, it's better to carefully trim it with scissors and let the rest come out on its own.
Other than that, not sure how to keep him out of the tree- my cats just used to love sleeping under the tree, we had a nice fuzzy blanket we wrapped around the base for them to sleep on.
1 person likes this
@nelly5 (1424)
• United States
5 Dec 07
I had to remove another piece last night, when I got home from work. I can't believe this, my cat is crazy, I can't believe he would eat that stuff. I mean, I sure the taste can't be the greatest! AND, it isn't like he chews it up, it comes out whole...ugh, strange animal!
I won't be removing anymore by pulling it out like that, I guess I didn't think of that being a danger but it makes sense now. I hope that we took care of it all. We removed it off the tree and threw it away and took the trash out last night, I was afraid he would even find it in the trash.
Thanks for the post. Have a great day/night.
@ChaJudLeoBit (1656)
• United States
29 Jan 08
I never understood it myself, but cats love to eat anything like that. String, yarn, thread, the red rind of a slice of bologna. I even have edges of my couch cover that I;ve had to pull out of someone's mouth before to keep them from swallowing it. I remember a cat we had when I was young who ate a LOT of thread. He was pooing it out, but it was getting all tangled up. So he ended up with a huge tanke right outside his but and couldn't get it to come out. We thought he was a piece of poo stuck in his hair. I got a paper towel and grabbed it, but he took off running and this long slimy string of tangled thread came out. YUMMY!!!
@angelmcln (2)
• United States
29 Dec 07
hello..I was wondering if your cat is ok? My cat is having the same thing happen from eating tinsel and I'm so worried about him:( Next year I will not be using tinsel on the tree..lol
