Curious cat taken to vet after he wouldn’t eat. X-ray saw something scary in his nose

A young cat ended up at an Oregon hospital, where X-rays revealed something lodged in his nose.

The kitten, named Kevin, “didn’t really want to eat and was doing this extra hard gagging for a few days,” Dr. Hannah Marshall, with Portland-based DoveLewis Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

After seeing the “gagging” Marshall got worried about “something stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be,” she said.

So, an X-ray and “sedated airway exam” were performed.

Kevin’s small intestines and stomach were clear, but an X-ray of his nasal cavity showed “a little, silver, pointy thing poking out,” she said.

An X-ray of his face showed it was a lodged sewing needle.

“It seems like a kid at home had a sewing project and Kevin tried to eat the needle,” she said. “It’s actually unexpectedly pretty common with cats because they like to play with the thread.”

Marshall said Kevin likely tried to swallow the needle, but after realizing “that wasn’t right,” he tried “hacking it up,” but instead of vomiting it out, he “jammed it into the soft palate.”

After Kevin was sedated, the needle was able to be taken out of the roof of his mouth and out of his nasal cavity, Marshall said.

“We took it out, he woke up, went home, and by reports from his family, he’s doing super fine,” she said.

Cats tend to be “able to hide their symptoms” well, but luckily for Kevin, his owners brought him in before any sort of infection was able to set in, she said.

“Since we got it out, there hasn’t been any sort of issues, and he’s made a full recovery,” Marshall said. “That’s what we expect in these types of cases, even if they do need surgery or have to pass the foreign object on their own.”

This story was originally published June 20, 2024 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Curious cat taken to vet after he wouldn’t eat. X-ray saw something scary in his nose."