Twist Ties - More Than A Simple Way To Close Bread

My long weekend hasn’t gotten off to the smoothest start.  One of our cats, Milo, started vomiting Thursday night and was still vomiting Friday morning.  He has a habit of eating anything string or ribbon like, so I was concerned that he had possibly managed to eat something he wasn’t supposed to.  His appetite and behavior were normal, everything was normal, except the vomiting.  I checked all of his usual forbidden “snack” choices; all of our shoes still had the laces, all of my dresses and tops with ribbons still had the ribbons, the Christmas wrapping paper, etc was undisturbed, and nothing else seemed amiss.  But the vomiting was very, very unusual for Milo.

I called his vet and got him in for an appointment.  Milo hates the vet.  He hates any situation where things are altered from his normal routine, and he doesn’t like to be touched by many people, so he really, really hates the vet.  I ended up dropping him off so he could be sedated and x-rayed to look for any sort of impaction.  I was really hoping that this would turn out to be yet another case of me panicking needlessly about the fur kids.  It wasn’t.

Photo from Wikimedia

Milo has apparently eaten something metal.  His vet says it has to be metal because of the way it shows up on the x-rays.  It looks like pieces of thread in his intestinal tract.  There are four pieces, about a half inch long each, of whatever “it” is.  Everyone seems to suspect twist ties.

I can’t remember the last time we had twist ties in the house.  We buy the cinch style garbage bags, and it seems like all of the bread and bagels we’ve bought lately have come with the plastic clip rather than the twist tie.  That being said, I can’t imagine what else it is.  It doesn’t look at all like jewelry in the x-ray, and I’m not missing any jewelry.  Neither one of us can think of any metal thread-like object we’ve had.  The vet says it doesn’t matter what it is because that’s not going to change the course of his treatment.  We’d just all like to know from a curiosity standpoint.

Milo stayed overnight at the vet’s office for observation.  He ate well last night, which they say is a good sign, and today’s x-rays show that the object seems to be moving along, so it’s looking good for him to pass it.  He will be staying at the vet’s office until he passes it, since he will have to have surgery if he doesn’t pass it soon, or if any complications develop.  We’re really hoping it passes soon with no complications.

And we are now instituting a ban on twist ties in our house.  I have a feeling this episode is going to be expensive, and it has definitely been nerve wracking.  So, no more twist ties!  I just don’t trust him not to pilfer one away for later snacking purposes.  I guess twist tie versus plastic clip closure will now be the determining factor in buying bread and bagels.  Who knew such a seemingly innocent object could lead to so much trouble?