See this innocent-looking pincushion with the needle and thread?  A needle threaded just like this one caused a huge amount of concern over the past few days.

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on the couch hand piecing.  As I was getting up for a moment, I parked my threaded needle in the pincushion and turned my back on it for a second.  I don’t know what I was thinking — I always pick the pincushion up and move it out of reach.  But that second was all it took.  Smudge, attracted to the thread, was instantly at it.  We heard him make an odd noise, turned around and there he was at the pincushion.  We immediately looked in his mouth.  The needle was visible but we couldn’t get it.

Off we raced to the emergency vet clinic, which is very close, where he was taken in to the vet immediately.  It took us probably no more than 20 minutes to get there and have him seen but, in that time, the needle and thread had disappeared — he had swallowed them.  They took x-rays and could see the needle in his stomach.

The vet then told us the options, none of which were particularly marvelous.  She could try surgery although she said she sometimes would have trouble finding fine needles and, of course, it was a #12 sharp that he had swallowed.  That would cost a few thousand dollars.  We could have a specialist come to do an endoscopy in the hopes that he could get it, but no guarantees there either.  That would cost a thousand or so less.  Or we could do nothing, feed him a very high fibre diet and pray that he managed to pass it on his own.  What a choice!  So here we are with a 10 year-old cat who had eaten relatively recently, which would make anaesthesia a risk, and wondering what to do.

After talking about it for a while, we rather hesitantly elected to take the conservative approach and feed him the high fibre food with the understanding that if he showed any signs of discomfort we could immediately bring him back to the emerg clinic.  During all this, Smudge is showing no discomfort at all.  His only problem was he was at a vet’s, which is the place he hates most.  And there are dogs around and Smudge really, really dislikes dogs — has even been known to growl at them.

So five hours later, we’re back at home watching Smudge’s every move.  I decided to stay up all night with him, to make sure that there would be someone awake and observing, just in case.  Which was why, as an aside, I was able to get a Pickle Dish block done so quickly.  I was so grateful to have that block to work on – it was involved enough to keep me alert.  (That’s probably the only quilt-related part to this whole post.)  We fed him the high fibre food constantly.  Thankfully, he liked it!

Sunday came and our regular vet office called to check.  Smudge seemed fine.  They said to call Monday morning to bring him in for a follow-up x-ray.  Which we did.  The x-ray showed it was likely he would pass the needle on his own sometime within the next 24 or 36 hours.  Our regular vets, who are absolutely marvelous, said it was in the best possible position for him to pass it on his own.

So since Saturday night we have been watching and waiting for him to pass the needle and thread.  Tuesday evening he finally did pass it, with no discomfort at all.  In fact, I think he’s probably wondering why on earth we were so elated.

I hesitated writing this post but if this story helps to reinforce the need to keep needles and threads out of the reach of cats and dogs and, for that matter, even small children, then I think the story must be told.  All it takes is turning your back for a second and they can get in such danger.  I have never felt so irresponsible in my life!  One thing’s for sure, I will never leave a pincushion anywhere within kitty reach again.

And the subject of the story?  He’s fine.  This was him relaxing Tuesday night, in a classic Smudge pose with a teddy bear.