A lady came in with her cat, who may have eaten a plastic button off of her sweater an hour before getting there. The lady was helpful by bringing in a button just like it.
I did an x-ray of the button, and it showed up on the table, but I wasn't 100% sure (at least not sure enough to bet my license on it) that it would show up in a cat's stomach surrounded by food.
So I tried to make the kitty vomit. I had the techs feed her a whole bunch of rich canned food mixed with water, then gave her domitor under her skin.
Nothing.
So I got out the cowboy tranquilizers that I have never used in my entire career that are famous for making cats vomit. Put an IV catheter in first in case they had worse side-effects than vomiting. Gave the xylazine.
Nothing.
At this point I didn't want to use anything stronger, because the side effects of the next things to try can be quite bad. Like intractable vomiting. Intractable is not a good thing. Or sloughing of the stomach lining. Also not a good thing.
So at this point I x-rayed the kitty. No obvious button in her stomach.
So I reversed the drugs we had given her and sent her home to be watched for signs of an intestinal blockage. Such as vomiting.
I hope her owner finds the button somewhere in the cracks of the couch at home.
Just a tip for anybody out there who is interested. If you ever need to make me vomit, all you have to do is buy me one of these, and read the poem on it out loud to me (click it to see a bigger version). Should work like a charm:
And only $75 plus shipping.
