Guest Post - Zoe of A Giraffe in a Scarf

Hi Guys! Today I have a guest post for you. As you may have noticed I don't post sad or upsetting things, but this is an exception. Over the last few days a few of my favorite bloggers have also posted about Daisy the cat, but if one new person who didn't read it before can read it now than it's worth it.

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Hi Dainty Squid lovers, my name is Zoe and I have a blog and shop called A Giraffe in a Scarf. I love to sew and cross stitch, and I have three cats, Maisie, Daisy and Zelda, who I love more than anything. I also foster kittens from a no-kill rescue group, so my house is always full of handmade goodness and purring kittens. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cats and crafting seem to be common interests for so many people. I don't what it is, but the two just go together like cherry and pie. Last week my love of sewing nearly had disastrous results for my gorgeous cat Daisy. I briefly left my sewing machine unattended, and two of my cats pulled most of the thread off the spool. I hardly ever leave my sewing machine when there's cats in the room, but to be honest it was mostly to save the annoyance of having to clean up the thread. I knew eating thread could become a problem, but I thought it would be more an issue of the cat throwing it up again, like a hair ball, or having to give the cat laxatives to help pass it. I had no idea that eating sewing thread could be deathly dangerous to a cat, but I soon found out. When I returned my youngest cat Zelda had thread down her throat, I pulled it out, much to her disgust, and thought I'd dodged a bullet. Daisy was sleeping in her favourite spot on top of the wardrobe, so I thought that Zelda was the only perpetrator in the thread stealing. 

The next day, Daisy was throwing up. Daisy has very thick plush fur and is prone to hairballs, so she fairly often has bouts of vomiting when she's bringing one up. So I didn't make the connection between the thread stealing and the vomiting. By Thursday Daisy was flat and severely dehydrated. If your cat's skin stands on end when you pinch it, take her to the vet immediately. The vet could feel a lump in her stomach and asked if she'd eaten anything unusual. That's when it clicked: Daisy had eaten the thread. After testing her blood they weren't even confident she would survive the night, she was so dehydrated that her liver and kidneys were struggling. She was put on a drip and given lots of fluids. I was distraught with guilt and worry all night. I vowed to never sew again. 

Daisy had surgery on Friday. We were told again that she might not survive, she was still weak and the operation was a major one. There was also a chance that they would open her up and find dead intestines, and she would die. Or that they would find a tumor, and she would die. Or they would find nothing and we'd put her through all the stress of surgery for nothing. I elected to do the surgery, because I knew in my gut that it would be black cotton thread. The problem arises when the string gets caught, the intestine then continues to do its job and becomes bunched up and very painful. Eventually the intestine will die, and so will the cat - all within a couple of days of ingesting the thread. It turned out that the thread had ripped a hole in Daisy's intestines and the surrounding tissue had died. They cut out 5cm (2in) of intestine, removed 30cm (12in) of thread and sewed the good ends together. Again, we were told she might not make it through the night. Again, she did make it. 

We took her home on Sunday, she wasn't really ready to be discharged, but Daisy is a very timid and private cat and she was getting overly stressed at the hospital. The most important thing was that she be comfortable enough to poop, because that would show that her intestines weren't dead. We were completely preoccupied with poop, it would have been funny if it wasn't completely serious. When she finally did the miracle poop my partner and I clutched each other in the bathroom and cried and laughed and cried some more. It was a pure and joyous moment, and it was all about poop. (Boys who cry with joy when their cat isn't going to die = majorly sexy). At the time of writing this we're still not sure if she's going to make it, there's still a chance that the intestine will open up again, but everything is looking very promising. And I most definitely will sew again.

The $3300 bill wasn't even a fleeting concern when deciding how to treat Daisy. Her love and smooches are priceless. We've gone through a lot in the last few months, we also nearly lost our kitty Maisie to undiagnosed diabetes, which she hid very well from us. This was not only emotionally difficult, it also wiped us out financially. So when Daisy got sick, we had nothing. I am trying to start my small crafting business and my partner is a student. Being a pet owner is a big responsibility, but no one expects to be hit with over $5000 in vet bills in a matter of months. 

My mum always told me to ask for help when I need it, even if I think I don't deserve it. I don't like to ask for something for nothing though, so I'm running an online giveaway to raise money for Daisy's vet bills - for every $5 you donate, you'll get one entry into the giveaway and the chance to win some pretty awesome prizes ($10 gets you two entries, $15 three entries, and so on). There are over 20 prizes up for grabs, all donated by lovely people in the blogging community. 

I'm also having a sale in my Etsy store, although it is looking a little bare now. You can get 30% OFF with coupon code DAISY, and more items will be arriving just as soon as I get a chance to sew them!

I'd like to thank Kaylah for inviting me to write about Daisy here, where the dangers of cats eating string will gain much more awareness than on my little blog. It's such a scary and important issue that every animal lover needs to be aware of. This is a frightfully common problem, last month the vet who saved Daisy pulled 2 metres of ribbon from the intestines of another cat, who luckily survived. It's not only cats either; dogs are equally likely to eat something they shouldn't and have it block up their intestines. If you're a crafter with cats or dogs please be aware of your string, wool, thread, elastic, and ribbon when you're away from your work. It only takes a moment of inattention for a disaster to occur. Daisy has been incredibly lucky, please keep your furry friends safe.

 -Zoe

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I'm sorry if that made you cry (cat ladies, I'm looking at you!). I'm sitting over here all teary eyed over a kitty I don't even know because I have a thread stealer on my hands too (Doctor Octopus). I had no idea it could be such a big deal. I'm so glad Daisy is making a great recovery. My babies are now officially locked out of my sewing room when I'm not working in there, even if it's just a trip to the bathroom or kitchen. 
xoxo

ps. Zoe also sent me a photo of the $3000 ball of thread, I didn't post it on the blog in case anyone has a sensitive tummy, but if you'd like to see it click here. (it's not really that gross, plus it's all dried up now)