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I am still quite shaken up at what just happened. Sasha was eating his morning meal. He was having half a turkey gizzard. Now, please don't anyone interpret this to mean that gizzards are not a safe food. I have 4 cats and everyone else eats them just fine; Sasha is just a special case. This cat does not believe in chewing anything. He tries to swallow everything whole. He also does not seem to get that slowly chewing your food equals success.
As you may have guessed already, Sasha began choking. At first, I thought it was his usual heaving and such since he ALWAYS tries to swallow everything in one gulp despite its size, but this time it was different. He began foaming at the mouth, and he struggled to race away get to a safe place (under the couch). Before he could make it, I noticed what was happening. He was rather uncoordinated and slow. The weird thing is that today I was supposed to be at work, but woke up with such a stiff neck, I decided to stay home and rest up. Luckily I was here to do something about my poor boy who by now was thrashing, then suddenly stiffened up, and went limp.
When I reached him, I honestly did not know what to do. I have been trained in people CPR, but never thought about doing it on an animal before. I picked him up and looked inside his mouth, but all I could see was foam. I couldn't get my finger in his mouth unobstructed so I began doing the Heimlich Maneuver on him out of sheer desperation. By now, he was limp and had passed out. His eyes were open and he was just laying there. I knew precious seconds were ticking away.
I yelled for my daughter to come and pump his stomach. I just wasn't sure exactly where his solar plexus was located so I figured if we were both stimulating both areas, we were bound to hit the right spot. I traced his breast bone down towards his belly and when I felt the 2 sides of the ribs stop meeting, I began pumping that area while my daughter kept pumping his actual stomach. We did this for a bit, but it always seems way longer in emergency situations. The good thing was that I could feel air coming out of his nose so the airway wasn't entirely blocked by now.
The piece of gizzard finally shot out of his mouth and poor Sasha just collapsed on the floor. He was so scared, but he was breathing, and after a few seconds, looked up at us in sheer terror and bolted right under the couch. I immediately called the Vet and they said to check his airway to ensure nothing was still blocking it, but to keep a close eye on him for the next few hours. He would not allow us to catch him to put him in the carrier to be transported. He is nervous enough to begin with and this has sent him off the deep end...poor thing. He has his yearly appointment on Friday so if I notice anything weird before then, I will just take him in after he calms down.
Goodness...what an eventful morning!!! But, it also made me want to spread the word to you all. Anything can get lodged in a cat's throat without warning (a toy, treat, or something they are not supposed to play with, but end up doing so anyways). We need to know what to do, just in case.
Here is a link to how to check if you cat is actually choking and then what to do:
Choking: Using the Heimlich Maneuver in Cats | Paw Prints the Magazine
I sincerely wish no one else has to go through this. It was VERY scary.
As you may have guessed already, Sasha began choking. At first, I thought it was his usual heaving and such since he ALWAYS tries to swallow everything in one gulp despite its size, but this time it was different. He began foaming at the mouth, and he struggled to race away get to a safe place (under the couch). Before he could make it, I noticed what was happening. He was rather uncoordinated and slow. The weird thing is that today I was supposed to be at work, but woke up with such a stiff neck, I decided to stay home and rest up. Luckily I was here to do something about my poor boy who by now was thrashing, then suddenly stiffened up, and went limp.
When I reached him, I honestly did not know what to do. I have been trained in people CPR, but never thought about doing it on an animal before. I picked him up and looked inside his mouth, but all I could see was foam. I couldn't get my finger in his mouth unobstructed so I began doing the Heimlich Maneuver on him out of sheer desperation. By now, he was limp and had passed out. His eyes were open and he was just laying there. I knew precious seconds were ticking away.
I yelled for my daughter to come and pump his stomach. I just wasn't sure exactly where his solar plexus was located so I figured if we were both stimulating both areas, we were bound to hit the right spot. I traced his breast bone down towards his belly and when I felt the 2 sides of the ribs stop meeting, I began pumping that area while my daughter kept pumping his actual stomach. We did this for a bit, but it always seems way longer in emergency situations. The good thing was that I could feel air coming out of his nose so the airway wasn't entirely blocked by now.
The piece of gizzard finally shot out of his mouth and poor Sasha just collapsed on the floor. He was so scared, but he was breathing, and after a few seconds, looked up at us in sheer terror and bolted right under the couch. I immediately called the Vet and they said to check his airway to ensure nothing was still blocking it, but to keep a close eye on him for the next few hours. He would not allow us to catch him to put him in the carrier to be transported. He is nervous enough to begin with and this has sent him off the deep end...poor thing. He has his yearly appointment on Friday so if I notice anything weird before then, I will just take him in after he calms down.
Goodness...what an eventful morning!!! But, it also made me want to spread the word to you all. Anything can get lodged in a cat's throat without warning (a toy, treat, or something they are not supposed to play with, but end up doing so anyways). We need to know what to do, just in case.
Here is a link to how to check if you cat is actually choking and then what to do:
Choking: Using the Heimlich Maneuver in Cats | Paw Prints the Magazine
I sincerely wish no one else has to go through this. It was VERY scary.
