My 7 month old kitten, Ash, needed emergency surgery this week, because he ate a 2.5 foot long piece of yarn. Ash is the black-and-white kitten on the right. The other one is his "sister" Minerva. They aren't littermates, but arrived at the shelter around the same time, and became the best of friends. So we adopted them together.

Minerva (left) and Ash (right)

I grew up with cats, and so did my husband. Before these kittens, we count 8 cats between the two of us. And none of them ever ate yarn. Played with it, or course, but never really ate it. Even so, I am always good about keeping my yarn stash (I’m a knitter) in bags in the closet, and putting my work-in-progress away in a cabinet when I am done with it.

However, my son made a toy for the kittens out of newspaper and yarn, and when he was done with it, put it on a shelf. We didn’t really think anything of it. But one night, it seems, Ash got up the shelf, stole the toy, chewed off the yarn, and ate it. Apparently, cats have such a strong swallowing reflex that they have to swallow things that get at the back of their throat.

That morning, he threw up liquid. He continued to throw up blood and brown liquid, and we found the toy with the missing yarn. We took him to the emergency pet hospital, and they performed the surgery and saved our sweet kitten.

https://www.gofundme.com/cat-ate-yarn-needed-surgery

Update: Ash has been in recovery for one week and is doing great!