and she’s look at me to do something about it. Having read the other horror stories about pulling them out, I know better. BUt other then just sitting there and looking at her, what can I do to make this cat feel better?
Give her plenty to drink, give her lots of love, and let nature take its course.
Big dose of OTC hairball medicine.
This, too, shall pass.
What horror stories? I once met a dog that was running around in circles trying to get at a piece of rope that it was passing. I stood on the end of the rope until the dog walked off. About another foot of rope appeared and fell out and the happy dog departed. What did I risk doing?
Thin ribbon can potentially cut the intestines. I think the recommendation is to trim off what’s sticking out, using a scissors, then perhaps check with a vet to see if any further action is needed.
There was a cololum and/or a thread on it, but I can’t find it. Nasty stuff happens, one guy ripped his cats guts out by doing that.
Yeah, like they said–it is going round sharp corners and squirrelling around in there… it can cut up the intestines and even kill the animal.
I would (and have) take the cat to the vet.
Are you sure it’s a ribbon?
It could be a fuse to the bomb that’s inside your cat?
maybe the terorists have got to her?
If she tries to light it, run!!
If I run, thats when the Terrorists win. 
Aww, that’s so sweet. She’s making a little present for you.
My much loved but definitely intellect-deficient feline recently had to have emergency gut surgery to remove a huge wadded impaction of nylon cord and shoelace.
I called PapaArmadillo DVM, and told him the cat was barfing up a piece of string, but that it wouldn’t come all the way out. He’d just barf and it would hang there, then he’d frantically chew at it, and bite part of it off, swallowing the rest. Dad said “whatever you do, don’t pull. Linear foreign bodies are bad, bad news.” Evidently, what happens is it works its way, accordian style, through the intestine, and if you pull, it can easily slice the intestines open. Not good. If it’s a very short piece, it can come out just fine, but there’s no way to know that.
I asked him what our options were, and he said we could either:
a) Wait it out and see if he barfs it all up or passes it
b) Wait and if he doesn’t barf it up or pass it, risk the string wrapping around loops of his intestine and having his intestines be sliced open, then have him die of a nasty, horribly painful peritonitis.
c) Take him to a hospital for emergency surgery
d) Have him euthanized
I asked him how much it would cost to take him to a private hospital here and have him taken care of (this was at about 3 on a Saturday afternoon) and his estimations, with diagnostics of radiographs, barium series, contrast media, ultrasound, all costs of surgery, emergency fees and post surgical care, probably $1,500-$2,000. He said they’re likely to insist on a lot of diagnostics that are very nice, but not absolutely necessary, in order to cover their butts in case the cat dies in surgery or, if they didn’t insist on barium and ultrasounds, and they missed a piece of the impaction, they’d be risking a malpractice suit.
So, I packed a bag, tossed the cat in a crate, and drove to California, arrived at about 10:30 at night, we took a couple films, put the cat on the table, and opened him up. In addition to the nylon cord and shoelace that I knew he’d swallowed, we also removed a bread bag twist-tie and some (human) hair. Smart cat. ArmadilloKitty woke up a couple hours later howling for food and pissed off that he was in a cage. Dad sent me home with some Baytril for the next two weeks and an admonishment to keep the sneakers out of reach. Total cost of surgery and meds: $25. It’s a good thing we did do surgery, because by the time we got him open, he was already severely dehydrated and the string had caused an enormous blockage. Had we waited it out, he would have died very uncomfortably, probably within 24-48 hours.
Anyway, the moral of the story is, I’d cut off the majority of the exposed piece, and call your vet for a recommendation. If you have any idea how long the piece is (we knew how long the nylon cord was, because we could see what was missing from the blinds), you might have a better idea of what’s in store. You could adopt a wait and see attitude, which is honestly probably more okay with your situation than with ours, as your cat’s ribbon has already made it at least part of the way out. Ours was still in the upper GI tract and working its way through the small intestine. However, if your cat has multiple pieces of ribbon in there, or a really, really long piece, then you could have a serious problem developing.
Good luck,
~mixie
*By “probably more okay with your situation than with ours,” I mean “call your vet.” I think it’s more likely to come through just fine, but I’d still say call your vet, since there could be other pieces wrapped up in there.
Whenever your cat poops, trim off the strings still hanging out of his butt. Do NOT pull, as was said above.
Of course, he’ll probably have poop-on-a-rope for a few days…
Bugger it! light the fuse for her!
kidding…smart people here say go to vet! take the cat to.
An x-ray is a minimum diagnostic requirement in this situation, the sooner the better. If your cat shows any signs of distress (eg vomiting, fever, abdominal tenderness, generally being unwell) consider it an emergency.
If there is the potential that anything was tied to the other end of the ribbon when it was eaten (eg toy, needle, etc) also consider it an emergency.
As has already been said, linear foreign bodies can be very nasty.
dr phraser BVSc
the above advice is intended to be general in nature only
Are you sure it’s not some huge, grotesque, abdominal tapeworm that’s been growing inside your cat’s stomach? 
Good news is no abdominal tenderness, just funny looks and gas when I touch her belly. The big problem is we’re broke, and we can’t affored to take her to the vet. when my other cat did this, she had shit on a rope for a while. she liked it so much shd did it again. this sucks
Check around a bit before you make that assumption. Depending on where you live (and assuming “The Concrete Jungle” means you’re in a large-ish urban area), there are many low-cost vet clinics for just this sort of thing. Many regular vets will also be happy to work out a payment plan with you, so that you can treat your animal without breaking the bank. Please at least ask around; the worst they can say is “no.” At best, you’ll find a great vet who wants you to have a healthy pet first, and will work with you about compensation.
I agree with Beadalin. Many vets will work out a payment plan. It will be a cruel, painful death for your poor kitty if it is cutting into her intestines.
Well I’m gonna hit the yellow pages in the morning, try and call around. She does seem to be passing the string easily, and my other cat did this twice with no problem. But she’s sleeping a lot and doesnt seem to be using the box as much. (but then again, I never notice when she goes anyway) but other then that and some out of charactor meowing she’s fine. The vets will be called soon. Another doper told me that I should feed her some butter as a laxitive and that might help. But she doesn’t seem to like it
Thanks for all your help. I’ll keep you abreast of all the developments