Tommy the 5 month old domestic short hair kitten was bought into the Reservoir Veterinary Clinic to see Dr Andrea because he had been vomiting for 2 days and was not interested in eating. His mum is a human nurse and they often found that Tommy would chew and eat her latex gloves along with many other things. When Dr Andrea examined Tommy she found that Tommy was dehydrated and when she palpated his abdomen Tommy found it painful and Dr Andrea could feel something unusual in his intestines.

Tommy was admitted to the hospital and placed on an intravenous fluid drip to rehydrate him. Dr Andrea also took some radiographs of his abdomen to see if she could see any obstructions. The radiographs showed gas in his intestines which is an abnormality but they didn't show any obvious obstructions or foreign body. It was still quite possible that Tommy had a foreign body lodged in his intestines as not all substances can be highlighted on radiographs. Tommy was scheduled to have surgery the following day to explore his abdomen and see what was causing him to vomit.

Dr Wayne performed Tommy's surgery while Nurse Sommer monitored his anaesthetic. Tommy was still on his intravenous fluid drip while he was in surgery in order to maintain his blood pressure as the anaesthesia causes the patients blood pressure to drop. Nurse Sommer monitored his vital signs through out his surgery and Tommy recovered brilliantly. Dr Wayne found some string in Tommy's small intestine that had caused all his problems. The piece of string was quite long and it had caused his small intestine to bunch up. This would have been quite painful for Tommy and if left untreated it would have been life threatening. It took Dr Wayne some time to unravel the string from Tommy's intestine but once it was removed his intestine looked like it would fully recover.

Tommy recovered well from his anaesthetic and was back to eating bland food only 12 hours after the surgery. He was much happier and brighter and loved to get cuddles from everyone. He had no more episodes of vomiting and was discharged 2 days later. His owner is now keeping a close eye on what he puts in his mouth and ensures that he can no longer have any more string to play with.