Yesterday Parsifal ate one of my new red nylon shoelaces. He slipped into my wardrobe when I was hanging something up. Normally I check before I close it up but I didn't realise that he was in there, didn't check and didn't discover where he was until I missed him.
I don't know why this episode worried me more than all the other things he has eaten so we went to see Dr Sophy who sent us off to Osborne Park for another ultrasound. He had to be sedated, of course; he was quite aggressive with Dr Sophy and I had to hold him by his scruff while she examined him ... so the Veterinary Imaging Centre had to sedate him to shave his tummy and now, six hours later, he is really only just waking up. This worries me because I am not sure if his lethargy is due to the sedation or if he is feeling sick - although he ate a hearty dinner. I'll just have to see what tomorrow brings and if he needs to be opened up. The trouble is that there was food in his stomach (I wasn't expecting him to have it ultrasounded or I would have removed the food) and they were not able to see if the shoelace was still there.
I have contacted a vet who is an animal behaviorist but we have agreed to wait until the issue of the shoelace is resolved before doing anything to try to modify his pica, although I am not so keen on some of the things which she suggested, such as irritable bowel syndrome. I wish!!!!!
My take on it is that he resented being weaned and sucks on anything which he thinks looks like a suckable appendage. I would hate to lose him, I would hate to change him and I would hate to see him medicated long-term. A backflip to all natural fibre for the term of his natural life maybe? At least cotton and wool should digest.
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