Horror after kitten swallows 40cm car aerial

A nine-month-old kitten had a very lucky escape after swallowing an aerial the size of its body.
Nine-month-old Li Shou swallowed a 40cm car aerial the size of her body.Nine-month-old Li Shou swallowed a 40cm car aerial the size of her body.
Nine-month-old Li Shou swallowed a 40cm car aerial the size of her body.

Little Li Shou left her owner in a panic after she managed to break off a 40cm car aerial from a classic Mini at her home in Burgess Hill.

The pure bred Birman managed to swallow it, narrowly missing every organ in her body before it became wedged.

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Owner Sandie Meadows said she discovered the injured kitten on a Saturday night when most vets were closed.

Li Shou at her home in Burgess HillLi Shou at her home in Burgess Hill
Li Shou at her home in Burgess Hill

She said: “I was putting her to bed at around midnight and I called her and she didn’t arrive.

“I saw her upstairs with blood around her mouth.

“I knew if I left her until Monday morning it would be too late so I took her to the vets there and then.”

Sandie took Li Shou to New Priory 24-hour emergency vets in Brighton.

Li Shou at her home in Burgess HillLi Shou at her home in Burgess Hill
Li Shou at her home in Burgess Hill
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At first it was suspected she had swallowed a stick but it could not be confirmed until the vets operated.

Sandie was given two options. Either have the vets try and remove the object themselves or have a specialist do it which would cost £4,000.

She chose to trust the vets.

She received a call a few hours later saying the object had been removed.

“She (the vet) rang me back at three in the morning and said it was an aerial,” Sandie said.

“When they showed me the x-ray I didn’t believe it.

“The vets said they had never seen anything like this.”

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Sandie said the aerial was the size of Li Shou’s body, around 35 to 40cm.

She searched the house the following morning to see where the object had come from but it wasn’t until she looked in the garage that she discovered what had happened.

“I don’t know exactly how it happened,” she said.

“I thought it was a Lego car aerial that my son had put together. I didn’t think for a minute it would have come off my car.

“She must have got it in her mouth somehow as there was blood on the front of the windscreen.”

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Li Shou was fitted with a feeding tube for a week. It has now been removed and she is recovering well.

“It was a very stressful day,” Sandie added. “Had it gone through her heart she would not be here now.”

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