Author Topic: My cat ate 1/2 a apple tree!  (Read 1375 times)

Offline GoldenPyrs

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My cat ate 1/2 a apple tree!
« on: February 21, 2008, 01:08:06 pm »
It's true, though the apple tree was only about 8" tall to begin with!  ::)  ;D  Anyway, I think that I'll have a whole new bunch of gray hairs soon!  Gray Baby (our kids named him) is one of our cats.  He came from a feral litter of kittens that we fostered and we weren't supposed to get attached to (hence the generic name)...but of course, we did & he stayed. He's 8 y/o now and recovering from fatty liver syndrome, so he's delicate (though at 15# he sure doesn't look it).  Today I caught him standing on the kitchen counter eating all of the leaves (8 or 10 of them) & 1/2 the stem off of our son's prized baby apple tree that was growing in the kitchen window.  After searching the web, calling our vet, our back up vet & the emergency vet in the nearest city I still couldn't find any real info about whether or not apple tree leaves were toxic, just that the apple seeds are toxic.  So I just called the ASPCA Poison Hotline.  Thank goodness he's going to be fine but it took me almost 45 minutes all together (hold time at ASPCA, too) & $60 to find out.  Sigh....I love that kitty and now I'm worn out and ready for a nap.   :-\

Oh & our son is not happy about his tree (he started it from a seed), but it looks like it will probably make it too.  Though it lost almost all it's leaves & almost 1/2 it's height so it will take it some time & extra careful handling to get it to recover.  It won't be recovering within Gray Baby's reach, either!   ::)  ;)  ;D 
Marie

And my pups:
Daisy a 9 y/o Golden/Lab mix
Sammy a 6-7(?) y/o Great Pyrenees adopted 3/07
Cassie a 3 y/o Pyr/Mystery Snuggle Bunny mix adopted 2/07

My angel girls waiting at the Bridge:
Cara 1989-2001 Great Pyrenees
Sally ? - 1993 Dobie(rescued '92)
Halley 2002-2006 Great Pyrenees

Offline GoldenPyrs

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Re: My cat ate 1/2 a apple tree!
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2008, 07:11:20 am »
Yep, it was a big "prune" job.  :)  I probably wouldn't have been so worried about the kitty except that he's the cat that we almost lost last fall.  It took 2 vets and weeks of us giving him sub-q fluids at home to save him & we still have to syringe feed him twice a day b/c he has so much liver damamge that he sometimes just forgets to eat.  It's ok though, he's happy & spoiled rotten and we're just so glad that he made it.  Now, I just hope that the tree does ok, too.  My son started it 3 yrs ago and named it "Nemo".   :D  You should have seen how carefully we moved it up here with us from CA!  Seriously, the china & crystal weren't as lovingly handled.  ;)  ::)   We almost lost it too last year to powdery leaf mildew (I didn't even know what that fuzzy stuff was) and it had recovered so beautifully.  Oh well, lets just hope that the pruning helps it somehow.  ;D  ::)
Marie

And my pups:
Daisy a 9 y/o Golden/Lab mix
Sammy a 6-7(?) y/o Great Pyrenees adopted 3/07
Cassie a 3 y/o Pyr/Mystery Snuggle Bunny mix adopted 2/07

My angel girls waiting at the Bridge:
Cara 1989-2001 Great Pyrenees
Sally ? - 1993 Dobie(rescued '92)
Halley 2002-2006 Great Pyrenees