Cat's 'cancer' was instead hairbands and string from toys

A cat was forced to undergo life-saving surgery after sneakily chewing hairbands and pieces of string from toys.

Vets originally thought five-year-old Waffles had cancer, however an operation revealed the large mass in his tummy was actually hair elastics, string from cat toys, and yarn from his scratching post.

Post-op, the tabby was sent home with a cone to wear and instructions not to let him jump around too much.

However, owners Ryan Gallacher, 27, and Danielle Carlin, 26, had to rush Waffles back to the vet after his wound opened up – leaving his intestines hanging out.

Recuperating: Waffles had to undergo two life-saving operations.

Following another life-saving operation, Waffles is recuperating back home in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, with his brother, Kevin Bacon.

Indoor cat Waffles, who was bought for £40, has now set his owners back close to £5000 as the couple did not have pet insurance.

Mr Gallacher said: “We never knew – it must have been going on for months.

“The vet said he had never seen anything like it before.

“We didn’t have insurance for them because we thought they would be safe as they can’t go outdoors.

“Waffles has always been quite a sickly cat, he is constantly wanting to be fed, and we just thought he was eating too much food and would be sick but not bringing anything up.

“We took him to the vets expecting to be told it was nothing, and the vet said he could feel something in his stomach and wanted to do a scan.

“They found a mass and initially thought it was cancer and needed to be operated on immediately.

“We brought him back the next day and the vet still didn’t know what it was, if it was going to be cancer – but the vet said it was hair bands.

“Danielle had never noticed them disappearing, they weighed 100g.

“We thought we had a bargain for getting him for £40 but he’s ended up costing more than I’ve ever bought in my entire life.”

Playful: Dangly cat toys have been banned from the flat.

After the second operation, Waffles was put into a babygrow and had to live in a cage for three weeks to stop him from jumping around and opening the stitches again.

He has now made a good recovery, however, dangly cat toys have been banned from the flat.

Mr Gallacher added: “He’s all good now, we are paying off the second operation.

“He’s all back to normal and fighting with his brother.

“Any toys we get now will not have dangling bits on them and we would say to cat owners ‘make sure you have pet insurance’.”