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More on KentOnline
A tiny kitten went through a dramatic double rescue after getting its head caught in a toy and being rushed to the vets who then found the pet was "dangerously" anaemic.
The adorable five-week-old black cat got its head firmly wedged in the square hole of the plastic children's toy last month while the owner's young son was playing.
The kitten's owner, Donna Boswell from Sittingbourne tried to free the struggling animal with Vaseline, but decided to rush her to the vet as the kitten meowed in pain.
Emergency vet clinic Vets Now, in Gillingham, managed to free the tiny cat - and at the same time, spotted that she was anaemic.
Anaemia is caused by a lack of iron in the red blood cells and can be fatal if not treated.
Donna, 31, believes her two-year-old son Harley had encouraged the kitten to climb inside the toy while he'd been playing.
She said: "I keep telling my son Harley not to touch the cats, but he loves playing with the kittens. He has a habit of trying to put them in odd places.
"Harley had been playing one evening and my 11-year-old daughter Amy heard a meow and went to check on him.
"It was then we saw the toy with the kitten sticking out I just thought: ‘How the hell did you get in there’."
Donna added: "The kitten has a tiny head so I didn’t think it would be a problem, but as soon as I got towards her ears she started screaming.
"It was then I realised it wasn’t working for me. I’m quite soft so anything like that upsets me."
Donna took the kitten, who has not yet been named, to a neighbour, who offered to cut the musical toy in half, but Donna decided against that for fear of hurting her.
Instead, she drove to the Vets Now clinic in Gillingham. It provides out-of-hours emergency care for pets in the area, including PDSA clients such as Donna.
Veterinary staff were able to free the stricken kitten from the toy and, thankfully, she emerged unscathed.
"The kitten has a tiny head so I didn’t think it would be a problem, but as soon as I got towards her ears she started screaming." - Cat owner Donna
And vets at the emergency clinic also spotted that the kitten was dangerously anaemic - and treated her for that at the same time.
Victoria from Vets Now said: "We anaesthetised the kitten and with a bit of handy manoeuvring she was out, up and eating. This is not a scenario we come across every day so it was a real talking point. We’re pleased we could help.
"We were also able to spot that she had a dangerously low red blood cell count due to anaemia and we gave some help with that too."
Donna said: "It was a bit upsetting for us all to see the kitten stuck like that.
"Hopefully I can stop Harley from getting up to any more tricks with them before they go to their new homes in a few weeks."
The pet emergency clinic in Gillingham, where the kitten received treatment, is one of a nationwide network of Vets Now clinics and hospitals.
The clinics are open through the night, seven-days-a-week, and day and night on weekends and bank holidays, to treat any pet emergencies that may occur.
Escaped animals, unusual finds and news from the RSPCA can all be found here.
