Cat swallows 5p coin while playing with it - and is 'lucky to be alive'

An unlucky cat owner is having to fork out £3,500 in vet bills after her ginger tom accidentally swallowed - a 5p coin.

Millie Farrow, said her cat Pumpkin is 'lucky to be alive' after he is thought to have swallowed the change while playing. Pumpkin, three, fell ill on May 13 when he started 'looking sad', stopped eating and was sleeping all the time. Miss Farrow, 29, rushed him to the vets where she was told he may be suffering from gastroenteritis.

However when Pumpkin lost half a kilo in four days, he underwent an ultrasound where the vets made the shocking discovery of a 5p coin lodged in his digestive tract. Miss Farrow said: "We thought he was going to die. He's lucky to be alive. He was so poorly. He was lethargic - sleeping all the time - and he wouldn't eat anything.

"He looked so sad. My other cat Winston would lay next to him and lick his face, it was like he knew something was wrong." The vets at Pets at Home in Norwich, Norfolk, removed the coin surgically as Pumpkin couldn't pass it himself and he is now recovering at home.

The 5p coin that Pumpkin swallowed

Miss Farrow is now fundraising for £3,000 to cover Pumpkin's medical bills as he was not insured. In May, Miss Farrow, a former carer, noticed that Pumpkin wasn't his usual cheeky self, going off his food and that his eyes and coat were full. Pumpkin, who only eats dry food and spinach, wasn't eating anything which prompted Miss Farrow to try him with cooked meats.

She said: "We initially thought it might have been the change in the temperature as it was getting hotter and the cats don't usually eat as much. I took him to the vets and they said he seemed healthy so it might be gastroenteritis. He had an anti-sickness injection and ate a little bit but then stopped again.

"I took him back after a week when he lost half a kilo in his weight in four days and they said his inflammation markers were high but everything else was normal. We opted to have an ultrasound and they called us and said we had to bring him back immediately."

Millie Farrow with Pumpkin

Millie has now been hit with a £3,500 in vet bill

Miss Farrow, who lives in Norwich, Norfolk, and the vets were shocked to find Pumpkin had swallowed a 5p coin which was now lodged in his digestive system. The ginger tabby feline was rushed in for an hour-long emergency surgery to remove the coin.

Miss Farrow said: "Pumpkin plays by himself by flipping things into the air and catching them in his mouth. I think that was what happened with the coin. He's very unique as he can't miaow - he just coos. The coin couldn't pass past his pancreas so the vets had to remove it. They said in all their years, they'd never seen a 5p coin in a cat before."

Pumpkin was left with four-inch stitches and is recovering at home - although Miss Farrow has to take him to the vets every other day as he won't take oral tablets to combat infection. She said: "As soon as he came out of the vets, he was trying to run up and down. He was like what he was before the coin had got stuck and we did our best to keep him still - I moved his cat tree into another room.

Pumpkin has been left with a four inch surgery scar

"He was so happy he didn't have the coin stuck there anymore. He's doing really well. He could have problems with his bowls later in the rest of his life but we'll wait until it happens." Miss Farrow is now urging other pet owners to insure their animals after she is left facing a £3,500 vet bill - as Pumpkin didn't have insurance.

She is fundraising for the leftover costs of Pumpkin's medical care after she said she was told by a vet when Pumpkin was neutered as a kitten that there was no point in getting insurance as he was an indoor cat. She said: "I've covered as much as I can, especially before the surgery. I've paid out about £500 for the anti-sickness injections, the consultations, the scan.

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"People definitely need to get insurance for their cats - I've insured my other two now." As for the coin, Miss Farrow said she got it back from the vets after it was removed from Pumpkin. She added: "I've put it up here - I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I'm definitely not leaving my change out anymore.

"I don't know if Pumpkin is part magpie." View the GoFundMe campaign here.