January 27, 2012: "I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." - Hippolyte Taine

Now THAT'S a hairball.
By Jo Riley

A pet cat believed to have a giant tumour in her stomach was found to have a huge furball the weight of two iPhones.

Ginger longhair Gemma, who is eight, nearly died after the giant mass - the size of two cricket balls - expanded to fill her entire stomach and left her unable to eat.

Vets, who operated on her, said it the 215-gram clump was the ‘largest they had ever seen’.

David Fennell, from Cromwell Vet Group in Huntingdon said: 'It filled her entire stomach cavity and she had not eaten for days. It would certainly have killed her.

'I have been a vet for 40 years and it is the largest hair ball I have ever seen.
'We could feel a large mass in her abdomen and thought it must be a tumour because it was so big.

'When we opened up her stomach and found the hair ball we were stunned as we’d never seen one anywhere near that size before.'

Gemma was brought into the surgery after she refused to eat for five days.

She was given an x-ray and ultrasound and the huge mass was found.

The enormous furball weighed as much as two iphones.

The vets then carried out an exploratory operation and discovered the hair ball, which they were able to remove.

A day later Gemma was back to full health and eating normally again.

Mr Fennell added: 'She was very hungry but there was no room in her stomach for anything else,' he added.

'Cats do groom a lot and they often cough up small hair balls, but none of the 20 vets in our practice had ever seen anything on this scale before.

'For some reason Gemma had not been coughing up the hair balls and there was no way she could do it once it had become that size.'

He said the owners had now been given advice on how to groom Gemma.

"My Infinite Gratitude"

The following is a relatively short yet very heartening list of those who have contributed in support of the Infinite Cat Project over the years. In lieu of listing the names in any intelligent way I decided to post them alphabetically. It's not a perfect system, as those of you of Polish descent get the shaft again <grin> but at least it helps me keep the names straight.

In case you're wondering, names in white indicate donations of $5 or less, while green notates donations in excess of $10. The single listing in orange is for a very exceptional cat lover who recently earned the prestigious "Double Kittyhead" for her generous and continuing support. (You know who you are and I want to have your children.)