Cat impaled by kebab skewer saved by Cambridgeshire vet

Olive, a three-year-old, thought the meaty stick would make a tasty toy

A cat bit off more than it could chew when it stole a wooden kebab skewer from its owner and got it stuck through its mouth and ear.

As Olive jumped to the floor, the stick jabbed her and she ran through the cat-flap with it impaled in her mouth.

It took a day to find her, and she was rushed to a vet in Cambridgeshire for emergency surgery.

The vet, who recently removed a kebab stick from a dog's stomach, said two kebab-related injuries was "unusual".

Olive's owner, Richard Brewis, believes his cat thought the wooden stick could be a toy or tasty treat as she grabbed it from his plate.

However, he was shocked to see she had managed to impale her mouth on it, and he could not move fast enough to stop her haring through the cat-flap with the stick still protruding from her mouth.

A 3D image produced by the vet from a scan shows the kebab stick through Olive's mouth and ear canal

He searched in the rain and dark near his home in Warboys, but Olive was nowhere to be found, and her favourite treats - which he had left out overnight - remained untouched in the morning.

He roped in the help of neighbours and after noises were heard, Olive was found cowering in a rhubarb patch.

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The cat was clearly "very unhappy" and he opened her mouth and realised that, although she had chewed or broken off much of it, the end had pierced her mouth and was still stuck.

Olive needed specialist surgery to remove the stick from her mouth

The surgery took about 30 minutes

Olive was sent to specialist vets at Dick White Referrals at Six Mile Bottom, near Cambridge, where a scan revealed 6cm (2.3in) of the wooden stick had penetrated both her mouth and ear canal.

The surgery took about 30 minutes and Mr Brewis's "very special" kebab-nabbing cat is now recovering at home.

Olive is now recovering - in the bath - after her ordeal