Foreign body ingestion due to detachment of pill dispenser tips in cats: a retrospective study of 13 cases.

The use of pet pillers with detachable silicone tips increases the risk of accidental foreign body ingestion by animals. Therefore, guidelines regarding safety standards for manufacturing would be beneficial. No cat in this series developed clinical signs related to the ingestion of the piller tip, probably because of the quick presentation by the owners and early intervention, including endoscopic retrieval. Surgical intervention was not required in any case, including one in which the foreign body was lodged within the small intestine before being passed naturally by the cat.