this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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What is this thing?

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Found this lodged in my cat's tail. It was well healed over by the time we found it. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Fracturedfox to c/[email protected]
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See pics, found this thing well healed in my cat's tail. Came out with no resistance and no bleeding. Looks like a tip to something, but not sure. Cat is less than 6 months old. Thoughts? The grooves you see are from my pliers. It's hollow and seems to be aluminum or some other soft metal.

Edit:

Looks like this is pretty unanimously solved. Bit of backstory (not that you asked)- neighbor got got 2 kittens in May/June for his daughter. They're freaking adorable so whenever they wandered over to our house, we gave them lots of attention. They had been spending more and more time camped out on our porch furniture in the past month and then I found this just today. I'm going to talk to the guy and see what's up.

I'm concerned they are only interested in animals while they're small and cute because last year they had a young dog that's no longer there, this is the second pair of kittens they've had this year (one of the first pair I still see sulking around at night, but I'm pretty sure it's feral now. No idea what happened to number 2), and now they have a new puppy again.

Thanks all!

Minor second edit: I made a mistake about their pets. The first dog mentioned above was actually the house next to the neighbors in question. Those neighbors had moved, which is why the dog is no longer here.

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[–] [email protected] 207 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Looks like an air rifle pellet.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Definitely this. Not copper though looks like lead. Possibly steel. Humans really suck.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Air gun pellets are almost always lead. While steel pellets absolutely do exist, they are much less common. Steel tipped lead pellets are a little more common.

The tarnish and the way the pellet is deformed very much points to lead in this case.

[–] [email protected] 166 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a .177 pellet gun round

Whoever did this should have their ass kicked.

[–] AlecSadler 12 points 10 months ago

That's putting it nicely.

[–] ricecake 139 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Someone definitely shot the poor beastie with a pellet gun. It's good you got it out.
It would definitely be good to make sure they're an indoor cat, since someone is willing to hurt cats and you don't want them to get another chance.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I have a pellet gun that shoots at like 1500fps.

Cats lucky. If the kid had a powerful one, and didn't hit just the tail, that cat would be dead.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I killed a coyote with a pellet gun when I was a boy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I have one that does that as well. Shoots 22mm pellets like that. It kills rats handily.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I learned he hard way. :(

[–] candyman337 91 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As others have said that's an air gun pellet, maybe get an X-ray done and see if there are any others

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is good advice!

[–] whyNotSquirrel 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

RMI on the other hand wouldn't be a good advice

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Lead isn't magnetic, not sure it would pose a problem for an MRI scan.

[–] threelonmusketeers 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are pellets lead though? That seems like a health and environmental problem...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes they are usually made of lead.

[–] threelonmusketeers 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Oh dear... I had thought we had moved on from using lead in most applications.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Dont worry we still pump huge amounts into the atmosphere with some planes every day.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago

Somebody shot your cat, bud.

[–] Fracturedfox 47 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Looks like this is pretty unanimously solved. Bit of backstory (not that you asked)- neighbor got got 2 kittens in May/June for his daughter. They're freaking adorable so whenever they wandered over to our house, we gave them lots of attention. They had been spending more and more time camped out on our porch furniture in the past month and then I found this just today. I'm going to talk to the guy and see what's up. I'm concerned they are only interested in animals while they're small and cute because last year they had a young dog that's no longer there, this is the second pair of kittens they've had this year (one of the first pair I still see sulking around at night, but I'm pretty sure it's feral now. No idea what happened to number 2), and now they have a new puppy again.

Thanks all!

[–] [email protected] 59 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Please send an anonymous report to animal control. The circumstances sound suspicious with the neighbor. At the very least, adopting animals and then neglecting them(like the now feral cat), is animal adandonment/neglect. They should be prevented from adopting further animals even if that's all they are doing. The animals deserve a caring home. In addition, torturing small animals is a common and huge red flag. If they only like things when they're small and cute, what happens when their daughter grows up? I know this sounds extreme and I don't have all the facts, but how else would you view "they keep getting new animals, neglecting them, they "disappear", and more appear to continue the cycle. Oh and I found a pellet in one of them"??? File an anonymous report so that hopefully someone can look into this make sure everything is on the up and up.

[–] Fracturedfox 11 points 10 months ago

Yeah, I'll figure out if that's a county police thing or specifically animal control. We live out in the middle of almost-nowhere, so I'll start with county police.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

Inb4 OP goes missing and is never seen again.

Animal abuse like this is a hallmark of antisocial personality disorder aka psychopathy.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 10 months ago

That's a lead pellet from an air gun.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That's a pellet from an air pistol/rifle. It's probably lead.

[–] candyman337 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

~~No they're usually steel for air pistol pellets~~ I was wrong

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's definitely lead. Had these growing up. You can see how it's deformed - that wouldn't happen if it was steel.

[–] candyman337 4 points 10 months ago

Good to know, thanks for the info.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago

Keep your cats inside

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's a pellet from a BB gun

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

More accurately it's a pellet from a pellet gun. Some BB guns can shoot pellets, but not all of them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

This is true. Totally forgot to mention that. Thanks

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

https://images.app.goo.gl/uCAygHTf7sbYrAKcA

Airgun bullet

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's an air rifle pellet. You have a bastard in your neighborhood.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

To be the Devil's advocate, pet cats allowed to roam are a pain in the ass to neighbors. One tried to kill my pet parrot on my property, and if I had an air rifle, he'd have taken an ass full or worse. Keep your pet on your property and off mine, it's pretty simple

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Is that a bullet from a BB gun?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

BB stands for?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ball bearing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh shit I can't believe I never knew that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It didn't. It's a size of shotgun pellet. There's BBB AA, you get the picture. BBs are well, close to "BB".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Shooting BB? You know how to throw money.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

It's a micro-scone