Inc. Dogs and cats often eat objects other than food. Balls, corn cobs, socks, coins, strings, etc., are all examples of foreign bodies.
Many objects are too large to leave the stomach.
Smaller objects such as marbles, paper clips and strings can all pass through the stomach, but may cause a blockage of the small intestine. Sometimes a cat who eats a string will get a loop of the string under its tongue, so both ends of the string go down the esophagus into the stomach and intestine. In this situation the string can not pass through the digestive system, since it is looped under the tongue. As a result the cat starts vomiting. Vomiting and a poor appetite are generally the initial signs of a foreign body in the small intestine.