A veterinary charity in the UK has issued a warning to pet owners as two cats needed life-saving treatment after they ate tinsel.

Two-year-old Ginge swallowed up to one metre of the decoration from a Christmas tree and required surgery at a People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) hospital.

Nine-month-old kitten Broxi devoured red, white and blue tinsel and needed emergency treatment.

Vets acted quickly in both cases to remove the tinsel which can rupture internal organs, leading to potentially fatal infections.

The PDSA has advised pet owners to think of their animals as they would a toddler and remove any potential dangers.

Ginge’s owner, Joanne Mac-Leod, of Staffordshire, rushed her pet to the animal hospital after he started vomiting and became lethargic.

“Ginge is a curious cat and likes shiny things. He had been chewing away at the silver thread on my scarf and also around the tinsel on the Christmas tree. When he started being sick and his behaviour changed, I knew something was wrong,” she said.

Jenny Powell, veterinary surgeon at PDSA Stoke-on-Trent PetAid hospital, suspected the problem could be tinsel.

“Ginge had a bit of tinsel just visible at the base of his tongue, indicating that he might have swallowed some of it. We decided we needed to operate to find out if this was the case. We found Ginge had tinsel running from his tongue through to parts of his intestines.

“In total, Ginge had swallowed two to three feet of tinsel. We managed to remove a third of the tinsel by operating on Ginge’s intestines, and the rest we delicately removed through his mouth. He recovered very well and is now back to his old self.”