A BBC news report about a lovely tabby kitten who survived a 10 minute wash in a washing machine ( Kitten’s washing machine ordeal ) reminded me of an incident I encountered as a repairman some years back.
I was once called to a customer who’s dog had nearly died when it chewed through the rubber gas pipe supplying the gas cooker. She’d arrived home to the smell of gas and found her beloved dog unconscious in the kitchen. She rushed him to the vet where he fortunately made a full recovery. However, within a week the dog chewed through the replacement and gassed himself again. Pets and white goods don’t mix. The customer was lucky the dog survived, but even luckier that the house didn’t blow up.
The kitten in the news story was also lucky that modern washing machines hardly use any water on wash these days. 10 years or more ago it would have almost certainly drowned.
UPDATE: Aug 2011: Kitten survives washing machine
There’s been another incident reported here – Kitten survives hour in Aberdeen washing machine spin
[ related article - Children & pets dying in washing machines and tumble dryers ]
My son put our rabbit in the washing machine about 20 years ago. The rabbit was in there for about 5-10 minutes I think (not sure when exactly her put it in) but he survived, was just a bit shaken. I was stirred.
A friend’s daughter put her newborn baby in the washing machine at around the same time. Again, the baby survived but according to the doc at the hospital, only because the locking muscle that stops babies from drowning in the fluid that surrounds them was still working. Luckily she’d put him on a warm wash rather than a boil! She said those 30 seconds waiting for the door to open were the longest of her life.