Lillies can KILL Cats-Please BEWARE!

artieanna

Hi
I love my garden and I was chatting to another gardener and he just happened to say about lillies been really posionous to cats.. I have had cats all my life and have three at present, I also had dwarf lillies growing in a pot and I was completly unaware of this....

Needless to say I now have no lillies....

tk123

I got flowers from work when i was on sick leave with some lillies in. 2 days later my cat was sick and a week later he was pts

artieanna

So sorry to hear that tk123

Sardonicat

Do they have to eat them to be poisened? Could the strong aroma harm them?

I hate lillies myself,I only ever associate them with death and funerals. Now I hate them even more.

foxinsox

found this:

http://mistyhorizon2003.hubpages.com/hub/Lilies-can-kill-your-cat-within-hours

Alicat

Whoa, I never knew this. No more lilies in my place....funnily enough my cat is called Lily

anniehoo

Only found out this recently too. Its the pollen that causes the toxicity,not the entire plant itself i.e. the pollen drops on the floor,gets on their fur and they lick it off. Kidney problems result,depending on the quantity and type of species of Lily.Not all are poisonous (need to look up which type though).

Marks and Spencers and some florists have warning stickers on their Lily plants at the minute.

af_thefragile

Here's a list of all the things which can be toxic to your cat:
http://www.cat-world.com.au/plants-a-other-chemicals-toxic

artieanna

Yes I was told that it was the pollen that causes the most problems as a cat can brush easily up against it and then lick it off.

I've just been looking up plants that are posionous to dogs cats and believe it or not there are very few that aren't posionous, however most adult cats wouldn't bother eating a leaf or bulb of a plant unless it tasted good and I'm sure most don't.

I suppose its Kittens and Puppies that need to be watched with all plants as they are investigating the world and will chew anything....

I was so pleased to be warned about the lillies though as I had a whole bunch in flower at the time!!!

have a look at this list below, I don't know how any cat or dog survives in this world!

http://www.gaylee.co.uk/Poisonous_plants1.htm

audreyp

I know this too, should have posted it at well. 2 and a half years ago my cats got very sick, and wouldn't eat. They were only sick a few hours but they weren't moving at all. They were only about 6 months old at the time. I brought them straight to the vet as they were my first kittens and was a very nervous owner. He spent about 30 minutes questioning us as to what could have been wrong. Asking if we were fighting etc. And then he said has anything changed and out of frustration I said nothing, just some flowers in the house. And then he figured it was lily poison. They spent 3 days in the vets getting fluids and they pulled through. They had to have regular kidney function tests to prove they were OK. He had never seen a case of it before.

Thankfully they were ok, needless to say no more lillies in my house!

Annee

Sadly I found this out the hard way too last year

I had been given lilies from work (didn't even really want the friggin' things) but thought it'd be a bit wasteful and ungrateful to throw them out. Hadn't a clue what they did to cats and unfortunately my poor wee cat, Mojo, took a nibble of one of the leaves (unknown to me and my family at the time). Later on she started to get sick but seemed fine after throwing up. The next day she was really lethargic so I brought her to UCD vets (it was a Sunday) and the vet checked her out, took her temp which was fine and said that she probably had a stomach bug and not to worry.

Now, here's the worrying part - when we were discussing her symptoms and possible causes, I told him that there were lilies in the front room and that I had seen her around them (I didn't know that she may have bitten them though, and also didn't know that the plants were poisonous but just thought I just should suggest everything I could). He told me that they probably wouldn't have caused it, she may have been just smelling them or maybe even had bitten one to make herself sick, like the way dogs eat grass. He's a vet i.e. the expert so I brought our cat home, relieved that it wasn't anything serious.

Later on that evening, Mojo was still really lethargic and just not herself at all so I was still pretty worried. I brought her into the sitting room with me to sit on my lap which happened to be the room with the lilies. Straight away she ran out of the room gagging and it clicked with me that the flowers had to be the cause. I googled lilies and cats and my heart dropped when I saw the results. I was straight back on the phone to UCD, had a row with the girl on the phone when I told her that I'd told the vet about the flowers. She in turn told me that the vet had obviously thought that it wasn't that serious and didn't want to frighten me - what nonsense. Time is vital if a cat ingests lilies - they need their systems flushed straight away. It may have already been to late for our poor little one, but that vet may have wasted hours by sending us home.

Arguments aside, I brought poor Mojo back down and saw a different vet who took her in for blood tests but didn't seem to concerned as her temp was fine. A few hours later though, the vet rang me back to say that she was seriously ill and it wasn't looking good. She also accused me outright that our cat must have eaten more than just a bite of a leaf as she was so ill but I was so upset at the news I didn't have the energy to be angry or defensive with her.

Mojo was put on a drip to flush out her system and then my dad had to pick her up at 6am and move her to our own vets in Dundrum who were much more understanding and sympathetic. She battled it for a few days and seemed to pick up strength one day, but unfortunately her kidneys were too damaged and she had to be put to sleep. The tears are actually streaming down my face typing this

I felt so horrible for bringing those lillies into the house, not realising they were so dangerous to cats. I've since gone on a tirade to everyone I know with cats warning them but I still meet loads of people with cats who never knew. My mind still boggles that I told a vet about them and he seemingly didn't know either.

(sorry this was so long)

tk123

RIP Mojo. I had a similar experience with UCD ie they were NO help to me but that's for another thread. Well done btw OP for posting - sometimes we take for granted that other people would know about poisons etc.

planetX

I've had cats for years and had no idea! Thanks for this thread, off to pull up lilies from the garden, they may be ok but it's not worth it to me.

Zapperzy

I didn't realise it was this common. I knew lillies were poisonous to cats but I thought it was one of those things like dogs and chocolate that are only really harmful in large amounts. Have had lillies in the house and always made sure she just didn't eat them or rub up against them, no more lillies from now on.

artieanna

Thanks for sharing all your experiences, so sorry to hear some of you found out the hard way by losing your pet.

I too will be spreading the word about lillies.

Please note Lillies have the same posionous effect on dogs too!

star-pants

I wasn't too aware they were poisonous to cats (and somewhat dogs) but I know they can have a bad effect on humans too.
A friend of mine ended up in hospital due to a sudden reaction to them, she got a bouquet off her then boyfriend and had them in a vase in the sitting room. They all sat in watching a film that evening, and she got a headache, which progressed to a migraine and she ended up vomiting a lot so they brought her into A&E not sure what was up.
It was the lillies! Since then they don't cross her doorway.

I would always snip the powdery stems inside the lily flowers if we ever had them in our house, as it reduced the smell slightly (and stopped staining) but if I'm around them too long I find they make me a lil ill / headachy.

Definitely good advice though, and shall pass it onto any other cat & dog owners.