- Feb 25, 2004
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We recently lost our beloved kitty to poisoning from lilies she ate. Neither of us had any idea that they were toxic at all. They are in fact highly toxic to cats. This particular cat had a fondness for eating anything green brought into the house, so efforts were always made to prevent her from getting to flowers for no other reason then that she would utterly destroy them. I wish that was all that had happened.
I had purchased the flowers for my wife on Valentine's day and they were placed onto a tall corner shelf. They had started to wilt a bit last week and the cat learned (unfortunately just this time) that if she rocked the shelf a bit some leaves would fall off. Although the arrangement only had a few lilies in it, she must have gotten some leaves off one. Apparently all parts are toxic, and it can take as little as one leaf to kill.
The cat puked some time over the weekend, and no one thought much of it as cat vomit is a fairly common situation. (Happens every few weeks). She seemed in good spirits and acted normal and happy, we only decided to bring her to the vet because we noticed she wasn't eating over the past couple days. Given she was active otherwise, I just assumed she was suffering some mild stomach bug or had eaten something that made her slightly sick. Blood tests showed she was suffering acute kidney failure. The vet tried to get her kidneys to improve with fluids and some drugs but I suspect the amount of time that passed from the poisoning meant she had little chance of recovering. We put her to sleep on Tuesday. We'd only brought her in to the vet the day before.
I feel horrible still. We'd had her since she was a tiny kitten shortly after we got together. She'd followed us through apartments to our first house. She was a daily fixture in our lives and will forever be missed. Although she was not what one would call a well behaved cat many times, she was an amusing character and loving companion to my wife and I.
I can't believe such a bullshit thing took her. You expect a house cat to die of old age or random disease, maybe to get lost outside and disappear...but I never expected to buy some flowers and for them to be her downfall. I feel guilty for not knowing this, else I would have never even brought them in the house. I can't remember, but I may have even bought lilies in the past and she just hadn't been able to get to them to eat. I at least hope some one else can learn from our loss.
I had purchased the flowers for my wife on Valentine's day and they were placed onto a tall corner shelf. They had started to wilt a bit last week and the cat learned (unfortunately just this time) that if she rocked the shelf a bit some leaves would fall off. Although the arrangement only had a few lilies in it, she must have gotten some leaves off one. Apparently all parts are toxic, and it can take as little as one leaf to kill.
The cat puked some time over the weekend, and no one thought much of it as cat vomit is a fairly common situation. (Happens every few weeks). She seemed in good spirits and acted normal and happy, we only decided to bring her to the vet because we noticed she wasn't eating over the past couple days. Given she was active otherwise, I just assumed she was suffering some mild stomach bug or had eaten something that made her slightly sick. Blood tests showed she was suffering acute kidney failure. The vet tried to get her kidneys to improve with fluids and some drugs but I suspect the amount of time that passed from the poisoning meant she had little chance of recovering. We put her to sleep on Tuesday. We'd only brought her in to the vet the day before.
I feel horrible still. We'd had her since she was a tiny kitten shortly after we got together. She'd followed us through apartments to our first house. She was a daily fixture in our lives and will forever be missed. Although she was not what one would call a well behaved cat many times, she was an amusing character and loving companion to my wife and I.
I can't believe such a bullshit thing took her. You expect a house cat to die of old age or random disease, maybe to get lost outside and disappear...but I never expected to buy some flowers and for them to be her downfall. I feel guilty for not knowing this, else I would have never even brought them in the house. I can't remember, but I may have even bought lilies in the past and she just hadn't been able to get to them to eat. I at least hope some one else can learn from our loss.
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