Cat health warning- Lillies

Dear all,

I would like to raise awareness of a little known potentially fatal poison for cats, that of exposure to Lillies.

WE currently have a cat hospitalised at the practice, as the owner was not aware of the issue, and had a bunch of flowers containing lillies within the house last week. I first saw her yesterday, at which point, she was a little off colour, off food, and had been sick a couple of times. As there was nothing obvious to see externally, we took some blood samples. Unfortunately, these showed massive damage to the kidneys, along with evidence of infection.

Knowing that she had been otherwise well, we discussed exposure to certain specific products known to be very poisonous to cats (which include paracetamol, antifreeze and lillies). It was at this point that the owner realised.

Unfortunately, lillies (particularly aziatic lillies, which are very common in floral arrangements) are very toxic to cats, and cause severe and often fatal kidney failure. As such, we now have Peggy at the practice for at least 3 days, on a drip, and receiving various other medications in order to limit the damage.

PLEASE do not allow your own cat to have access to lillies, and also think about the people you may wish to buy lillies for- if they have cats, please ask to have Lillies taken out of flower arrangements.

Not all florists are aware of this really serious issue either.

As ever, any queries, please dont hesitate to contact me either via the site, or via the practice.

Thanks,
James.