#STUFFEMMETTEATS

Emmett is a 2 year old Great Pyrenees, and he is tall enough to get to anything unattended.  This can be a pet owner’s worse nightmare.  When you have a curious puppy or young dog, there are all kinds of household hazards you need to constantly be aware of, so we are going to use Emmett’s constant escapades to help our pet owners navigate through the tricky health concerns of all puppies and young dogs.

Episode #7 Lilies

Lilies, while not at all toxic to Emmett, or your dogs, is a big toxin for our feline friends.  As the weather is hovering along at a winter extreme, many of us start indoor gardens to ward off those winter blues.  It is important to know what to look for to ensure your flowers and plants are safe for your pets.

The encounter:

A beautiful bouquet is delivered to you for Valentine’s Day.  It’s from your mom, she really loves you, and wants to make sure someone sends you flowers this year.  It has a lot of lovely flowers, and if you are anything like me, you have no idea what those flowers are.  So you get a vase filled with water, get them in there and put them on display.  They are pretty, so you put them on a table in the living room where you will get to see them often.  Your new fluffy kitten comes by, curious, later, and eats the tops of some of the flowers.  You panic, because you remember that some plants are not good for kittens, but you don’t know which ones, nor do you have any idea what type of flowers you had in the first place.

The scoop:

There are Lilies of varying types, and some lilies are harmless to cats, and others are quite dangerous.  Unless you feel confident in identifying flowers, or speak to a florist familiar with the types of lilies that are okay for cats, it might be best to avoid all types of lilies in any household with cats.

Peace lilies, Peruvian lilies, and Calla lilies, while not “safe” for cats, are much less toxic.  These types of flowers contain insoluble oxalate crystals, which can cause irritation to their mouth, and tongue, and esophagus if they eat and swallow the flowers, and symptoms are fairly mild, including drooling, pawing at the mouth, and sometimes vomiting.

The more dangerous lilies are "true lilies" of the Lilium or Hemerocallies species.  These include the tiger lily, the day lily, the Asiatic hybrid, Easter lily, Japanese Show lily, Rubrum, Stargazer, Red, Western and Wood lilies.  These are extremely toxic, and result in severe acute kidney damage and failure.  Even small ingestions can be enough to lead to significant complications, and sometimes just contact with the pollen, or water from the vase can lead to severe effects.

The plan: 

If your cat has eaten your flowers, and you are concerned that they could have been potentially toxic, seeking veterinary care immediately gives your cat the best chance at recovery.  If you are unsure which type of flower you had, bring what’s leftover of the bouquet to your veterinarian’s office for identification.  Cats that have ingested toxic lilies can be decontaminated, and hospitalized if the condition is caught early.  Your veterinarian will likely keep your cat in the hospital for several days on IV fluid therapy, while monitoring the cat’s kidney values for any changes that could indicate a problem.  Some cats can recover from this ingestion with prompt care. 

Thanks for reading and Join us next time for #StuffEmmettEats