Cats Possibly Ate a Lily on Saturday Night...

I don't post much since my Toddy died, but sometimes I need suggestions or help.

Anyway, before anyone says go to the vet asap. We did this.. I just want some thoughts, because honestly, when I read about lillies and cats via Google, I have yet to see someone post saying their cat was fine.

Soo.. what happened..

Saturday (01/19) just before midnight, I was up cleaning the house, because I was hosting a meeting the next day. I had a vase of lillies on a china cabinet, high enough to where the cats couldn't reach them.

Well, I moved a small table close to the cabinet, and in the short 30 minutes to a hour it was there, I caught my youngest cat (Amelia) up there happily munching away at the leaves. I got her down, looked online and yep, lillies are very, VERY bad for cats. So I put her in a carrier and off to the ER vet we went. They got her to vomit, but only dry kibble came up. So they started her on IV's and gave her some activated charcoal. While this was going on, I thought.. boy, if she had time to get up there, I wonder if any of the others did. So I ran home and got them, as well as the vase of lillies to show the vet (they asked to see them) My other two are Flapjack and Roscoe.

They started the boys on IV fluids and got some charcoal in them as well. The vet did some research and found that the lilies my cat had for sure been munching on were Peruvian Lilies (Alstremeria)" and are not poisonous to cats. However, there were three true lillies in the bunch as well. The vet didn't see any obvious evidence that those had been chewed on. Though one leaf looked rough, but the vet thought perhaps I had crushed it in my rush to get it to the clinic. She said I could take them home at that time, but then she thought, just to be safe, lets keep them for 24 hours on the IV fluids (to flush the kidneys) and the charcoal. They'll retest the kidney function Sunday evening. This all happened between roughly 11:50pm on Saturday (01/19) and 3 am on Sunday (01/20) I went home around 3 am. I called at about 5am and was told no change, they seemed fine. I drove over to the clinic at 10am Sunday morning. I brought some canned food and treats. The techs unhooked everyone and brought them in a room with me to eat and visit. Everyone was bright and alert, happy to see me, but not happy to be at the vet. They all ate some, though not a lot. I was told it was probably because of the charcoal and the drug they used to make them vomit. Amelia had peed that morning and I believe Roscoe had as well.

Anyway, we visited for about 40 minutes and then I left. I was told that they would be re-checking the blood work around 8pm that night (Sunday 01/20) and would call me. I called later in the day to check on them and still no change, everyone seemed fine. Around 8:40pm that night, someone called my husband (I was at my mom's house) and so he called me and said.. "The vet called. The blood work is fine, go pick them up" So I got to the vet about 9:30pm. I had not spoken to a actual vet all day. The last vet I spoke to was the ER vet the night I brought them in. So I asked to speak with the vet before they unhook them from the IV. This did not happen. They unhooked them, put them in carriers and brought them in the room for me. They had a tech explain to me what the vet said, which was that they felt they would be fine to go home, the kidney values done at 8:30 were normal. But to watch for symptoms of kidney failure. I asked if I should do a follow up with our vet and was told no. So I took them home. They were not on IV fluids or charcoal for a full 24 hours. It was maybe 18 to 19 hours. Anyway, when we got home they ate, and Amelia and Roscoe both went potty. FlapJack ate like he had been starved for days. We played and snuggled the rest of the night and they seemed perfectly fine. Monday morning, same thing, they all ate and acted normal all day. Happy, alert, playing, wanting food, bugging me for treats. The whole day everyone seemed just fine. I spoke with our regular vet Monday night, around 6:30pm. She had not received the report from the ER vet yet, so I explained everything that happened to her and that I was a little worried they may have been sent home too early. As all the online research I read said cats should be on IV fluids and charcoal for at least 24 hours, but best would be 48 hours. We weren't even there a full 24 hours. She did think that was odd, but said maybe they know more than she does on this, as they have specialists there during the day. I don't know. But she said yes, bring them in either Tuesday evening or Wed morning to re-check the kidney values. So we have a appointment today at 5:20pm. The blood work won't be back until tomorrow morning (01/23) I of course worry that if there is a problem, its too late to do anything now. All of my cats are young. Under the age of 5, and healthy. Everyone has been acting 100% normal since all this took place. Playing with each other, playing with toys, eating, begging for treats. They don't seem to have any of the symptoms, however, I don't know if its too early for that or not. Of course I'll know more tomorrow, but I'm worried now. :/ I guess I'm just looking for some comfort, as my husband, though I love him and he is awesome, is not super supportive in helping me with my anxiety over this.

I gave everyone another round of canned food this afternoon and everyone ate. The only thing that has happened that I thought was slightly odd is about a hour or so ago, I cleaned the litter box and Amelia went to it, walked within 3 feet of it, like she was thinking about it, then walked away. I wasn't sure if she was just passing by or what. Or maybe she was upset I was watching. She for sure peed this morning around 8:30am. I saw her and it looked like a normal amount of urine. So I don't know.. I am of course most worried about Amelia, as she was the one caught in the act of eating the plants.

So yeah.. just trying to feel better about this.

oh, and in case anyone wants to see these, here is the lab work from 8:30pm (01/20) just before we went home:

Amelia: BUN 13 Creatinine 0.9

FlapJack: BUN 14 Creatinine 1.1

Roscoe: BUN 15 Creatinine 1

Thanks,
Sarah

 

I had day lilies in the garden. Tiggy chewed on them all the time and I would shoo him away and then one day someone said they were toxic. I googled and found cases that said their cats had no problems at all, and other papers that said they could impact kidney function or even died within 48 hours.

I dug up the lilies but it was too late to do any treatment on Tiggy . That was a couple of years ago and tiggys kidney levels are fine.. Currently. I did tell my vet but he wasnt overly concerned becausr tiggy hasnt shown any poisoining symptoms.

however Maybe he will develop kidney problems later on but for all I know he could develop it anyway since its common in cats.

Don't know if that helps? But I hope your cats are ok too

Wendy

 

Thank you Wendy! That does make me feel a bit better.


From what I have read, it can take as little as 2 to 6 hours for damage and symptoms to develop, or 3 to 7 days. I can't seem to get any solid answers though. Even with the IV treatment, I've read 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours as the minimum treatment time.

I just pray that everything is fine with the blood work. :/

 

Paws crossed. Tiggy chewed and at least mouthed it for months.. if not a couple of years.. sounds like yours barely got any.. so lets hope!

let us know how they get on!

 

I have a friend whose two cats ate lilies a couple of years ago. The boy kitty died the first night. My friend assumes he ate the most because he was usually the instigator, and his sister probably came along later. The girl recovered and is still doing fine a couple of years later. I can't remember now how long she was on IV. I remember thinking it didn't seem long enough but it was a day or two. But if I remember correctly, her kidney values were much worse than your cat's, pretty touch and go. She did take her back to the vet for a recheck every few days for a couple of weeks to be sure she was still doing ok.

 

Just got back from the vet about 15 minutes ago. They took blood and urine from all three and they should have results back in the morning. The doctor said if everything comes back normal tomorrow, she thinks they will be fine and no need to worry or repeat any labs. If one or all come back off, we'll start treatment again and see where we go from there.

Everyone still seems fine. I gave them all some fancy feast when we got home.

Soo.. fingers crossed and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I hope for good news in the morning.

-Sarah

 

Blood work came back on the cats.

Kidney values are normal. I don't have the actual numbers, but I'll get a print out later to keep on file. But I think we're safe. The vet thinks so too.

However, they each had something slightly off on their blood work, which had nothing to do with the lily thing. Nothing awful from what the vet says. Roscoe and Amelia were slightly dehydrated according to the lab work, but she said most likely that was because they didn't drink enough water before they got to the vet. Amelia also has a small amount of crystals in her urine, which could be anything from diet, to a infection or she is just prone to this. I'm taking her in at 4pm to have them check her urine for a infection. And Flapjack had something off (don't recall the actual lab name) that was possibly due to a allergy. He is slightly allergic to chicken and normalyl eats rabbit and pea formula food, buuuut.. to be honest, I've been feeding him Fancy Feast canned for a couple of days, because I felt bad. You know, like when you give a kid a cookie because they hurt themselves or something. Kinda the same thing. The vet said that could very well be why this was off on his lab work. So none of these are things to be super worried about, according to the doctor. So.. YAY! Everyone seems fine. I feel a lot better now.

 

Thats great news!