h2>Dear Boo:

What symptoms appear in a cat after having ingested lilies? I understand lilies can be very toxic to cats. Please enlighten me.

Thanks, Businessman…

Dear Chris:

You are absolutely right. Many lilies, including easter lilies and stargazers are very toxic to cats. The leaves are the toxic part of the plant. The lilies can cause severe life-threatening kidney failure in cats who have ingested their leaves. These cats may show signs of illness noticeable to their owners within 2-4 hours of ingesting the lilies, or they may show no signs for 12-24 hours. If an owner is aware that a cat has ingested lily leaves, immediate veterinary care is essential. The veterinarian will often try to make the cat vomit (there are drugs that help with this) or give enemas to try to rid the cat of the toxic substances. Additionally, aggressive intravenous fluid therapy in the hospital for 48-72 hours is essential to try to prevent the kidneys from failing. Lilies are beautiful flowers, but they sure don’t belong in the presence of any cat. I’ve seen too many cats here at my Cat Hospital of Chicago who were stuck here for a few days of therapy after having eaten lilies – but fortunately they all went home in good health, and thanked us for the good care that they received, even though they would much rather have been at home.

Best regards, (and say ‘no’ to lilies),

Boo

P. S. For a list of other plants that are harmful to us cats, check out this library page.