A Warning to ALL Cat Owners
I *know* better, I am a vet and this still happened to me, so please learn from my mistake....
We are going to visit my grandparents-in-law for Easter lunch and I wanted to bring them a small gift. When I was shopping they had some gorgeous Easter lillies that I couldn't pass up. I know that Easter lillies are toxic to cats, and I deliberated about even bringing it in the house. It is going to go below freezing tonight so I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave it in my car.
I set it up on our big screen TV that is about 6.5 feet tall - I figured there was no way my cat Iris could jump up there, just while I went to the bathroom and put the ice cream away. Five minutes later, she is up on the TV - she had munched the ends off of 10 leaves.
I gave Iris hydrogen peroxide right away and I counted all the leaf pieces she vomited up, it looked like everything was there. I checked with an ER vet to see if I was ok since I caught it quickly or if they recommended full treatment. They said that they can absorb enough just in their mouths that it could cause big problems (lillies can cause irreversible kidney damage/failure) - they advised me to get her to the hospital ASAP to get charcoal and start fluids to flush out her system - for at least *48* hours...
So I drove a fast and furious 50 mile ride to my work, thankfully my boss came in to meet me there - I'm good but not talented enough to put an IV catheter in a cat all by myself - this was only about 2 hours ago. Now I get to cross my fingers and pray because we won't know until probably at least 24 more hours what her kidneys are going to do.
I'm hoping we will be lucky that we caught it so quick - many people don't realize what has happened until it is too late.
Please, PLEASE - if you have a cat, do not even bring an Easter Lily plant into your home. It's not worth the risk.
(Any prayers/good thoughts/fingers crossed are appreciated)
I *know* better, I am a vet and this still happened to me, so please learn from my mistake....
We are going to visit my grandparents-in-law for Easter lunch and I wanted to bring them a small gift. When I was shopping they had some gorgeous Easter lillies that I couldn't pass up. I know that Easter lillies are toxic to cats, and I deliberated about even bringing it in the house. It is going to go below freezing tonight so I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave it in my car.
I set it up on our big screen TV that is about 6.5 feet tall - I figured there was no way my cat Iris could jump up there, just while I went to the bathroom and put the ice cream away. Five minutes later, she is up on the TV - she had munched the ends off of 10 leaves.
I gave Iris hydrogen peroxide right away and I counted all the leaf pieces she vomited up, it looked like everything was there. I checked with an ER vet to see if I was ok since I caught it quickly or if they recommended full treatment. They said that they can absorb enough just in their mouths that it could cause big problems (lillies can cause irreversible kidney damage/failure) - they advised me to get her to the hospital ASAP to get charcoal and start fluids to flush out her system - for at least *48* hours...
So I drove a fast and furious 50 mile ride to my work, thankfully my boss came in to meet me there - I'm good but not talented enough to put an IV catheter in a cat all by myself - this was only about 2 hours ago. Now I get to cross my fingers and pray because we won't know until probably at least 24 more hours what her kidneys are going to do.
I'm hoping we will be lucky that we caught it so quick - many people don't realize what has happened until it is too late.
Please, PLEASE - if you have a cat, do not even bring an Easter Lily plant into your home. It's not worth the risk.
(Any prayers/good thoughts/fingers crossed are appreciated)