Please help - cat ate part of a lily, is it enough to bring her in?

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hellolucy

hellolucy

Member Since 2017
I have no idea how she got to it, as it was put in a practically unreachable spot, but found her all the way up there. I took the vase down and part of the lily flower was eaten on just one of the petals. All the green leaves seemed intact. She seems fine and hasn't thrown up anywhere and isn't acting strange. She just finished eating more food. All of this occurred within the past hour. Links to pictures are below. Is this enough to be serious? I am obviously more than willing to bring her in at any cost, but wanted to run it by the board first.

https://imgur.com/a/iNHLik3

https://imgur.com/a/QwkDCeL
 
My understanding is that it is the bulb of the lily that is the most toxic. That said, can you call your vet and ask them for advice?

ETA @hellolucy I should have looked at the pics before I posted, I seem to have my flowers mixed up. As others have noted, please seek vet help immediately.
 
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Wendy&Neko said:
Keep us posted.:bighug:
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Thank you so much everyone for your support. They (took her to the ER, I said vet earlier but misspoke) were able to induce vomiting, but she didn't throw up the flower. So, now she has to be hospitalized for 3 days and get charcoal to try and bind whatever part is in her digestive track and lots fluids. They're going to do kidney function tests every 24 hours. The vet said the prognosis is pretty good because I brought her in quickly and she wasn't having any symptoms yet, but only time will tell. Even though that was reassuring, I could barely see through the tears driving home and then just about lost it when I walked in the door and saw all her toys and beds. Even though I thought the flowers were way out of her leap, she found a way. I feel so horrendously terrible and guilty, I just assumed she'd never get to them. But they're never coming in the house again regardless. We are going to visit her tonight and bring her favorite bed and give her a pep talk.
 
hellolucy said:
Thank you so much everyone for your support. They (took her to the ER, I said vet earlier but misspoke) were able to induce vomiting, but she didn't throw up the flower. So, now she has to be hospitalized for 3 days and get charcoal to try and bind whatever part is in her digestive track and lots fluids. They're going to do kidney function tests every 24 hours. The vet said the prognosis is pretty good because I brought her in quickly and she wasn't having any symptoms yet, but only time will tell. Even though that was reassuring, I could barely see through the tears driving home and then just about lost it when I walked in the door and saw all her toys and beds. Even though I thought the flowers were way out of her leap, she found a way. I feel so horrendously terrible and guilty, I just assumed she'd never get to them. But they're never coming in the house again regardless. We are going to visit her tonight and bring her favorite bed and give her a pep talk.
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I'm not a flower/plant person, but my mother in law used to always bring these huge plants to our house and always within the hour my youngest (who was a kitten at the time) would be eating the soil. Never heard of another cat who just eats dirt like she does, but it'd send me into a panic- and ever since, any plant she brings over go straight into the trash. Just not willing to take the chance with kitty's who like plants and dirt! We also had an event where she ate half a tube of Neosporin. When I called the vet about that one, she said it was a common thing for cats to get into...who woulda thought! Now that I have it around again for my diabetic boy, I make sure it's somewhere she can't sink her teeth into it. Even he will try to lick it off his ear via his paw, and he always smells the tube and goes for a little lick if I keep it too close to him.

Anyways, on a more serious note, our kitties are incredibly and surprisingly resilient. I wouldn't worry too much, accidents happen and you could not have handled the situation any better. You did great, your baby will be just fine. I'm glad the vet is taking it seriously. Don't be so hard on yourself.
 
I've always cat proofed Simba and Gustav's Christmas tree since 1996 due to Simba, the plants and tinsel eater. For all years it worked and he never got hold of the tinsel. But in 2003, when I was away in the evening for Boxer Day party, Simba had been very inventive for those hours I was gone and managed to via the sofa back climb out on one Christmas tree bransch from were he could reach up and paw a part of the tinsel down. And he had eaten a lot of the tinsel and that's really really dangerous for the intestines e.t.c. But he had also vomitted up tinsel parts he had eaten, but I couldn't be sure if there were still parts left in his stomach and intestines. Luckily it wasn't. Gustav however would never come up with such a thing.
But there you see they outsmart us every now and then even if we try to cat proof for them.
I hope Lucy will be okay.
 
Now that she's at the vet it's time to forgive yourself if that's even necessary (I think not). Our dog has gnawed on a tube of After Bite, I used to use PineSol on the floors, Jasper once pooped out some tinsel and an X-ray showed Andrew had swallowed a staple. Theses things happen and they'll happen again. No one here is into shaming each other.
You'll both have a good Christmas and Lucy will get lots of love.
If you need a distraction see
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-night-before-christmas-iii.222893/#post-2492648
 
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list is also a good site to check before bring plants into the home.

You did not dilly-dally and got help as fast as possible. It is not your fault. One of my civvies was a string swallow. One liked to use plant containers as litter boxes. Rover, at his first home, ate some leaves from a dried eucalyptus arrangement and promptly puked it all back up again.

Look for a few cat edible plants to keep around the house. Cat grass, catnip, spider plants. Scroll down on the above link to the Non-Toxic plant list. Always double check against other sites on the internet.
 
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Oh, the all green spider plant is Simba's favourite! I've grewn them en mass during all long years in the living room just for him, so he always have had them to chew on keeping my boy happy :cat:
Gustav however have always had more integrity than Simba and have never even touched either plants, tinsel, strings e.t.c. The only flowers Gustav really loves are Roses :cat:
 
Thank you everyone for sharing your stories and making me feel a bit better and not like a terrible mama :cat:

Noah & me (GA) said:
Update please!
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We went and saw Lucy last night and she was very happy and being a troublemaker as usual. I brought her bed, food, and brushed her a bunch. The ER called early this morning and said she's being very talkative and friendly (you can hear Lucy clear across the house when she wants to say hi, so that is not a surprise!), and that she seems to be doing amazingly without any bad signs such as lethargy or not eating. They are going to do the 24 hour follow up test in a few hours which will hopefully come back with no significant changes to her kidney values. I am just trying to keep myself busy until that time, and am going to go see her again this afternoon...will keep everyone posted!
 
We were in the same leaky boat as you. Andy escaped for 88 days and by some miracle never got into anyone's leaking antifreeze, his numbers were all good.
I've heard more than once that visiting a cat in the hospital can backfire, as you leave they think "Hey, what about me?" I say nuts to that, I camp out in the staff room if needed. Not the same as a plant but I'm cleaning the cold-air return vents and heard a thunk/kaboom after the grill came off. I checked that all the cats were accounted for. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5!
The fun never ends! :eek:
 
hellolucy said:
Thank you everyone for sharing your stories and making me feel a bit better and not like a terrible mama :cat:


We went and saw Lucy last night and she was very happy and being a troublemaker as usual. I brought her bed, food, and brushed her a bunch. The ER called early this morning and said she's being very talkative and friendly (you can hear Lucy clear across the house when she wants to say hi, so that is not a surprise!), and that she seems to be doing amazingly without any bad signs such as lethargy or not eating. They are going to do the 24 hour follow up test in a few hours which will hopefully come back with no significant changes to her kidney values. I am just trying to keep myself busy until that time, and am going to go see her again this afternoon...will keep everyone posted!
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@hellolucy so happy to hear Lucy is doing OK. She is such a beautiful kitty.
I went to your first post so I can call you by your name but didn't see it, but I did see the picture you put up of Lucy at the vets, reaching up to the drawers, too cute
 
I am so sorry this happened but glad you were able to act quickly and get treatment.
Sheba was a cat that had a fascination with all plants and flowers and I can't tell you the number of times I had to induce vomiting (I would get her to eat grass and she always vomited after that). It didn't matter how high I had them, she got to them.
I could never have any flowers in the house with her and she was always trying to escape into the garden to eat the flowers.
None of my other cats were ever interested in flowers at all.
Now I have Harry who has the same fascination with them so I just never have any flowers in the house.
Please let us know how Lucy is progressing.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
@hellolucy so happy to hear Lucy is doing OK. She is such a beautiful kitty.
I went to your first post so I can call you by your name but didn't see it, but I did see the picture you put up of Lucy at the vets, reaching up to the drawers, too cute
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She has a thing for cabinets and drawers, especially at the vet's office. It's almost like she thinks she will find an escape hole in one :p
She pulled open and decided to take a nap in the bottom drawer when we went to see her last night: https://imgur.com/a/9VREepT

The night shift vet just called, and said everything is very boring with Lucy, which is good! Her values came back yesterday at the 24 hour mark without any issues, and they'll be doing the 48 hour test in about 8 - 9 more hours. He did mention once those tests come back, we can reevaluate if they think she needs to stay the full 72 hours. He said 72 hours is the protocol for things that cause kidney damage, because pets can be fine for the first 2 days, then something happens in the last third. They're just giving her fluids now to try and push things through. He said the tough thing with kidney damage is that the values don't start to show up as elevated until a pretty good amount of damage has already been done, so they are hard to treat. He said Lucy is being very social and happy and making lots of friends, so that if something were wrong, it would probably become obvious through her behavior. He also says if the values come back fine again today, that's another good sign. I'm a bit torn as to what to do in terms of keeping here there longer. I'm kind of erring on the side of caution at this point.
 
hellolucy said:
She has a thing for cabinets and drawers, especially at the vet's office. It's almost like she thinks she will find an escape hole in one :p
She pulled open and decided to take a nap in the bottom drawer when we went to see her last night: https://imgur.com/a/9VREepT

The night shift vet just called, and said everything is very boring with Lucy, which is good! Her values came back yesterday at the 24 hour mark without any issues, and they'll be doing the 48 hour test in about 8 - 9 more hours. He did mention once those tests come back, we can reevaluate if they think she needs to stay the full 72 hours. He said 72 hours is the protocol for things that cause kidney damage, because pets can be fine for the first 2 days, then something happens in the last third. They're just giving her fluids now to try and push things through. He said the tough thing with kidney damage is that the values don't start to show up as elevated until a pretty good amount of damage has already been done, so they are hard to treat. He said Lucy is being very social and happy and making lots of friends, so that if something were wrong, it would probably become obvious through her behavior. He also says if the values come back fine again today, that's another good sign. I'm a bit torn as to what to do in terms of keeping here there longer. I'm kind of erring on the side of caution at this point.
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I'm so glad everything is looking good so far, oh my lord that pic is so adorable and funny. Lucy seems to be such a friendly cat and loves to be around people. She is so pretty. Please keep us updated
 
If all goes okay at Lucy's second round of tests at 48 hours today, I will probably be picking her up. The ER just broke down my bill with me and it is $1.5K a day which seems astronomical to me just to keep an eye on her and give her fluids.
 
Can you take her to your regular vet for her third round of tests? Ask the ER vet for copies of the lab results and ask them to show you how to do fluids at home.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Can you take her to your regular vet for her third round of tests? Ask the ER vet for copies of the lab results and ask them to show you how to do fluids at home.
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That is a good idea, thank you, I'll have to ask them today. I've given one of my other kitties fluids before, so am somewhat familiar with it and confident I can do that part at home. I can call her vet tomorrow morning and ask about getting an appointment in the afternoon.
 
So I just couldn't take her out at 48 hours. The vet said they thought she'd probably be fine, but that 1% chance that her values would go wonky between 48 - 72 hours was just driving me nuts and I'd never forgive myself if something happened. Anyway, just picked her up after 3 days and her values are normal :) I have to make one more vet appointment in another 24 hours to get the tests ran one more time now that she's off fluids just in case, but she seems to be doing well. She is absolutely exhausted and a little annoyed o_O I think I've aged one year in 3 days!!
 
I think Lucy's new wild child life motto might be: If you're not living on the edge, you just take up too much space.

Actually it's been a bit of Simba and Gustav's motto when they were younger.

Boy they know how to both outsmart us and give us scares.

Hope entire Christmas goes well without anything more happens. No one wants to spend Christmas in an ER.
 
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