Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - Crisis OVER!

Starting yesterday my little rascal has started eating my plants like crazy.
The two plants I have are a Christmas cactus and a bamboo. I've looked both of these up and they aren't listed as poisonous. Is that correct? :?:
It looks like she ate the cactus but she tore apart the bamboo-I don't think that one was as tasty. :roll:

 

Re: Trinket just started eating plants

Actually, Traci...you need to really check the bamboo.

Most plants called Lucky Bamboo are actually Dracaena Sanderiana...and toxic to kitties.
I had 14 huge displays of them, but chose to get rid of them :sad:

big sloppy kisses to Merlin & Trinket from the Binkster

 

Re: Trinket just started eating plants

Eeeeek! Okay Celi. I need to do some more research.

What do I need to watch for?
Holy crap!!!!

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

Stupid, stupid me. I have a Lucky Bamboo plant that is toxic to cats. Somehow I didn't know this.
Until today neither of my cats have touched it. When I came home tonight there were branches knawed off it and they were on the floor. Doesn't look like she ate the leaves. She's resting quietly in her cat tree and doesn't have any symptoms. Is this an emergency? It's 9:30 easten time. I'd have to drive her about a half hour to the ER. Any thoughts?

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

Shoot...missed this.

Let me do some research, Traci...may have alarmed you un-necessarily...
Binks used to mess with my Lucky Bamboo all the time, and never showed any bad effects,
he even ate some once- and I had no idea it might not be okay for them.

celi

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

No Celi- you're RIGHT. It's all over the internet.
Stupid, stupid. The plant is now OUTSIDE.

I don't even know FOR SURE if it's Trink who did it because I wasn't here. I'm assuming it's her because she's shown interest in eating the cactus.
Anyway, she's playing and her normal self. I've been home for about 2.5 hours and neither of them are acting funny. I may suck it up and pay $65 to call the poison center. I called the ER and they don't know about that plant. The person who answered the phone called back to a doctor and then the phone person told me they'd have to call the poison center to find out how to treat it anyway.
I'll let you know....
Thank you for telling me. DON'T feel bad.

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

okay...gonna give you some links...and I don't want to sound alarmist...
but all the quick notes I've read say "extremely toxic to cats"

I'm think if it were me I'd take her in or at least call the vet to be sure...

this link tells symptoms to look for...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080616190509AAAwLOQ

http://www.ehow.com/facts_6103163_lucky-bamboo-plants-cats.html

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

Crossposted on lantus as well...
I know someone had extensive knowledge about this...
i'll look for the post where we talked about it last year...

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

I'm so sorry!

Hope that all is well with them both, girl :sad:

 

Re: Trinket may have eaten Lucky Bamboo - no symptoms though

I think you're already taking action...
but it was Peter-Devon-Mocha that went through this with their civvie Twix...
think it was a lily...but they are the same family as the dracaena..
link is here

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=55995&hilit= dracaena

 

Traci:

Call one of the ER centers in your area -- Angell or whatever the other one is in the Boston area. Or, call Tufts Vet School.

It was one of Devon's cats that ate a lily plant.

 

WOW- what an experience I've had tonight. I'm incredibly grateful for the poison control line.
Turns out that even though every piece of information on the internet about Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) plants is negative and sounds DIRE for cats who eat it - it's not really! Thank GOD!
She said they get calls about this plant all the time.

I happily paid my $65 to find out even if Trinket did eat it that the worst that could happen is that she would get a belly ache and she may throw up or get dilated pupils...and that would have happened about an hour after eating it. It's not really toxic like all the internet sites say. I asked a few times if they were absolutely positive and she said yes, they were very confident with their answer. I then got a case number in case I need to call them back for more guidance about it.

I am so happy I didn't just take off for the ER. The more I was reading on the internet, the more freaked out I was getting. I guess sometimes the internet isn't always accurate. It's just amazing that every single website I looked at said the same thing!

I guess I can go get the plant....I put it outside. I'm still going to give it away or bring it to work just because.

What a night!!!!!!

 

I think things like that are just one big game of telephone... started with a kitty eating one and getting an upset tummy... someone relayed to someone else that they are poisonous... someone down the line blew it completely out of proportion...

But now you can pass the proper answer on to others... not just the "well someone told me their friend's cousin's brother's cat ate it once and died so it must be super toxic" ... Good for you

 

Traci, I'm glad you got your anwer. All varieties of Dracaena are on my safe list for birds.

I didn't dare tell you that, since it could be totally differnt for cats. Whew!

 

Here's a list of plants poisonous to cats, for anyone who can open Excel.

This is obviously NOT a complete list.

 

OMG....talk about stressful. The more I looked into it, the more FREAKED I was getting. It seemed like I should RUSH to the ER from what I saw...that it was very toxic...even deadly. Like I said previously, I called the ER hospital I took her to for her broken leg (Mass Vet Referral Hospital) and they told me that they don't know about that particular plant so if I brought her in they would have called the number and probably charged me anyway. I decided that I'd call the poison hotline and do whatever they told me. It was $65 but I decided that peace of mind was worth it. I was very impressed with their knowledge and professionalism.

Here's a wild story for ya....
I had to call the poison hotline once a few years ago when I had Boomer because my landlord accidentally gave him my birth control pill instead of his pill. Imagine??? They were cat sitting for me. My landlords are a gay couple who have been together for about 30 years....they didn't know what birth control pills looked like. :lol: Later when I got home I went to take my pill and it wasn't there. I was so confused. I thought I must have already taken it. Then later I was chatting with them and one said he "thought it was cool that my cat's pills are sorted by day" or something like that. I immediately flipped and knew what happened with my pill. Luckily birth control pills aren't toxic to cats either - just in case anyone was wondering.....

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: OMG on the birth control pill!

wow...SO RELIEVED that this was a good solution, Traci...
the internet info sent me into panic mode

celi

 

LOL that's quite the story :lol:

 

Isn't that INSANE??? I'm like where the hell is my pill? There was no explanation! How could it just go missing? It was one of those things that made no sense but there was no answer....until later. I swear it was like a bolt of electricity went through me when he made the comment about the pills being sorted by day.

Imagine giving a birth contol pill to a cat? He was mortified!!!! Thank GOD Boomer was okay....I told everyone that story. You'd think that "everyone" would know what birth contol pills look like, right? Or at least have heard about it from the movies or something? Being a gay male is the perfect excuse! No exposure to that stuff :lol:

 

I'm so glad everything turned out OK! I was in a similar panic recently when I thought my new kittens ate part of a hen and chicks plant.

That being said... a bit of a rant... I think the whole poison control thing is kind of a racket. ASPCA puts the info out there that Plant X is "toxic" with no additional details. Other websites then mirror this so it's impossible to find any info other than "toxic." Then vets seem to have taken themselves out of the business of knowing anything about poison (or at least bearing the liability for telling you what they know), so they refer you to the ASPCA without even attempting to answer your question. Then ASPCA charges you $65 to tell you that "toxic" means kitty might have a little diarrhea, but probably not. At least this was my experience.

Ultimately, I don't mind donating $65 to the ASPCA, and it was well worth it to me to know that my kitties were safe. But I just find the whole thing a little sneaky, and it bothers me somewhat that they seem to be the gatekeepers of poison info. I'm also afraid the $65 might deter some people from calling when they really should.

 

Hi Jennifer-

You are right!!!! Now that I've stopped to think about it...the ASPCA website does say that the plant is toxic - yet I'm calling THEIR poison center. It DOES seem like a racket. And $65 is a lot of $$$$. I didn't feel like I had a choice. I guess I could have watched and waited but some site - can't remember which - said "don't wait for symptoms to start" so you're in a panic thinking you're a bad fur-parent for not wanting to pay the $65 and I'm choosing money over my cat. It's a horrible feeling.

 

A reliable source that listed what plants were toxic to what pets and how toxic you can expect them to be would be great.

Glad your cat is ok, for what it's worth mine have managed to nibble on some of my lucky bamboo as well as a Dracaena marginata and a Dracaena warneckii with no ill effects. A dog also mowed down the top of one of my Dracaena marginatas (supposidly 'toxic' to dogs as well) will no ill effects (the plant also fully recovered).

 

Agreed, I wasn't willing to watch and wait for symptoms with my cats either--too many horror stories about organ damage and that kind of thing. I would totally make the call again if I had to, I just wish there was a better source of information out there...

 

I know this thread has been long since resolved but Id like to chime in with a personal story, not a third hand account or some faceless Google search Q & A result. If you dont want to read my long story, Im just here to say...that the "Lucky Bamboo" can be extremely toxic to some cats.

First, the cast! Me, my fiancee Lisa, our two cats Dante and Chip and our hearty "Lucky Bamboo" (adopted from Walmart).

About a year ago our black ninja cat Dante got sick. At first his symtoms were odd, even funny. He began darting around the apartment like a mad man and YOWLING at the top of his lungs. A strange sound, not a meow...it kinda sounded a little tortured. But we laughed it off, assuming our cat was finally losing his mind Har har.

About two weeks passed and he got worse. His symtoms escalated to include lethargy, drooling, pupil dilation, loss of appetite and lack of any kind of box usage. He was deteriorating fast. We went to the vet, they did blood work, checked his vitals and he checked out. They asked us if we had any thing he could have gotten into, chemicals, toxic plants. We said no, well just that Bamboo plant. The vet said, nah that wouldn't be it, bamboo isn't toxic. We were baffled and frankly frustrated because we didn't make a habit of leaving poison out and the dumb bamboo plant was the only green thing that survived our "green thumb" lol.

A few days later Dante stopped roaming around our apartment, he would remain in one spot for hours on end staring at the walls. We had had enough and immediately took him to a local animal hospital. They noted he was acting strangely but, but again all his vitals checked out and they surmised he had gotten into something and he would be fine in a couple days. So they sent us on our way. The next morning he was drooling again, full on pupil dilation, and then he stumbled to the ground and had a full on grand mal seizure; afterwards he crawled towards me crying as I carefully scooped him into his carrier. I was heart broken, he was dying and I couldn't help him.

We rushed back to the animal hospital and he was admitted. By this point he was almost completely unresponsive; they gave him IV fluids, and every med they could think of to get the seizing under control. He almost coded out twice. That all being said the blood work came back clean and they suggested we go into the city and have an MRI done (estimated cost upwards of 1500). But with 4-5 days in the hospital we were already thousands in debt and we simply could not bare anymore. So with that the vet convinced us to bring him home and not put him to sleep. Our only tool, a script of phenobarbital. And so it went, he was never the same. He had small seizures from time to time and he could no longer jump to high places and his demeanor was changed for good. Sad, but we were happy he was alive.

Fast forward a year, our hearty Lucky bamboo finally grew so tall they one of the stalks flopped over. Dante was all over it, since the tall stalk now bent down he had easy access to his favorite plant. We laughed because he was eager to much on the leafs and almost knocked the thing over in the process. A few days later, extreme pupil dilation, drooling, increased seizure activity, lethargy and the rest. We couldn't sleep, we thought for sure whatever mystery brain condition he had, had finally come to take our ninja. On a hunch the next morning I googled Bamboo and the word cat. Sure enough a few links down,the poisonous lucky bamboo came into view. We immediately called the vet to point out that it was not just a Bamboo plant, and they said, oh...well we can run blood work and you can call animal poison control....gee thanks.

That plant went into the trash and now he is improving. So PLEASE, do not keep these plants if you have cats. Sure maybe you got lucky and your cat did not react, our second cat Chip never showed any interest in it; but there is a reason there are so many negative hits on google when it comes to these plants and cats....some of us have suffered.

 

Wow! Thank you for sharing. I am so sorry this happened to your cats.

 

Thank you for saying so, but Im happy to report he's improving everyday!

 

I recently got a PM on this board asking me about Dante. He got a bit better after I told this story, however he sorta just plateaued and never really was the same cat again.. He wasn't as acrobatic and now and again he would display some behavioral abnormalities. He got along ok, until about a year after my last post. The symptoms returned with a vengeance, and after a week in the hospital the vet recommended we put him to sleep. He stopped eating, using the box, cleaning himself; he just flat out stopped thriving. I've never had a dog or cat before, never had to deal with something like this. They brought him out to us..and they put him down on the table. The only sign of life he showed, was when I put my hand out close to his face...he smelled me and nudged his head into my open hand. It broke me and as I type this it still brings tears to my eyes. Anyway...sorry...Hes gone and we miss him terribly.

Let me get to the point. They offered to do an autopsy as they were absolutely baffled by his case. We consented and they found no abnormalities or disease in any part of his body. Unfortunately they did not have the ability to examine his brain so we never got any definitive answers. I still stand my assertion that the Lucky Bamboo plant killed my cat.

 

@WhoMe - I'm very sad to hear that Dante is no longer with you. Thank you for sharing his story. He was blessed to have such loving humans.