RE: Lilies and Cats ?!?

Gosh...I didn't know this and I grow several varieties of lilies,
including some listed in that article. Guess I won't cut any of them and
bring them inside where the cat lives. :-(



Melody 
Hills, IA  zone 5



 --- On Wed 05/25, James R. Fisher < garrideb@well.com > wrote:
From: James R. Fisher [mailto: garrideb@well.com]
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 12:48:21 -0400
Subject: [CHAT] Lilies and Cats ?!?

From the Yahoo Lilium list; have those of you who grow both heard
of<br>this
?<br>-jrf<br>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br>Subject:
Re: [Lilium] poisoning<br>Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 09:22:53 -0400<br>From:
arnold trachtenberg <Arnold@nj.rr.com><br><br>at owners warned over
killer flowers<br>By David Sapsted<br>(Filed: 06/05/2005)<br><br>A
national alert has been issued to pet owners after pollen from a
bunch<br>of supermarket flowers killed a cat.<br><br>When John Hartnett
bought his wife oriental stargazer lilies, he was<br>unaware that he was
passing a death sentence on the family's 13-year-old<br>Siamese,
Catalina.<br><br>The cat brushed against the flowers then licked the
pollen from its fur.<br>Within minutes she started being sick and,
within hours, had died after<br>going blind, suffering renal failure and
becoming virtually paralysed.<br><br>The RSPCA, which is reporting an
increase in such cases, is to launch a<br>campaign to

alert people to the dangers and lobby for warnings on
the<br>flowers.<br><br>The RSPCA said: "The problem of lilies isn't
widely known and we are<br>seeing an increase in the number of cases we
come across. This is<br>because the flowers are becoming more readily
available in Britain.<br><br>"All lilies are poisonous to cats, with
just one leaf eaten possibly<br>leading to death. We will now be urging
both manufacturers and producers<br>to issue warnings on their goods so
that consumers have an informed choice.<br><br>"We also hope to work
with the Royal College for Veterinary Surgeons'<br>poison department to
produce information fact sheets and figures on this<br>awful
matter."<br><br>Mr Hartnett, 51, a computer engineer from Folkestone,
Kent, said:<br>"Catalina was a curious, fastidious animal and would have
investigated<br>the new flowers. But this proved absolutely
fatal.<br><br>"She endured a vile death. She was suffering terribly. I
blame myself<br>but the vet we rushed

her to said there was just no chance to save her.<br><br>"We have seen
the flowers in many places, all with no warnings at all.<br>In America,
I have discovered that there is immense coverage on this<br>subject
warning people of the dangers but, here, there is nothing.<br><br>"I
can't believe something so simple as a flower can kill pets in such
a<br>terrible, terrible way, and there is absolutely no way of knowing
about it."<br><br>The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals singles<br>out the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum), tiger lily
(Lilium tigrinum),<br>rubrum lily (Lilium speciosum), Japanese show lily
(Lilium lancifolium)<br>and some species of the day lily (Hemerocallis)
as liable to cause<br>kidney failure in cats.<br><br>The Feline Advisory
Bureau, a charity based in Tisbury, Wilts, said:<br>"Symptoms of
poisoning from these plants include protracted vomiting,<br>anorexia and
depression and ingestion can cause severe, possibly fatal,<br>kidney

damage."<br><br>Cats can survive if taken to a vet within six hours but
the chances of<br>survival decrease rapidly after that. After 18 hours,
the kidneys stop<br>working.<br><br>Alex Campbell, a toxicologist and
managing director of the Poison<br>Advisory Service for vets, said:
"When we recieve a call about cats<br>coming into contact with any of
the lilium flower family we treat it<br>very seriously indeed. It is one
of the worst reactions an animal can<br>come across and it needs highly
aggressive management. All parts of a<br>lily are extremely
toxic.<br><br>"A cat that comes into contact with a lily deteriorates
very rapidly. I<br>have even heard of a cat being given human dialysis
in an attempt to<br>overcome the effects of toxins in the
kidneys."<br><br>The danger to cats only began to emerge in 1990 when
the first incident<br>was reported in America. Last year, the poison
control centre at the<br>ASPCA handled 275 cases.<br><br>John Cushnie, a
panellist on

Gardeners' Question Time, advised gardeners<br>who wanted to avoid harm
to cats to select tall lilies and stake those<br>that need
support.<br><br>-- <br>Jim Fisher<br>Vienna, Virginia USA<br>38.9 N 77.2
W<br>USDA Zone 7<br>Max. 105 F [40 C], Min. 5 F [-15
C]<br><br>---------------------------------------------------------------------<br>To
sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the<br>message
text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT<br><br>


_______________________________________________
Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com
The most personalized portal on the Web!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index