I've had my rescue cat since March and hadn't had fresh flowers in the house since his arrival. Almost 2 months ago, my sister brought me a gorgeous bouquet of lilies and baby's breath. I ran to put them in water and placed them on the dining table, then ran to my DH's office to tell him about them and how wonderful they smelled. We walked together to see them, maybe 30 seconds later, and our kitty was nibbling on the leaves. He ate about a half of one full leaf, before we shooed him away.
It hit me that they might be poisonous, so I googled and was horrified to find that indeed they are known to be poisonous to cats. I put the bouquet in the garage and called the vet. Of course this was a Sunday, (why does EVERYTHING happen on the weekends?). We ended up having to go to an emergency clinic and long story short, they told me there was little to be done as even with invasive methods, there was only a 30% chance of survival and the treatments are stressful, etc. They told me to watch for changes in eating/drinking and check that he could pee ok.
He stopped eating for 2 days or so and drank little. He lost 4.2 pounds pretty much overnight of that first day. At the 4th day he started eating normally again and peeing normal amounts. He's yet to recover the full 4 pounds lost. He's made 2 up. He is now at 16.4 pounds so it's not like he's frail or anything. He was strong, thankfully, and has been deemed out of the woods by the vet.
So my question is, do you cat owners forgo fresh flowers entirely, or are there certain flowers that are safe? I have some faux palms and ficus trees inside the house that he loves to chew on. He never removes the leaves, just chews the leaves, open mouthed and then saunters off.
It hit me that they might be poisonous, so I googled and was horrified to find that indeed they are known to be poisonous to cats. I put the bouquet in the garage and called the vet. Of course this was a Sunday, (why does EVERYTHING happen on the weekends?). We ended up having to go to an emergency clinic and long story short, they told me there was little to be done as even with invasive methods, there was only a 30% chance of survival and the treatments are stressful, etc. They told me to watch for changes in eating/drinking and check that he could pee ok.
He stopped eating for 2 days or so and drank little. He lost 4.2 pounds pretty much overnight of that first day. At the 4th day he started eating normally again and peeing normal amounts. He's yet to recover the full 4 pounds lost. He's made 2 up. He is now at 16.4 pounds so it's not like he's frail or anything. He was strong, thankfully, and has been deemed out of the woods by the vet.
So my question is, do you cat owners forgo fresh flowers entirely, or are there certain flowers that are safe? I have some faux palms and ficus trees inside the house that he loves to chew on. He never removes the leaves, just chews the leaves, open mouthed and then saunters off.
