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Cat owners warned over killer flowers
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 06/05/2005)
A national alert has been issued to pet owners after
pollen from a bunch of supermarket flowers killed a cat.

When John Hartnett bought his wife oriental stargazer
lilies, he was unaware that he was passing a death
sentence on the family's 13-year-old Siamese, Catalina.
The cat brushed against the flowers then licked the
pollen from its fur. Within minutes she started being
sick and, within hours, had died after going blind,
suffering renal failure and becoming virtually paralysed.

The RSPCA, which is reporting an increase in such cases,
is to launch a campaign to alert people to the dangers
and lobby for warnings on the flowers.
The RSPCA said: "The problem of lilies isn't widely
known and we are seeing an increase in the number of
cases we come across. This is because the flowers are
becoming more readily available in Britain.
"All lilies are poisonous to cats, with just one leaf
eaten possibly leading to death. We will now be urging
both manufacturers and producers to issue warnings on
their goods so that consumers have an informed choice.
"We also hope to work with the Royal College for
Veterinary Surgeons' poison department to produce
information fact sheets and figures on this awful
matter."

Mr Hartnett, 51, a computer engineer from Folkestone,
Kent, said: "Catalina was a curious, fastidious animal
and would have investigated the new flowers. But this
proved absolutely fatal.
"She endured a vile death. She was suffering terribly. I
blame myself but the vet we rushed her to said there was
just no chance to save her.
"We have seen the flowers in many places, all with no
warnings at all. In America, I have discovered that
there is immense coverage on this subject warning people
of the dangers but, here, there is nothing.
"I can't believe something so simple as a flower can
kill pets in such a terrible, terrible way, and there is
absolutely no way of knowing about it."
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals singles out the Easter lily (Lilium
longiflorum), tiger lily (Lilium tigrinum), rubrum lily
(Lilium speciosum), Japanese show lily (Lilium
lancifolium) and some species of the day lily
(Hemerocallis) as liable to cause kidney failure in
cats.

The Feline Advisory Bureau, a charity based in Tisbury,
Wilts, said: "Symptoms of poisoning from these plants
include protracted vomiting, anorexia and depression and
ingestion can cause severe, possibly fatal, kidney
damage."

Cats can survive if taken to a vet within six hours but
the chances of survival decrease rapidly after that.
After 18 hours, the kidneys stop working.
Alex Campbell, a toxicologist and managing director of
the Poison Advisory Service for vets, said: "When we
recieve a call about cats coming into contact with any
of the lilium flower family we treat it very seriously
indeed. It is one of the worst reactions an animal can
come across and it needs highly aggressive management.
All parts of a lily are extremely toxic.
"A cat that comes into contact with a lily deteriorates
very rapidly. I have even heard of a cat being given
human dialysis in an attempt to overcome the effects of
toxins in the kidneys."

The danger to cats only began to emerge in 1990 when the
first incident was reported in America. Last year, the
poison control centre at the ASPCA handled 275 cases.
John Cushnie, a panellist on Gardeners' Question Time,
advised gardeners who wanted to avoid harm to cats to
select tall lilies and stake those that need support.



That's strange. I have two 8 year old, white, Pedigree Nowegian Forest cats,
only 5 generations from wild stock. Perhaps they have a higher constitution
than more inbred types of cats.

We regularly buy Asiatic Lilies and Stargazer Lilies mainly for their
beautiful scent and both cats nibble the floweres and leaves.

Neither have shown any side effects, the only trouble is getting the yellow
pollen out of white fur.

Before I get flamed for keeping cats, they are both house cats as it would
be too dangerous to let them out as they are both stone deaf and friendly
so, either they couldn't hear traffic and could get run over or they are so
friendy they would be stolen.

--
Regards,
Alan

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