Weekday: 8:30am to 6:00pm | Saturday: Closed Sunday: Closed
Weekday: 8:30am to 6:00pm (open until 8pm Tuesday & Thursday) | Saturday: 9am to 2pm | Sunday: 9am to 12pm
We recently celebrated my wife’s 40th birthday (it’s mine later this year). She was sent a beautiful bunch of flowers which contained several lilies. Knowing that certain types of lilies are toxic to cats, I suggested we throw out the lilies to be safe. My wife felt this was ungrateful and we compromised by putting the lilies in the utility room. I left to go on a two-day course the next morning and the last thing I said to the family was “make sure the utility room door is kept shut!”. Herein lies the tale, ‘When vet’s pets get ill’.
I received a call from my wife at 11 pm the same evening. Someone had left the door open and Kit (my cat) was sitting next to the lilies. My wife was 99% sure he had not eaten any. Unfortunately, even small amounts of lilies can cause acute and life-threatening kidney failure. The whole plant is toxic but the most toxic parts are the pollen, stamen and petals. My wife took Kit into the surgery in the morning to have some blood tests and put him on intravenous fluids. You have an 18-hour window following ingestion to start fluids and this gives an excellent prognosis. If cats have already gone into renal failure and stopped producing urine, the prognosis is very poor.
His blood tests were all clear but he was hospitalised for 48hrs on fluids. He settled in pretty quickly and when I visited him the following day on my return, he seemed happy. He just wanted food and a fuss as normal. We brought him home yesterday and barring a few shaved patches (for blood tests and a drip), he is completely fine.
Maybe a lucky escape, maybe my treatment could be considered over the top but why take any chances? Looking back we should have been more careful with the lilies but hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was a genuine mistake. I suppose the important thing is we knew the risk lilies posed and how to act in the event he had become poisoned.
Vet’s pets are not immune to the same risks as any other pet. There are so many hazards around the home that pet owners are unaware of and many are plant-based. Even with awareness, accidents often happen. Vigilance is important and it is worth having a look at some of the lists online.
The pet poisons helpline www.petpoisonhelpline.com and the Kennel Club www.thekennelclub.org.uk are useful resources but there are many others. The important thing is to try and be aware of the common poisons but if there is any doubt, contact your vet for advice.
