Heads up for you Mandolinists with Cats

This has minimal mandolin content, but I have noticed that there seem to be a fair number of people here who share their homes with cats (ie. pages and pages of cats sitting in cases :)), cats in avatars, etc.

Anyway, in hopes that you will not have a similar experience, I wanted to share the ordeal I have been going through involving lilies. In my case it was those wild orange daylilies often called tiger lilies, but most all species are equally lethal to cats.

We had a single flower in a bowl of water overnight. I do not know if either cat got into it. But it turns out these are so toxic, that even if there is a remote chance, prophylactic intervention is recommended. Just a few grains of pollen, a couple bites of any part of the plant, or even drinking the water from cut flowers can cause fatal kidney damage within a few days. By the time symptoms are noted, it is an uphill battle. SPCA poison control stresses prophylactic action even if ingestion is unconfirmed. 48 hour hospitalization with IV fluids and regular kidney checks are recommended.

I spent most of Sunday night at the emergency vet clinic. I did not opt for hospitalization, as the cost was unmanageable. Outpatient treatment was the second option. So they got subcutaneous fluids and a kidney check. The same yesterday at our own vet. So far so good. I have to go back late today for more fluids and another blood test, and if kidney values are okay, we are out of the woods.

Don't let this happen to your feline friends. Just say "NO" to lilies.

take it easy
Sue

Thank you Sue, I'm a cat owner all my life and never knew this. My best wishes to your kitteh.

We are a cat-friendly home (to say the least, we are a multi adopted-cat home). Kidneys are a major source of problems, especially for post-adult neutered male cats. Females (neutered and not neutered) tend to do better. And I understand that neutering is not optional for cats, it's just that it often causes problems down the road. For males, some vets will do vasectomies instead of castration, which helps. Anyway, we just had to say goodbye last month to a well loved 15-year old male feline family member due to kidney disease, and it's very hard.

Regarding kidney problems, some other things to watch include water freshness and quality, cleanliness of water dishes, foods that are better for kidneys, etc.

Indoor plants, including Christmas trees, are completely absent from our house. We also scan the floor and other areas daily for potential cat toys that are not safe for cats, including cellphone charger cords and stray pieces of fabric. About 15 years ago we nearly lost a cat that ate a 27" shoestring, paying an enormous fee to have surgery performed to remove it and a small portion of intestine. Since then we watch everything.

The payoff is years of affection, entertainment, and in fact servitude, because as any cat owner knows, cats require staff. Ooops, time to go -- it's time for the morning feeding!

As a kid we had a scare with our dog eating a houseplant so I've been cautious about plants & pets ever since. I have a cactus but that's it for indoor plants!

Thanks for the warning. I do have tiger lillies outside the front walkway area, but I don't have a cat.
Probably easier to just keep the flowers and not risk it by getting one. :cool:

Wow, I thought this would be another "my cat likes to sleep in my mandolin case" thread.

Or the less common, "my cat likes to play my F-5, but her claws are digging into the fretboard" thread.

In any case, hope the cat makes it through OK. There are a lot of unidentified toxic substances around. My friend, the blind gospel guitarist Kathy Lee Johnson, lost her Seeing-Eye dog when he licked up some spilled antifreeze in the back of someone's car. The environment can be dangerous for animals who ingest liquids that seem innocuous.

Oh mi gosh, I hope your fur baby will be alright. I’ve had cats my entire adult life and that means I have not been able to have houseplants or flowers except for roses...we take all the leaves off and arrange them nicely and they seem to leave them alone...alas my hubby has discovered it takes several dozen of them to look nice all stripped down in a vase...poor me...:cool:

One of the usual suspects is in my avatar - that’s my old boy Gabe, he’s 14 now but still likes to help with string changes.

thank you for this info Sue. i did not know this concerning the lillies. i have 3 rescues and they are in and outside boyz and girl. wonderful crazy companions. i have tried to police my house of things of this sort, felines can and will find anything.

d

Cats had to have an extra round of fluid as values were up a tad yesterday, but today got the all clear.
There are houseplants you can have, spider plants and others, and I always keep a pot of cat grass. But you have to know what you have and, as I now know, beware of certain cut flowers. Now back to regularly scheduled mandolin practice :mandosmiley:

Sue

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sue Rieter

Cats had to have an extra round of fluid as values were up a tad yesterday, but today got the all clear.
There are houseplants you can have, spider plants and others, and I always keep a pot of cat grass. But you have to know what you have and, as I now know, beware of certain cut flowers. Now back to regularly scheduled mandolin practice :mandosmiley:

Sue

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So glad the cats are going to be okay. I wouldn't ever have cat grass in my house because every cat I ever had in my life barfed shortly after eating grass. Not interested in the clean up, even if they love the stuff. I'll stick to catnip which has not caused any gastric events yet.

About 2 months ago, my daughter and I found two stray kittens who had been abandoned. Attempts to get them to a welfare shelter failed, so now we have two kittens. One, Marie, is fine, but her sister, bucket is, as described by the vet, a genetic disaster. Anyway, bucket threw a fit, and hasn’t walked properly since. This happened yesterday. I think she’s ok.

My self indulgent point is I hope your cat is ok. They are worries, aren’t they?

My cats are such jerks at knocking over vases of flowers we just don't have them in the home anymore. Hope yours bounce back to being lovable jerks soon!

Jamie

Sue, glad to hear your kitty is getting better. I've got a 30 year old cat on my lap,. and a 20 year old callico on the back of the couch. They sleep alot at that age.
The numerous barncats seem to be impervious to tigerlillies, but they are well fed. But i have had lilly plant troubles earlier with the housecats. The vet said, watch the color of thier gums. Should be pink. Yellow gums, get kitty to the vet! And mandolins are great. Everybody should have a few.

You have a 30 year old cat!? :disbelief:
How is that even possible?

Lots of love I guess.

Science diet (prescription w/d) most of her life. She came up to our door as a youngster, during a thunderstorm in 1990.

That's pretty amazing. Compared to your cats, my torti Smudge, at 14, is a youngster herself!