Lilies In The House Immediately Removed- Potential Danger?

[alzycat]

Hey everyone,

A lot of you know my cat Yoshi from my other long thread about her health, but I have a different question for you all today: my mom brought a bouquet of flowers into my house today, put it in a vase, and set it on the kitchen counter (an area Yoshi frequents). I immediately inspected the bouquet because I know that some flowers, especially lilies, are very dangerous to cats. The bouquet had one lily in it, so I immediately took the lily out and threw it in the compost outside, washed all the counters, washed my hands, and told my mom to wash her hands. I wanted to throw the whole bouquet away, to be safe, but I'm not sure if that's necessary (and I didn't want to hurt my mom's feelings and throw away her gift). I know that Yoshi had absolutely NO contact with the lily, and it was in the house for maybe an hour at most. That was around 5 hours ago, and Yoshi seems fine, but now I'm feeling paranoid. Should I throw the whole bouquet away? And should I worry that somehow a pollen particle from the lily ended up on Yoshi?

 

[alzycat]

I was stressing out way too much so I just threw the whole bouquet away, changed all my clothes, washed the counters again, and washed my hands again..

 

[DreamerRose]

If Yoshi didn't chew on the lily or the leaves, there's no reason to be concerned. The rest of the bouquet is probably fine. I have a huge peace lily (which is not related to the lily family) that is supposed to be toxic to cats, but my cats are not bothered by it although they have chewed on it a little. It must not have tasted good, and the cats are fine.

 

[alzycat]

DreamerRose Thank you for the reply! Nope, she definitely didn't chew any part of it. If anything, I was worried that she brushed up against it or something without me knowing, got the pollen on her fur, licked it off, etc etc. But she was with me the whole time they were in the house, and I did not see her on the kitchen counter at all while they were there.
I guess we get a little paranoid when it comes to our cats.

 

[DreamerRose]

So true, so true. We all do foolish things sometimes. I rushed off to the vet when Mingo ate a packing peanut one day. Turned out that this type of peanut dissolves in water, so no worries.

 

[alzycat]

DreamerRose I would do the exact same thing!

 

[Anne]

I can only imagine your reaction when you saw the flowers Sounds to me like you took all possible precautions. I'm sure your watching Yoshi like a hawk for any symptoms. Fingers crossed that none show up - do let us know if they do.

And for the benefit of other readers -
Cats & Lilies: Avoid The Danger Lurking In Your Home

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Flowers and plants are a slippery slope in our house with our cat, which is why I sadly have only two cacti and nothing else. Even then, Milly has attempted to confront the cacti.

It's the tulip time of year where I live now. I wish I could keep some tulips in our house, but Milly's a chomper.

 

[duckpond]

My cats are all chompers and players no plants in my house at all. Live or fake ones. They think they are the best toys

 

[sweetblackpaws]

You made the right call in tossing the bouquet. Why take a chance in order to have a bouquet of flowers in the house?

Cats see flowers/leaves as an all-you-can-eat "buffet".

 

[alzycat]

Thank you Anne and everyone else! I'm definitely glad I didn't take any chances. Yoshi is still fine so I think we're in the clear

 

[KarenKat]

I woke up one morning a while back to Gohan’s orange face. He got into some lily pollen. He never had any health effects but I think that was luck. No more lilies for us! Glad Yoshi is ok too!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Before I knew about the danger, I had three cats living in the back yard. There were lilies planted by the back door. None of my cats ever bothered them. We moved and nothing was in the yard here. I did some studying about what to plant and that is when I learned, don't have lilies. We were blessed our cats ate grass, not flowers.

 

[alzycat]

KarenKat and blueyedgirl5946 sounds like you both got very lucky!

 

[tarasgirl06]

I used to buy big florist bouquets for my mom, who loved them. I'd often pick ones with Stargazer lilies because they are so beautiful. Her cat never showed any interest in them, thankfully. I have what she always called Bonnie & Clyde lilies and Day Lilies in the yard -- sometimes they come up and sometimes not. They've never caused anyone any harm. My cats are indoor-only, of course, and most people in this neighborhood are caring and responsible enough to keep their cats indoors only as well.

 

[gareth]

Lillies get beheaded the moment I see them. They are beautiful, but I will not have them in the house.

When someone bought my wife a big bunch of lillies to celebrate the birth of our baby daughter, I cut the heads of all of them and gave her a bunch of stems. Obviously, I bought her another bunch of cat-safe flowers to make up for it

 

[tarasgirl06]

Lillies get beheaded the moment I see them. They are beautiful, but I will not have them in the house.

When someone bought my wife a big bunch of lillies to celebrate the birth of our baby daughter, I cut the heads of all of them and gave her a bunch of stems. Obviously, I bought her another bunch of cat-safe flowers to make up for it

Good on ya. I would never have them, either. But what I DO have has caused at least one person to post in concern. *No, they're not real. They're "silk" flowers from Michael's. With ones this pretty, who needs the real ones anyway?*

*Tarifa with lilies. Everyone's safe, and everyone's happy. Lilies courtesy of Michael's.*