Seriously just a bit of pollen could make your cat sick within a matter of minutes. Stay far away from Easter lilies if you have kitties!
Lilies, including the pollen, are FATAL to cats!
It’s nearing that time again. Remember, if you have a cat, don’t bring Easter lillies, or any in the same family, into your home!
Of all the plants people claim to be toxic to cats, this is THE plant to watch out for.
Poinsettias? potentially irritating sap, would need excessive doses to be toxic. Pothos? mildly irritating crystals in the leaves. Lilies? Organ failure.
Specifically, plants in the genus Lilium (Easter, Oriental, Tiger, Stargazer, etc etc) are the bad ones. Lily is a common name shared among a lot of different plants, some more or less toxic, but it’s the Liliums that are documented to be deadly to cats, specifically in causing kidney failure.
Amaryllis and Daffodils are other lily relatives that can be toxic, though not to the same level.
Daylilies (Hemerocalis) are unrelated plants but often listed as toxic (I’ve seen some debates from daylily people as to how true this is but better safe than sorry).
Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) is not actually a lily but is very toxic to humans as well as animals, though for different reasons than Liliums, causing cardiac issues.
Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum) are also unrelated and closer in the level of toxicity as a pothos, containing mildly irritating crystals but not deadly
Azalea/Rhododendrons are also a potential spring bloomer I would look out for, especially as I’ve seen a rise in popularity of the forced florist type azaleas this spring as an indoor pot plant. Ingestion can cause organ failure.
Vet tech here, this is all true. Do not bring lilies into your house this season if you have cats. Even if they’re ‘in a room where the cat doesn’t go’ or ‘the cat can’t reach it’. You want to know what owners tell me when they bring their cats in for lily ingestion treatment? The flowers were ‘in a room where the cat doesn’t go, but I went in there and then the phone rang so I left to get it, I only left the door open a minute’, and ‘they were up on top of the fridge where the cat can’t get, but it dropped some leaves.’ Just don’t risk it.
save the kitties!
