Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Protecting Your Cat from Easter Dangers

An Easter Lily graphic that says, "Protect Your Cat from Easter Dangers."
Easter is a fun and joyous time of year.  However, as with any other holiday, there are potential dangers to our furry friends.  These dangers include toxic plants and flowers, decorative Easter grass, and candy.  Please continue reading to learn about these potential dangers as well as how you can protect your cat from them this Easter.

Toxic Flowers and Plants: Many beautiful flowers begin to bloom in Spring.  However, many of these beautiful flowers are also very dangerous to your cat.  Please note that this is not a complete list of toxic flowers and plants.  You can visit the ASPCA's list of toxic and non-toxic plants for a more complete list.

Easter Lilies: I would highly suggest NOT bringing home Easter lilies if you have a cat as part of your family.  All "true lilies" are incredibly toxic to cats.  Ingesting even a few leaves or petals from a "true lily," drinking water from the lily's vase, or licking pollen off its fur can cause acute kidney failure in cats.  "True lilies" come from the Lilium or Hemerocallis species and include the Tiger, Easter, Western, Red, Japanese Show, Asiatic Hybrid, Day, Rubrum, Wood, and Stargazer lilies.  All parts of these lilies are toxic - stems, leaves, petals, and pollen.  

Clinical signs typically appear six to 12 hours after ingestion and may include decreased or excessive thirst, lack of appetite, vomiting, decreased or excessive urination, dehydration, lethargy, acute kidney failure, and death.  Symptoms will worsen as kidney failure develops.  Some cats may also experience seizures, disorientation, and staggering.  If you suspect your cat has ingested any type of "true lily," please take her to a veterinarian immediately.  The sooner a kitty is treated for lily toxicity, the better her chances of survival.  Treatment includes giving medication, such as activated charcoal that binds the poison in the stomach and intestines, giving intravenous fluids to help flush out the kidneys, inducing vomiting, and using blood tests to monitor kidney function.





Benign lilies, such as the Peace, Peruvian, and Calla Lily are safer to have around kitties, though they still cause mouth irritation if ingested.  If a cat ingests any part of a benign lily, he may experience drooling, vomiting, foaming, and pawing at the mouth.  In rare cases cats may also have trouble breathing after eating part of a benign lily.

A white daffodil. Daffodils are toxic to cats.
Daffodils: Daffodils are also toxic to cats.  If a cat ingests a small amount of daffodil, she may vomit, have diarrhea, and/or drool.  Daffodils ingested in large quantities may lead to a cat experiencing low blood pressure, tremors, arrhythmias, and convulsions.

Hyacinth: Hyacinths are beautiful flowers, but they are also poisonous to kitties.  When ingested, a Hyacinth can cause intense vomiting and diarrhea (occasionally with blood), tremors, and depression.

Azalea: Vomiting, diarrhea, excessive drooling, central nervous system depression, weakness, coma, low blood pressure, cardiac collapse, and death are all possible when a cat ingests azalea.

Sweet Pea: Though very beautiful, Sweet Pea is another flower toxic to cats.  Ingestion of Sweet Pea can cause pacing, weakness, head pressing, lethargy, seizures, tremors, and death.

If you believe your cat has ingested any type of toxic plant, please contact your veterinarian or local animal hospital right away.  You can also contact the ASPCA Poison Control hotline at 888-426-4435.  Please note: the ASPCA charges a $65 consultation fee.

Safe Alternatives: Fortunately, there are a number of beautiful flowers you can keep in your home that aren't toxic to cats.  Some of these include Roses, Easter Orchids, Easter Daisies, Bachelors Buttons, Camellias, Cornflowers, Petunias, Gerber Daisies, Hollyhocks, Impatience Plants, and Zinnias.  You can view a more complete list of plants not toxic to cats on the ASPCA website.

Easter baskets containing fake Easter grass, chocolate, and other candies are potential hazards for cats.
Easter Grass: One of my favorite things about Easter when I was growing up was picking out the grass that would go in my Easter basket - it comes in such fun colors!  Back then I didn't know how dangerous Easter grass is to cats.  Thankfully, our kitty never ate any of our grass!

Even though our kitty wasn't interested in Easter grass, most cats have a very difficult time resisting eating stringy things like fake Easter grass, ribbon, tinsel, yarn, or string.  Sometimes stringy objects can pass through a cat's body with no problem.  Other times, the ingested stringy object will cause an intestinal obstruction, which can only be treated by surgically removing the object swallowed.  Signs of an intestinal obstruction can include vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, straining to have a bowel movement or producing only a small amount of feces, abdominal pain or tenderness, drooling, and lack of appetite.  VCA Animal Hospitals also states that your cat may exhibit behavioral changes if he has an intestinal obstruction, such as hissing or growling when you touch his stomach or try to pick him up.  He may also paw at his face or mouth if a stringy object got wrapped around the base of his tongue.

If you suspect your kitty has ingested any type of string-like object, please take him to your veterinarian or local animal hospital.

Safe Alternative: Instead of using fake Easter grass, line the bottom of children's baskets with fabric in their favorite color.  Take any ribbons off the basket so that your kitty cannot play with or eat them.  I would also suggest keeping your children's Easter baskets out of your cat's reach in a high cabinet so he cannot play with or eat any of the basket's contents.

Black and white rabbit.
Chocolate: You are probably already aware that chocolate is toxic to cats.  However, did you know that the darker the chocolate is the more toxic it is?  Chocolate contains substances known as methylxanthines.  White chocolate is the least toxic to cats because it contains the least amount of methylxathines while dark baker's chocolate contains the most methylxanthines, making it the most toxic to cats.

Symptoms of chocolate toxicity vary depending on what type of and how much chocolate your cat ate.  Symptoms can range from vomiting, restlessness, abdominal pain, and increased thirst to high body temperature, muscle tremors, severe agitation, irregular heart rhythm, seizures, and death.  If you think your kitty has eaten chocolate, please call your veterinarian, local animal hospital, or the ASPCA Poison Control hotline.

Xylitol: Xylitol is an artificial sweetener found in some candies, gum, baked goods, and toothpaste.  According to WebMD, xylitol can lead your kitty's body to produce more insulin, which results in a drop in blood sugar (hypoglycemia).  Initial clinical signs of xylitol toxicity in cats may include loss of coordination, vomiting, and lethargy.  Some kitties may also have seizures.  Liver failure can occur a few days after a cat eats something containing xylitol as well.  It's important to have your companion checked out by a veterinarian if you believe she has eaten something containing xylitol.

Safe Alternatives: Cats should never eat any type of candy or gum.  However, if you want to give your kitty a tasty treat on Easter, purchase his favorite kind of cat treats.  Alternatively, you could purchase some new cat treats for him to try.

Do you have any Easter plans?  Please tell us about them in the comments section!

Sources:

Pet Health Network: Easter Lily Poisoning in Cats. 

Pet Poison Helpline: Easter Pet Poisons.

VCA Animal Hospitals: Ingestion of Foreign Bodies in Cats.

WebMD: Foods Your Cat Should Never Eat.

ASPCA: People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets.

28 comments:

  1. Great info. All my life, I've been around Easter grass and have never had a problem with it. TW always had many of those toxic plants in her yard and the outdoor kitties never got sick from them. I think humans worry too much cos we know how to take care of ourselves.

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  2. Thank you for reminding us about the dangers that Easter can pose for our cats!

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  3. My human always worries about me even getting near anything that could be remotely toxic to me! We stay far, far away from lilies when we are out and about.

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  4. Thanks for the reminders. I knew bout lilies but not daffodils or hyacinths. xox

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  5. Hi! This is a good article. There were some I didn't know and some that were good reminders. Since there's just two middle-aged adults and two kitties here, there aren't any fun things like Easter baskets with the grass. I never thought about that grass being a problem for kitties but it definitely makes sense. Although, we celebrate Easter, we don't have much planned. If it's nice out, in the afternoon we'll open the windows for the kitties.

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  6. Thank you, thank you! Thank you for posting this information to remind everyone to pay close attention and leave these things elsewhere!

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  7. Excellent post. No lillies in this house.

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  8. Great info, Sierra! We are very careful about what we bring into the house -- never lilies, daffodils, or tulips, for sure.

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  9. Thanks for sharing this info about plants. We don't have any big plans for Easter. We're hoping to get a taste of the peeps' dinner.

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  10. Thanks for a good article that may save some kitties lives. Well done
    When Dad was fostering he had one little fellow that was intrigued with string. He would grab anything stringy and start chomping. Luckily Dad saw him trying to eat some and checked the whole foster room for anything that could hurt this kitten. Dad even removed the string that was used to sew the bag of litter closed. That is something people may miss.
    Anymeow
    When Dad was changing their litter the next day he picked up the bag and... Sploosh! It all came out the bottom. The kitten pulled the sew closed string from that part of the bag. The kit was fine and passed the string while Dad learned that cats can work quite hard to get what they want. Our house is without string, rubber bands, plastic bags (I like to nosh on those) and of course, Easter grass.
    Purrs Sierra
    Timmy and Family

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  11. Mommy's favorite flowers are Lilies, but she says she can do without them. We're more important!

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  12. So glad to see all of these reminders this time of the year. Awareness is key and it is so easy to because blind to the daily dangers.

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  13. As deadly as pretty, aren't they? Keep safe everybody.

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  14. I knew lilies were bad for cats but not daffodils or hyacinths. Good to know!

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  15. Great information, thanks. It sad that so many beautiful Easter & Springtime traditions can be hazardous to pets.
    Love & biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

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  16. Great information, thanks. It sad that so many beautiful Easter & Springtime traditions can be hazardous to pets.
    Love & biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

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  17. So many beautiful spring flowers are poisonous for our pets. Even worse, they now make edible Easter grass! Ugh!

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  18. Great post - as beautiful as lilies are they can be fatal to cats. Sadly, one of my work colleagues discovered this the hard way.

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  19. We had a great Easter so far - we walked dogs needing adoption and then volunteered at the homeless center to pass out dog foot packages! Thanks for sharing this important info - one time we came home to find one of our pups had climbed up on a table and was starting to eat chocolate eggs....unfortunately for her, she had a tummy pumped and for us.... well, she looked pretty pathetic, but she was fine! Important info here and thanks for sharing!

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  20. It seems the more beautiful and colorful the plant, the more dangerous it is. You can never be too careful, thanks for the reminders this Spring!

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  21. Great Post! It is sad that these beauties of nature are so dangerous to our pets. Thanks for offering alternatives, especially the grass cat and kittens can easier become attracted to this.

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  22. We had a great Easter and make sure to keep dangerous plant out of reach from prying paws

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  23. Excellent post! Pinning over on Mews News on Pinterest. We do a lot of Pet Poison awareness for dogs, this is very important for our cats. Thank you. We hope you had a nice Easter! And with Siberian Huskies and one cat, and a brown thumb, I don't do plants! So my pets are safe! :-)

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  24. These are such important reminders! Kitties are sensitive to so many things. It definitely would not be a fun holiday if a kitty got sick. I think there are still a lot of people out there who don't know how toxic some of these plants are to their cats. Thank you for the great, informative post!

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  25. I've seen lots of posts about toxins this month. With Gracie I did not have to worry much because she does not eat random plants or get into household items. However, I just got my puppy Echo on Friday and he wants to eat everything! I've been doing lots of toxin research this past weekend! LOL

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  26. Mom Paula tends to put live flowers (lilies and poinsettias) outside on the porch when people give them to her. The only plants in our house are silk plants.

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