Leave the lilies....

Easter is quickly approaching and something as cat owners that we should all be aware of is the dangers of lilies to our cat friends. Easter lilies are a beautiful plant that many of us are receiving, buying or giving around this time of year. However, if you own cats or are giving this plant to a cat owner, you may want to to think twice about bringing this plant inside your home... or else place it high up in a place that puss can't reach. You may not be aware but all parts of the lily can be toxic, and eating just one leaf can result in severe poisoning leading to irreversible kidney damage if not caught.





This is bad:

After eating a portion of an Easter lily, a cat will generally vomit and become depressed within 2 hours. Your cat may become unwilling to eat, lethargic or disoriented. A veterinarian should be contacted immediately if you think he or she has ingested any part of an Easter Lily. A cat must be treated within 18 hours of ingesting the plant, or the damage to the kidneys can be irreversible. Depending on when your cat ate the Easter Lily your vet may force your cat to vomit and then hospitalize your cat on intravenous fluids monitoring his/her kidney function. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun does it? But something definitely for all of you to be aware of, for many of us have "nibblers" at home, and many plants just cause the occasional tummy upset but nothing too alarming, however this is certainly a plant that should be recognized as a danger.

Have a fabulous, chocolate-y Happy Easter everyone....








Post Disclaimer: The pictures in this post are not mine, I could not find the appropriate people to credit for these pictures, if they are your lovely pictures please let me know so that I can give you proper credit.

Meet Max...the water obsessed cat.

So this is Max. On any given morning, it's a battle for who can get to the bathroom sink first. Usually I can gain the upper hand since he detests the smell of Crest and that will buy me a couple of minutes of time before he's back up there again looking for the water to be turned back on. Most of us know a cat like this. Many of us may actually HAVE one of these cats. The cat that refuses to drink out of the water bowl that you set out. Most of us when confronted with this behavior will begin by placing fresh water in the bowl daily (highly recommended even for those cats that aren't so finicky.) Secondly we then might place another bowl in another location thinking it might be a location thing. Then we might be persuaded to purchase one of those water fountain apparatuses (apparati?) for their pleasure in order to entice them to drink out of some sort of cat appropriate area. (I am a large fan of these water fountains and will address their many uses in another blog, however for said stated purpose of a water snob, it did not address Max's issue at hand.) Lastly, many of us may resort to putting out a glass of water on the counter to appease puss who seems to only like to drink out of the faucet. Believe me, I have tried any and all of the above but as the evidence below shows, I have a very patient and diligent cat that will wait. And wait. And wait. For the water to be turned on from the faucet. And then and only then will Sir Max partake in his imbibement o' H2O.

While this is (mostly) amusing in our house...we certainly have learned to live with it and get our exercise picking him up and putting him down off of the counter, if you have a cat like this at home that seems obsessed with water and might seem that his water intake has increased, it's important to have a veterinarian check him out. Drinking more can signal certain diseases such as diabetes or kidney disease that a good physical exam, questions asked by your vet and bloodwork can help diagnose and once picked up we can help you treat.