The thought of anything happening to my precious boy, Mr. Purple, is enough to bring tears to my eyes. For one woman living in the UK, this became a reality for her after something she never would have thought to be threatening. Elizabeth Mackie, 38, brought a kitten into her life shortly after her mother died of a stroke. The kitten, who she named Mr. Mistoffelees or “Misto” for short, meant the world to her.
Quickly the two formed a loving bond as he helped to ease her pain, and never in a million years would she have predicted something like this to happen. Many of us know that certain houseplants are not safe for cats or dogs, and there are often times that cats (especially kittens) are particularly drawn to the plants for their fanning leaves and petals that they think of as play things.
via dailymail.co.uk
Misto was sitting in his favorite window sill, brushing up against some lilies in a vase that a friend had given to Elizabeth as a gift when the bright orange pollen started to get on his face. Elizabeth didn’t think anything of it, and she shared a photo of her kitten to social media after the “pollen wouldn’t come off” of his face. This is what everything changed in an instant. To her horror, friends started commenting that she needed to stop what she was doing and rush Misto to the vet immediately. In case you are not aware, lilies are extremely poisonous to both felines and canines, which can result in death if the deadly pollen is ingested.
In this photo of Stargazer lilies, notice the bright orange pollen:
Andy Nelson, veterinarian on staff at Leonard Brother Veterinary Clinic, immediately sedated the kitten and attempted to induce vomiting in hopes to save his life.
“When he stopped breathing the vet went to get adrenaline. I massaged his chest as shown by the vet in a bid to save him while he got the adrenaline but unfortunately we couldn’t revive him,” Elizabeth said.
Regardless of how hard they tried to save him, little Misto’s life ended later that day due to kidney and liver failure.
A screenshot from Elizabeth’s social media post below:
via dailymail.co.uk
According to our resident vet, Dr. Kathryn Primm, DVM:
Lilies can be truly life-threatening for pets, especially cats are sensitive to lily, but dogs can become ill also.
So please know, that this can happen to your cat or dog, if you are not careful. To bring awareness to the dangers of lilies, Elizabeth and the vets at Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre have started a petition for so that lilies will be labeled appropriately upon sale as “lethal” to pets when sold at flower shops and grocery stores. If you’d like to sign the petition, you can do so HERE.