A WARNING has been issued to cat owners after two kittens miraculously survived being poisoned after ingesting lilies from a bouquet of flowers.

"TC" and "Oakley," who were rehomed six months ago after being dumped on a driveway, underwent emergency treatment by a highly-trained team at a veterinary surgery to flush the toxins from their bodies and prevent irreversible kidney damage.

If it hadn’t been for their quick-thinking owner, Natalie Briscoe, an IT teacher from Saughall Massie, who searched the internet for advice and swiftly brought them to the vet's, the pets almost certainly would have died.

Her beloved pets’ brush with danger has prompted Natalie to join forces with the team at Acorn Veterinary Surgery to issue a warning to other cat owners about the toxicity of the plant.

Almost all varieties of lilies are highly toxic to cats although the Easter lily, tiger lily, rubrum lily and Japanese lily – all of which are sold in Britain - are among the most lethal to felines.

Many cat owners are unaware of the dangers of the plant, which is common in gardens and floral bouquets.

All parts of the lily including the stem, leaves, petals, stamens and pollen are poisonous to cats and even mild exposure to the plant such as a cat licking a leaf can be fatal.

Veterinary nurse Martin Peters said: “Lilies are a common gift but even a single flower in a bunch can be very toxic.

"We are keen to warn more cat owners about the dangers and urge them to be aware of the types of plants which can cause their pet to be ill.

“For cat owners, being aware of this when receiving such gifts/plants is important because all of the plant, not just the flower is toxic.

"Exposure and ingestion can be fatal as the renal system (kidneys) is damaged through necrosis (death) of the cells.”

The drama unfolded for TC and Oakley when the inquisitive kittens decided to take a closer look at a bouquet of flowers that had been given to Natalie’s mother earlier that day.

“I’d come upstairs and five minutes later the kittens followed me up and were covered in yellow pollen.

Wirral Globe:

TC and Oakley have made a miraculous recovery

"They’re mostly white so it was very noticeable,” said the 32-year-old, who has worked at Birkenhead High School Academy since qualifying as a teacher seven years ago.

“My first thought was where on earth had it come from and I tried to clean it off with baby wipes. It wouldn’t budge at all and it had stained all around their mouths. It looked like they’d been licking it.

“I had a feeling it was the flowers and sure enough on the table around them were leaves and pollen. I went on to the internet and typed in how to get pollen off a cat and the first or second thing that popped up was a story that had happened earlier in the year where a kitten had died after ingesting lily pollen."

She added: “I don’t know anything about plants and I wouldn’t know what a lily would look like but I compared the photos and sure enough they were lilies. By this time I was in a panic.”

The team at Acorn administered an injection to induce vomiting so that any remaining plant material in their stomachs could be cleared.

The six-month-old kittens were then placed on drips for 48-hours to flush out the toxins before the poison could cause internal damage to the kidneys.

Staff recovered 100g of plant material between the kittens and said if it hadn’t been for the speedy treatment, they wouldn’t have made it.

“We’ve had cats for 30 years and I had absolutely no idea,” said Natalie, who also has two horses, a dog, an elderly cat, two guinea pigs and a hamster.

“We only got them in April from a friend of mine – they’d been dumped on her driveway in a box and we rescued them.

“If it wasn’t for the vets the kittens wouldn’t be here. They kept me updated at every step which was fabulous.”

Natalie, a former West Kirby Grammar School pupil, is also keen to highlight the dangers of lilies to cat owners and has created a Facebook group to raise awareness of the issue.

“We will never have lilies in the house again and if we’d known we would never have had them in the first place,” she said.

A range of common household plants and shrubs are potentially fatal for cats when ingested.

Where ingestion is not fatal, it is likely to cause severe enough damage to require intensive veterinary medication, supervision or a special diet.

Top ten most deadly poisonous plants for cats:

  • Lily
  • Daffodil
  • Tulip
  • Autumn crocus
  • Kalanchoe
  • Sago palm
  • Cyclamen
  • Oleander
  • Azalea
  • Dieffenbachia