Shropshire cat owner calls for warning stickers after kitten killed by lily poisoning
A cat owner from Whitchurch has spoken of her devastation after her four-month-old kitten died after being poisoned by plant pollen.
Elizabeth Mackie found her kitten Mr Mistoffelees covered in orange pollen from some flowers she had been given.
The pollen can be deadly to pets and after sharing a photograph of the cat online, she was advised by a friend to take the animal to a vets.
Sadly Mistoffelees died later that day despite the best efforts of vets.
The white lillies were bought for Elizabeth as a thank you present after she gave away a chest of drawers to a friend.
Both Elizabeth and the veterinary surgeon Andy Nelson have now launched a petition demanding supermarkets and other florists to put warning stickers on all lilies, stating that they should not be kept near cats. The 38-year-old, from Whitchurch, said: "Had I known that lilies were so deadly to cats I would never have had them in my house.
"Someone had given me them as a thank you and I had put them on the window ledge. Mistoffelees had been brushing up against them a lot as he liked to look out of the window."
Cats Protection warn several lilies have been found to be deadly to cats, including Easter, tiger, rubrum, Japanese show and some species of day lily.
Elizabeth said: "I found him covered in orange and realised it was pollen. He kept getting upset when I tried to clean it off so I put a post on social media to see if friends had any advice.
"Suddenly people started warning me that lily pollen is toxic to cats and I should check he hadn't eaten any."
Once at Leonard Brother Veterinary Clinic in Whitchurch, vets sedated the kitten and tried to induce vomiting in case lilies had been consumed.
However Elizabeth soon realised that Mistoffelees had licked pollen off his fur and his condition quickly deteriorated and he died of kidney and liver failure that afternoon on January 10. She said: "I was devastated. It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life."
The petition has now reached more than 1,500 signatures.
Andy, who owns a cat himself, said: "I hope our petition raises awareness about the danger but I'm really hoping we can get the shops to put a sticker on lilies to ensure it doesn't happen anymore."
