Tigerlily (137/365)
Here's a little lesson for all of you, inspired by the lily on my hat in this photo. While very pretty, lilies are my least favorite flower. In fact, I despise lilies now. Six years ago, I picked some lilies, much like this one, from the bed beside my driveway. I brought them inside, arranged them in a vase, and enjoyed the bright color they brought into my house.
They weren't out where my new little cat, Samson could get to them. They were up on a high counter (he was physically incapable - or at least he thought he was - of jumping that high). I would prune off the dying blooms each day as they started to shrivel up. No problem.
Well one day I came home from work and went about my usual relaxation routine: beer, tv, pajamas. After a little while, I started hearing a horrible hacking in the hallway. I found my sweet little Samson throwing up. Violently. And there was something strange in it. Being a good (see: neurotic) mother, I went to the kitchen, got a plastic fork, and fished out the funny yellowish looking thing from the pile. I realized it was a lily.
I called my mom right away to ask her what I should do. See, my cat isn't really a frequent puker, so the fact that he was throwing up so much was really worrying me. She told me it would probably be fine because he had obviously thrown the lily up. To this day, I don't think I've ever been happier that I ignored my mother's well-meant advice. I got online and started googling plants and flowers that are poisonous to cats. Turns out, lilies are on that list.
So I called the 24 hour animal clinic in town just to get their opinion. I was still thinking they would tell me everything was ok since he had already thrown up the lily. I got quite the opposite reaction from the vets. They told me to bring him into the clinic immediately; that lilies were the most lethal plant a cat could injest, and even if he had thrown it up, he could still be in grave danger.
So I rushed him over to the 24 hour clinic, where they whooshed him into the back and told me to wait in a room. About fifteen minutes later, a vet came in to give me the news. They wanted to give him an IV, and feed him activated charcoal to help line his stomach and block any more absorption. But even then, she couldn't make any promises as to whether he would survive. She explained to me that they refer to lilies as the "silent killer." Nobody realizes they are so deadly. And if they do notice their pet throw them up, they figure, as my mom and I did, that it's probably fine. Then they wake up the next morning to find their cat dead.
You see, a cat can do as little as lick the leaf of a lily flower and die from kidney failure. A lot of times, people don't ever realize what it was that did in their precious pet. And since I never knew this, I realized that most people probably had no clue either. So I try to tell people the story as often as I can remember. I would hate to think of anyone losing a pet because they accepted a nice bouquet of flowers from a friend in total ignorance.
Samson spent 48 hours in the clinic under constant supervision, hooked to an IV. And a series of kidney function tests were run on him for quite a long time afterwards. He came out of it perfectly, probably in great part due to my quick actions in getting him in to the clinic.
Moral of the story: I hate lilies. I don't EVER keep them in my house. If you give me lilies in a bouquet, I will immediately remove the lilies and keep the rest. I was even nervous having this lily in the basement on my hat for this shot and kept my hand on it at all times in between taking shots.
Annnnnd I believe this is the longest post I've ever written with one of my photos. Kind of funny.
365 Days (self portraits): Day 106
TRP: Orange
Tigerlily (137/365)
Here's a little lesson for all of you, inspired by the lily on my hat in this photo. While very pretty, lilies are my least favorite flower. In fact, I despise lilies now. Six years ago, I picked some lilies, much like this one, from the bed beside my driveway. I brought them inside, arranged them in a vase, and enjoyed the bright color they brought into my house.
They weren't out where my new little cat, Samson could get to them. They were up on a high counter (he was physically incapable - or at least he thought he was - of jumping that high). I would prune off the dying blooms each day as they started to shrivel up. No problem.
Well one day I came home from work and went about my usual relaxation routine: beer, tv, pajamas. After a little while, I started hearing a horrible hacking in the hallway. I found my sweet little Samson throwing up. Violently. And there was something strange in it. Being a good (see: neurotic) mother, I went to the kitchen, got a plastic fork, and fished out the funny yellowish looking thing from the pile. I realized it was a lily.
I called my mom right away to ask her what I should do. See, my cat isn't really a frequent puker, so the fact that he was throwing up so much was really worrying me. She told me it would probably be fine because he had obviously thrown the lily up. To this day, I don't think I've ever been happier that I ignored my mother's well-meant advice. I got online and started googling plants and flowers that are poisonous to cats. Turns out, lilies are on that list.
So I called the 24 hour animal clinic in town just to get their opinion. I was still thinking they would tell me everything was ok since he had already thrown up the lily. I got quite the opposite reaction from the vets. They told me to bring him into the clinic immediately; that lilies were the most lethal plant a cat could injest, and even if he had thrown it up, he could still be in grave danger.
So I rushed him over to the 24 hour clinic, where they whooshed him into the back and told me to wait in a room. About fifteen minutes later, a vet came in to give me the news. They wanted to give him an IV, and feed him activated charcoal to help line his stomach and block any more absorption. But even then, she couldn't make any promises as to whether he would survive. She explained to me that they refer to lilies as the "silent killer." Nobody realizes they are so deadly. And if they do notice their pet throw them up, they figure, as my mom and I did, that it's probably fine. Then they wake up the next morning to find their cat dead.
You see, a cat can do as little as lick the leaf of a lily flower and die from kidney failure. A lot of times, people don't ever realize what it was that did in their precious pet. And since I never knew this, I realized that most people probably had no clue either. So I try to tell people the story as often as I can remember. I would hate to think of anyone losing a pet because they accepted a nice bouquet of flowers from a friend in total ignorance.
Samson spent 48 hours in the clinic under constant supervision, hooked to an IV. And a series of kidney function tests were run on him for quite a long time afterwards. He came out of it perfectly, probably in great part due to my quick actions in getting him in to the clinic.
Moral of the story: I hate lilies. I don't EVER keep them in my house. If you give me lilies in a bouquet, I will immediately remove the lilies and keep the rest. I was even nervous having this lily in the basement on my hat for this shot and kept my hand on it at all times in between taking shots.
Annnnnd I believe this is the longest post I've ever written with one of my photos. Kind of funny.
365 Days (self portraits): Day 106
TRP: Orange