Hi, everyone. I'm new here and just completed the survey. It seems that many people have cats that have had no issues with chewing on daylilies. I, however, have lost two cats to DL's. The first cat, age 16, went around many potted plants on a table to get to the DL. She chewed and then vomited up a large amount of leaves. Because I had two cats at the time and I was out of the house when this happened, I did not know until the next morning which cat was affected. She was purring, a sign of pain, kneading and her pupils were dialated. Blood work at the vet's showed kidney failure. DL toxins destroy the little tubules inside the kidney. There is no recovery from this devestation. Because of her age, I chose not to try to treat her, I did not think that would be fair to her. The second cat was two months later when I brought a DL into the house for a short time and turned my back on it and the cat. She only put 3 tooth holes into one leaf and that was enough for her to exhibit the same symptoms in very short order. She was 14 and again, I chose not to treat her. As a result, I will not allow my current cat, or any future cat, to have access to DL's at all. I will not take the risk. I do know that researchers feel that there is a similar action in the DL toxin as there is in raisins and grapes for dogs. Some dogs are affected and others not. I would guess there is a genetic component which means that the cat (and dog in the case of grapes/raisins) is playing a DL roulette....you won't know if your cat will be affected until they actually chew on the plant. I know this is long, but I feel it is important for others to know that there are cats who die from DL toxins.
