# A cat licking pollen off its fur can be enough. Lilies cause kidney failure. > The FDA is blunt about it: the entire plant is toxic, including the pollen and the water in the vase. Treatment delayed beyond 18 hours usually means irreversible kidney damage. - **Publisher:** VOTVS (Fair coverage for everyone) — https://votvs.com - **Author:** VOTVS - **Published:** 2026-08-20 - **Language:** en - **Topic:** Animals - **Canonical URL:** https://votvs.com/ar/articles/lilies-are-lethal-to-cats - **Tags:** cats, pets, animal health, poisoning - **Facts last verified:** 20 August 2026 --- **Call a vet now.** Not in the morning, not if symptoms appear — now. The FDA states that treatment delayed beyond **18 hours** typically results in irreversible kidney damage. Take a photograph of the plant, or bring part of it. Which lily it is changes what the vet does. Cut flowers are one of the most common ways a cat is poisoned in its own home, and lilies are the reason. They arrive as a gift, go in a vase on a table, and nobody thinks of them as a hazard. The FDA's description of the risk is unusually direct: **the entire lily plant is toxic — the stem, leaves, flowers, pollen, and even the water in a vase.** Eating a small amount of a leaf or petal, or licking a few grains of pollen, can be enough. That last route is the one people miss. A cat brushing past a bouquet gets pollen on its coat, then grooms itself. It never ate the plant at all. ## Which ones The FDA lists these as highly toxic: - Asiatic lily (*Lilium asiaticum*) - Easter lily (*Lilium longiflorum*) - Japanese Show lily (*Lilium speciosum*) - Oriental lily (*Lilium orientalis*) - Rubrum lily (*Lilium speciosum* var. *rubrum*) - Stargazer lily (*Lilium* 'Stargazer') - Tiger lily (*Lilium tigrinum*) - Wood lily (*Lilium philadelphicum*) - **Daylily (*Hemerocallis* species)** The daylily deserves the emphasis. It is not botanically a true lily, and people who have carefully learned to avoid *Lilium* sometimes assume it is therefore safe. It is not. ## What happens, and when **Figure (StatRow):** Lily poisoning in cats — US Food and Drug Administration. The early stage is the treatable one, and it is also the stage that looks least alarming. A quiet cat that drools a bit and skips a meal is easy to decide to keep an eye on. By the time the picture is obviously serious, the kidneys have been damaged. ## What a vet can do Early treatment is aggressive and often effective: decontamination if the exposure was very recent, then intravenous fluids to support the kidneys through the period when the toxin is doing its damage, with blood tests to track kidney function. The window is what determines the outcome. Cats treated within a few hours generally do well. Cats treated after kidney failure has set in often do not. ## Prevention is simply not having them There is no safe way to keep lilies in a house with a cat. Not high up — cats climb. Not in a closed room — doors get opened. If you receive them as a gift, the practical answer is to pass them on to a household without a cat. Florists will substitute on request if you tell them there is a cat at home, and increasingly they label them. Worth knowing for the same reason: several other common houseplants are toxic to cats to varying degrees, but very few carry lilies' combination of severity, speed and how little is needed. ## Questions people ask ### Which lilies are dangerous to cats? The FDA names Asiatic, Easter, Japanese Show, Oriental, Rubrum, Stargazer, Tiger and Wood lilies — all Lilium species — and daylilies, which are Hemerocallis. Daylilies are not botanically true lilies but are just as toxic to cats. ### How much lily is dangerous to a cat? Very little. The FDA states the entire plant is toxic — stem, leaves, flowers, pollen, and even the water in the vase — and that eating a small amount of leaf or petal, or licking a few grains of pollen, can be enough. ### What are the signs of lily poisoning in a cat? In the first 12 hours: reduced activity, drooling, vomiting and loss of appetite. From 12 to 24 hours: increased urination and dehydration. From 24 to 72 hours: kidney failure, which can be fatal. ### How quickly does a poisoned cat need treatment? Immediately. The FDA says treatment delayed beyond 18 hours typically results in irreversible kidney damage. Do not wait to see whether the cat becomes unwell. ## Sources - Lovely Lilies and Curious Cats: A Dangerous Combination — US Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/lovely-lilies-and-curious-cats-dangerous-combination - Lily toxicity in cats — UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. https://healthtopics.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/feline/lily-toxicity-cats - Lily poisoning in cats — International Cat Care. https://icatcare.org/articles/lily-poisoning-in-cats --- Published by VOTVS. Free to quote with attribution and a link to https://votvs.com/ar/articles/lilies-are-lethal-to-cats.