Other What's ruining your life right now?

Serious health scare with our cat last night.

My OH had flowers delivered last week for her birthday, but some of the buds didn’t open until yesterday. It wasn’t until last night I realised that those three buds were lilies. I had a vague recollection about lilies and cats, and… yep, lilies are utterly toxic to cats. Even licking tiny amounts of pollen off their fur can be fatal within days.

Cue much panic and a late night call to an emergency vet…

The flowers were chucked in the bin outside as soon as I realised, the area they were in has been thoroughly cleaned, and the soft furnishings in the area have also been washed down.

We haven’t noticed any symptoms so far. The emergency vet did say that just having the flowers in the house isn’t strictly a problem, it’s if a cat consumes any part of the plant including the pollen or even just licking it. Nevertheless, the vet didn’t recommend bringing him in as he’s not showing symptoms, but I’ll be keeping a close watch on him for the next couple of days.

 

Lily pollen is pretty heavy stuff as they are an insect pollination plant so whilst it is possible that it can get spread around through air currents and stuff it is unlikely to do so in the amounts needed to be toxic.

We have had similar scares with our cats and we were told the same thing, any poisoning from lily pollen should be pretty obvious so we were told to keep an eye on things and watch out for things like not eating, vomiting (more than usual, they are cats after all...) and excessive drooling.

 

The irony is that I was the one who ordered the flowers, and I only did it as a favour to my mother. I didn’t even think about what the flowers were until yesterday, when what was previously a couple of closed buds had bloomed into flipping massive flowers…

I’ve seen the same advice: the symptoms are likely to show very quickly and will be very obvious, so hopefully we’ve stopped any problems before they even happen.

He’d been a bit off his food lately, but that’s only because he’s a cat doing cat things: he’ll go off food that he used to absolutely inhale, until you change to another brand (and only the really premium brands, of course) and he starts demolishing it again. He had no trouble with food the last day or two, he’s certainly still interested in treats, no barf/hairball surprises, no lethargy, no diarrhoea, and we still get both the warm up and main event of the Cat Olympics at all hours…

So… no symptoms that we can detect, but definitely keep a close eye on the little poo-brain for a day or two.

 

Hope he's OK, we have fewer flower in the house these days as our cat is a real botanist and loves to investigate all plants. She wanders round sniffing them and will chew the odd leaf.
The results are obvious (as per @Almightyrastus) , unhappy at both ends...
As posted (I think...)* we has a £500 cat poisoning last month, Friday the 13th to be precise!
Hope he's fine

**EDIT** I did previously on this thread

 

All the very best with it all.

 

I hope everything goes well, but can I have dibs on your stuff?

 

Hope it goes smoothly @The_Crapman, we'll be thinking of you over the next few days.

 

Lightning doesn't strike twice and all that. You've had your oops moment which is (I assume) already statistically low; the chances of a second are "more slim" (Yes, I know this is mathematically untrue, drop it.)
Good luck, and catch you online soon!

 

Waking up after my surgery last year was wild. Spinal of course caused temporary paraplegia with the usual loss of sensation as well, somehow my brain interpreted my feet touching the floor despite visual evidence of said things being on the bed

 

How to tick a box on the NHS waiting list without actually doing anything!

GP referred me to the MSK Team due to a lot of pain in both feet (heels and sides of feet feels as though bones are broken although I don't think they are. I struggle to stand up never mind walk). Received a text to contact MSK team to book appointment. When I finally got through after 30 minutes was told than now I'd contacted them I'll be put on a waiting list, waiting time currently 4 months (they usually lie about this so probably hear from them next year)...and that's how the NHS cheat the waiting lists, they've responded within 2 months, they've not achieved anything but have responded. Another box ticked.

 

Stupid UK government!

1. Misplace both passport & photo driving licence.
2. Go to website to order replacements.
3. To login I have to use my passport or photo driving licence.
4. Find alternative option - give name/address/dob/NI/bank numbers.
5. Provide all that.
6. "You're not you, bye"
7. 

UPDATE:- I was able to order a new licence by phone. I'll use that to order a replacement passport when it arrives.

 

Mental rut just will not abate and feels inescapable...

 

No water in the office. Just had to go to the station to wash my hands after taking a dump. Office is going to be an absolute hive of bacteria!

 

Dunno if this will help, but when I get like that, I sit down and do a to-do list that includes even the smallest things (do the washing up, buy some new batteries, put something away etc.), then go about doing the tasks. Not saying I feel bright and shiny afterwards, but I feel a bit more in control, and at least I know I've achieved something for the day.

 

I always put "write list" at the top to give me something to immediately score off

 

You read it first here. COVID 26 began in Oz.

 

I mostly just end up with a list of **** I feel guilty for not having done.