PetCaseFinder

Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Acute kidney injury risk and outcomes in cats after lily exposure

By Lam, Justin et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2025·View original on PubMed

PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →

Original publication title: Prevalence of acute kidney injury and outcome in cats treated as inpatients versus outpatients following lily exposure.

Species:
cat

Plain-English summary

A group of cats exposed to lilies developed acute kidney injury (AKI), which can be serious. The study looked at 112 cats, some treated in the hospital and others at home. While both groups had similar rates of AKI, those treated in the hospital had a much higher survival rate—100% compared to 86.5% for those treated at home. Many cats showed improvement in their kidney function over time, suggesting that even outpatient treatment can lead to good outcomes, but being hospitalized generally offers better chances for recovery.

People also search for: cat lily exposure symptoms · acute kidney injury in cats treatment · cat kidney injury recovery rate

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of acute kidney injury (AKI) and outcome in cats treated for lily exposure as inpatients (IPs) or outpatients (OPs). METHODS: Medical records of cats with lily exposure were retrospectively evaluated; 112 cats were included. Signalment, type of exposure, time from exposure to presentation, decontamination procedures, treatment group (IPs vs OPs), creatinine and International Renal Interest Society AKI grade at specific time points (initial presentation, 0 to 24 hours, 24 to 48 hours, and 48 hours to 2 weeks), whether an AKI developed at any point, whether AKI grade was static or improved when comparing baseline to last documented AKI grade, and outcome (alive or dead/euthanized) were recorded. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in prevalence of AKI between the IP cats (45 of 96 [46.9%]) and OP cats (7 of 16 [43.8%]). Of the AKI cats, 27 IP cats (60%) and 4 OP cats (57.1%) had a static or improved AKI grade. Inpatient cats had a significantly higher survival compared to OP cats (100% vs 86.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Cats exposed to lilies in both groups had a higher prevalence of AKI than previously reported; however, many cats with AKIs had a static or improved AKI grade by the last documented AKI grade. Although the survival was lower in OP cats compared to IP cats, overall survival was excellent. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results of our study suggested that IP cats have a superior outcome than OP cats; however, cats treated as OPs may still have favorable outcomes.

Find similar cases for your pet

PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.

Search related cases →

Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39419082/