CAT owners are being warned of the dangers of letting their pets near lilies, which can poison and kill the animals.

One owner told how her pet suffered kidney failure and went blind just hours after eating part of the flower and was lucky to survive.

Vets say cats do not have to even eat the flower or their leaves, but simply getting the pollen on their fur and then licking it off would be enough to harm them.

One Felixstowe cat owner, who asked not to be named, said: “A friend brought me some lilies and I had never heard that they were dangerous.

“My cat started becoming lethargic, looking a bit off colour, and then fell over and just couldn’t walk.”

She took the cat to the vets and was told it was poisoning by the lilies and the cat had suffered kidney failure and blindness, though some sight and kidney function has now returned following several days’ treatment.

A spokeswoman for the Highcliff veterinary practice in Cliff Lane, Ipswich, said the practice had a sign up warning owners about the dangers of lilies but there were still many people who did not realise. House pets who often rarely venture outside were the ones that were at most risk.

She said: “It would only take a small amount of leaves to be eaten or pollen for kidney failure to happen and the animal will not survive unless the problem is spotted very quickly.

“Cats sometimes eat plants if they are a bit bored. All parts of a lily are poisonous and the most poisonous ones are Easter, Stargazer, and Asiatic lilies.”