My cats don't chew flowers. Therefore the only way they're likely to ingest any part of the lily would be licking pollen of themselves should they get any on them. Which they don't as I remove thw pollen. Still no risk. I've had lillies in my house many many times in my cat owning years and haven't had a fatality yet. I'll take the 'risk' anyway. And besides, lillies smell nice and look pretty.

But cats don't go round eating flowers . If that was the case there would be many more dead cats because loads of garden flowers are toxic to cats and the vast majority of cats have access to their owners' gardens. I see my cats eat grass but that's it. As I said, lilies can pose a problem because of the bits that brush off on the cats' coats as they walk past, they then ingest these as they groom themselves. Remove the part of the lily that 'brushes' off and the problem is solved.

Cat owners need to credit their cats with a bit of common sense, cats generally know what they can and can't eat.

My cat chews on the yucca and she also used to eat the dried everlasting flowers - which I removed as I was worried about the hard stems inside her. She has access to the garden so I'm not sure you can guarentee what they'll eat and what they wont. You may be prepared to 'take the risk' - but its not you that will die a painful death, is it?

I've got some fake long grass strands in a vase on the floor of my hallway - one of my cats chews on them regularly. Dumb as a bucket of rocks....

Cats have survived for centuries outside. I minimise risks to my cats' well-being but I can't eliminate them completely - just like I can't eliminate all the risks to my own well-being because I'm certainly not going to lock myself up like a hermit and never drive out in my car or go on an aeroplane - or even not walk home from the station late at night. We all have to live with some risks. As I said, I got rid of the lilies in my garden and I never buy them myself but I do have tulips, daffodils and other undoubtedly poisonous plants - I trust my cats not to eat them. They certainly have never shown any interest in outside plants or flowers although, when bored inside, they do sometimes like to 'play' with my indoor plant (I only have one now due to past mishaps), never cut flowers so, yes, I would advise owners of indoor only cats to be quite careful with what they bring into the house as bored cats may well end up accidentally ingesting something that potentially harms them.

If someone buys me lilies I will proudly display them while minimising the risk to my cats by removing the pollen. Scare mongering tactics don't work on me - I aim to be sensible, practical and rational about risks and benefits to my cats' health and well-being .

It's the one flower I avoid too.

Particularly as it's a rather horrible death.