A few years ago, Richard and I had a similar experience with a giant amaryllis. It sat atop a slate-topped cabinet in the dining room. One morning two gorgeous orange-red flowers were open at the top of the 24 inch stalk, and another bud was getting ready to pop. That afternoon I found it on the floor with its stalk broken in the middle. Both Buster and Spot sniffed and smacked it in an attempt at rescuscitation with no success.

Later in the year we brought in a large potted catnip plant to let the kids have random access to fresh catnip. There was some hiding and growling for a while, and then Buster apparently misunderstood what he was supposed to do with it. Buster climbed into the middle of the pot and tinkled. By the next morning the catnip plant had turned yellow and wilted.

After that, we only brought in cat grass.