# She ate rhododendrons



## christie (May 10, 2008)

My goat got out and she ran rite over to the rhododendrons and took a bite. I grabbed her and pulled most of it out of her mouth, but she still got a little.
Do you think she'll be okay? What should I look for? Is there an antidote?
I need to get rid of those bushes


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## nubiansinny (Jul 31, 2007)

Activated charcoal most pet stores and feed stores carry it. pretty sure tractor supply does. the faster the better. it keeps her body from absorbing it. don't know if there is an antidote. Charcoal is for all kinds of poision.
You can look up the symptoms of it on line not sure but if their are symptoms it's a little late for treatment i think.
Good luck and I'd get rid of the bushes too!


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Very few plants will kill with just one bite, and a goat's habit of nibbling a little of this and a little of that usually keeps them safe from poisons. 

In evolutionary terms, it's not beneficial for a plant to be so poisonous as to kill browsers with one bite. That puts too much selective pressure on browsing herbivores to develop a resistance to the poison. It's much better for a plant to be just toxic enough to taste bad in small amounts, but only kill in larger amounts. 

Rhododendron poisoning has as the early symptoms vomiting and nausea, which serve to lessen the amount ingested. I would not use activated charcoal as it may inhibit the vomiting response (which you would want in this situation). If the goat is looking poorly, I'd suggest milk of magnesia. If 2-3 hours go by and no symptoms, then you're probably in the clear. Alkaline plant poisonings (such as this) tend to show symptoms pretty fast.

One of my kid goats ate some milkweed a few weeks ago (one entire plant) and spent an hour projectile vomiting. By that evening you couldn't even tell anything had ever been wrong with him.


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## christie (May 10, 2008)

well its been a couple of hours and I haven't noticed anything stange, I m out to milk her now, and will notice her behaivior better there.


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

a vet once told me that when he was in school they took the class to a farm and showed them a herd of goats that were all vomiting. the teacher then told them to figure out why. the answer was they had been fed rhododendron. so, small amounts might make them vomit, but as long as they have adequate amounts of other food they will be fine. if they eat rhododendron out of desperate hunger because there is nothing else, that will likely kill them.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

My goats eat small amounts of milkweed all summer. It doesn't seem to bother them. That's probably because like the above postings they only eat a bit and then go back to eating something else.


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