# Rory ate part of a dried leaf of a possibly poisonous plant!



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi everyone! A little while ago I was cleaning my rats' cage and heard Rory chomp down on something very crispy. Turned around and he was eating a dried up leaf on the stairs! We immediately took it away from him so he only got a bite or two. I don't know what plant it came from (all the plants are in our bedroom on a shelf so no reason for the leaves to be on the stairs), but unfortunately almost every single one of my house plants is toxic. I know someone else's bun ate a bit of poisonous plant and is doing okay, do you think Rory will be okay?? He's acting just fine. I'm leaving for a month tonight and have two finals in the morning and afternoon today, so I hope he doesn't get sick!!

The possible leaves it could have come from are a begonia, coleus, or a Syngonium podophyllum/nephytis (commonly called an Emerald Gem or Arrowhead Vine). I didn't see it because the BF crunched it up when he took it away from the bun.

Thanks for your help!


----------



## Bo B Bunny (Dec 17, 2007)

Oh no! 

I think there is a list of safe and poisonous plants. let's see if we cna find it.


----------



## Flashy (Dec 17, 2007)

We can't know if he is going to be ok or not if it was toxic, to be honest, because, like with people, different toxic things affect different bunnies differently.

Yoiu might want to call your vet and check what they say. They might want to administer a charcoal solution (someone, possibly HoneyPot, had to have that for her rabbit when it ate chocolate) to counteract any toxic affects, The sooner this is done the better.

If you decide not to take him to the vet, then you will need to watch him closely over a period of days because the effects can take a while to show.

I don't know if that plant is poisonous or not, but I really hope its not!


----------



## Bo B Bunny (Dec 17, 2007)

*http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabhaz.html#toxplants*


Begonia is toxic, Emerald FEATHER is listed - would that bethe same I wonder?, 




YEP - listed on the link Flashy wrote. 2 of the three are definitely toxic. I think you should call the vet.


----------



## Flashy (Dec 17, 2007)

http://www.sniksnak.com/plants-toxic.html

It is toxic!


----------



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi Bo and Flashy, I called the vet and am waiting for them to call me back after they look up info. He ate the leaf part about 8 hours ago. He seems fine this morning, though a bit harder to handle than usual in that he kept running away from me. That could just be because he wanted to play though.

Ugh, I hope he's okay! I have a final in less than an hour and have accomplished very little studying for it. I got my flight out of here changed, now I won't be going home until the day after Christmas, have 2 five hour layovers in addition to the 8 hours of flying and had to pay $500 to change the ticket. At least if he is sick, I will be here!

I'm really worried and nervous and hope my baby will be okay! Like I said, I don't know how he got the leaf or what it was doing there... I get the feeling it's a Coleus leaf as my Coleus has been dropping them. Darned poisonous plants.


----------



## Bo B Bunny (Dec 17, 2007)

WOW! How does your family feel about you not coming home until after Christmas now? You wanted to be home with b/f and Rory tho didn't you?! 

I hope he's ok. It sounds like he's doing fine.....


----------



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 17, 2007)

Now everything I see him doing, I wonder if it's because he's poisoned! At the moment he's lying on his side in his cage (which he does often), but I can't help wonder if it's because he's sick. And I'm wondering if he's breathing faster than usual or if I'm just paranoid and never really noticed how fast he breathes.

:cry2


----------



## Flashy (Dec 17, 2007)

Try not to panic, he will sense that. It's natural to worry because you love him, but try not to panic because that won't help anything.

Take some deep breaths. Maybe get him up (I do that if a bun has worried me) and offer him something yummy.

I hope the vets call you soon.


----------



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 17, 2007)

The vet called back! She said that coleus and begonias (I'm fairly certain it wasn't the Emerald gem as that plant hasn't lost any leaves ever I don't think) are pretty "mild" when it comes to poisonous plants and they don't usually affect cats and dogs too much. She said she wasn't certain if it would affect bunnies differently. She thinks there would have been signs of poisoning by now and that if he's okay still 12 hours from now, he'll probably be fine. She said to look out for lethargy (he's been more hyper this morning than usual), lack of appetite (he's chowing down on pellets right now) or diarrhea (poops look fine so far).

So, it looks like unless coleus (or possibly begonia) affects bunnies way different from cats and dogs, he should be okay! WHEW! 

I will be keeping my eyes open for any signs, but I do feel relieved.


----------



## Flashy (Dec 17, 2007)

That's great 

If he behaves any differently after those 12 hours and within the next few days, bear in mind it could still be related to this.

I'm glad he seems to be ok at the mo


----------



## Bo B Bunny (Dec 17, 2007)

Sounds like he's ok or will be. He didn't get too much of it did he? since b/f got it away.

He just wanted Mama home for Christmas......


----------



## Flashy (Dec 17, 2007)

*Bo B Bunny wrote: *


> He just wanted Mama home for Christmas......


Ha ha, rabbits sure are manipulative when they want to be!


----------



## LadyBug (Dec 17, 2007)

Violet *you talkin' about me? yup, i was baaaaad and ate some of Grandma's Corn Plant.:happyrabbit::mrsthumper::bunnydance:.*

Anna. She's doing fine. she never showed any signs of poisoning. Rory's probably fine! :hug1

The things these bun's do(and you DO know why they do it, right? to get more attention. PLUS they get a post AND everybody on the forum worried about them too!SCAMPS:rant:!!!!!:whistling)


----------



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi guys! Rory still seems to be fine, whew! Thanks for your help and support :biggrin2: 
Remember when I was worrying about what to do with Rory while I was out of town for a month? Then it turned out that my boyfriend was going to stay here and only go home for 10 days... Well, I bought lots of extra water bottles, extra big food bowls and wrote up a list of instructions for our friend who was going to be coming over while Paul was gone. Now that I'm leaving on the 26th (albeit 1 am), the pets will only be alone for 5 days! That's a relief. 

My decision to stay in Fairbanks longer wasn't only Rory related. I took my first Chinese class this semester and it's rather difficult. Everyone else in the class is taking their final on the 20th, the teacher extended the date because she said this is the hardest class she's ever taught- in the past, they only did pinyin and pronunciation, but this semester we learned the Chinese characters, pinyin, pronunciation and of course English meaning for 300 words. The characters can be difficult to memorize as we have to be able to recognize and write them and of course use them all properly in a sentence. I was going to have to take my final 3 days early and wasn't completely prepared, in spite of my diligence. The $500 to delay my flight so I can take the test on the 20th is cheaper than it would be to take the five credit class again (I have out of state tuition!), not to mention it's offered every 2 years and I'd have to wait quite a while to take the class again. I'm not bad at Chinese and I actually enjoy the class and am doing fairly well, but a bad final grade could have completely destroyed that. Yay now I have more time to study!! 

Oh and the flight isn't until after Christmas because that's all that was available. Paul will be in Anchorage with his family (though he said he wants to stay with me now) and all but one friend is gone for the break, but at least I'll have Mr. Buns to snuggle! :biggrin2:

Anyway, back to plants: I want to give my poisonous plants to a friend who doesn't have pets so this won't happen again. The only problem is that I don't know for sure which plants are poisonous as the toxic plants lists say different things. For instance, this site has Spider Plant listed as both toxic AND non-toxic! 

Here is my list of plants:
2 coleus (one was a gift from my boyfriend's mom and one I grew from seeds. This one will definitely be going)
1 Emerald Gem (pretty sure it's poisonous but it doesn't drop leaves)
1 Begonia (I saw this on both toxic and non-toxic lists and it was a gift from Paul, plus it very rarely drops leaves)
1 aloe (pretty sure this one is fine!)
1 snake plant/mother in law's tongue plant 
2 African Violets (gift from BF's mom)
1 Christmas cactus (gift from BF's mom)
1 goldfish plant (gift from BF's mom)
1 Rubber plant (I'm not sure which type it is and I saw specific varieties listed on the safe list, as well as one list that said "baby" rubber plants are ok- huh?)
1 "Purple Leaf Shamrock" (it's not technically a shamrock and the real name is oxalis regnellii var. triangularis, this was also a gift)
1 Ribbon Dracaena (this was from my grandmother's funeral)

I have one more but I can't figure out what it is (it was also from my grandmother's funeral)! Also, plants I would like to get if they aren't poisonous include a peace lily, dragon tree, jade, wandering jew, amaryllis and ivy. Based on the conflicting info, I'm worried about bringing home a plant that is toxic but a list says is safe. I'll keep all plants out of his reach of course, but still...


----------



## HoneyPot (Dec 17, 2007)

Glad to hear he is doing ok. 

I have a Madagascar Dragon Tree in my house, which is also toxic for the buns. The first night I had it here, I built this contraption around the bark of the tree/plant so that Misty would not get to it... of course, she jumped onto my sofa and got to it when I was not looking. 

She was okbut every now and then I have to snatch a leaf away from them when it falls off the tree - it's like they hear the leaves fall and go straight for it.

Also...I believe all lilies are poisonous (so is Ivy), so that one is likely out as well.  

Nadia


----------



## Pipp (Dec 18, 2007)

Here's an archived Etherbum post from Medirabbit's Rami:

_Re: [EtherBun] Toxic Plants _
_> toxic plants (toxic to bunnies),
> __[url]http://www.adoptarabbit.com/articles/toxic.html_[/url]_ which is listed here:
> __[url]http://www.rabbit.org/care/fruits.html_[/url]

_The problem is that we do not exactly know how much known toxic plants are toxic
to rabbits. While fatal to some animals, toxic plants seems somehow tolerated by rabbits, without ill effects.
Ivy for instance is known to be a very toxic plant. One of my rabbits ate
accidentally quite an amount of it, and it resulted "only" in some stomach gurgling and diarrhea.

While one should always be careful, I doubt that eating a toxic plant can lead
to death of a rabbit. Over the years, I have received numerous mails from panicked rabbit owners, whose rabbit ate more or less toxic plants. One even ate few plants of foxglove (Digitalis). In all cases, the rabbits did well, maybe some discomfort, but never got ill or died.

Rami_

Onthe other hand,I've known rabbits whohave died from bloat aftergrazing onwet spring grass. 



sas :?


----------



## SnowyShiloh (Dec 18, 2007)

I just wanted to tell everyone that my sweet little bun seems absolutely fine this morning! Thank goodness! He was actually even more hyper than usual last night and was getting into all kinds of things. Digging at the carpet, trying to get into a bag of those long skinny liquid ice pops that you stick in the freezer, destroying a box, trying to get at some cords that I'd bunny proofed, and on top of it all binkying away when I came near! What a funny, happy boy. All I can say is that it's a good thing I got my bunny proofing done :biggrin2:


----------



## Flashy (Dec 18, 2007)

:shock:Maybe It's bunny Speed!


----------

