Menu:

More about us:

Sue's story

(how it all began!)

* * * * * * * *

Frequently Asked Questions about donkeys!

* * * * * * * *

 

 

Symptoms of plant poisoning in horses and donkeys:

First of all, if you have ANY reason to believe your equine has been poisoned, call your vet immediately giving as much information as possible, however trivial it may seem. Whilst some poisons are not aggressive, and can be treated, others are very aggressive and, if treatable at all, are extremely time sensitive.

Symptoms cover a huge range and can sometimes be contradictory:

 

Excessive sweating
Lethargy or over-excitability
Irritability
Convulsions
Uncoordinated movement
Weight loss
Jaundice
Blindness
Photosensitivity

Frothing at the mouth or regurgitation
Dilated pupils
Hemorrhage
Depression
Diarrhea
Excessive salivation
Tremors
Twitching of the head and eye muscles
Staggering

Mouth blisters
Clamping of the jaws
Weak/rapid pulse
Blood in urine
Fluid on the lungs
Renal failure
Paralysis

Usually animals know which plants are poisonous and avoid them but young animals experiment with unknown plants and hungry animals tend to eat whatever there is, even against their natural instincts. Some plants, like ragwort become sweeter and more palatable when cut and dried and may then be eaten, even when ignored when fresh or standing in a growing state.

Worldwide the list of poisonous plants is considerable but some of the most commonly found are listed below:

 

Yew - taxus species (perhaps the deadliest of them all)
Acacia
Acorns
Anemone (all species)
Beech mast
Bluebell bulbs
Box
Bracken fern
Bog Asphodel
Buttercups
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Common Sorrel
Corn Cockle
Cuckoopint
Daffodil bulbs
Field horsetail
Fireweed
Foxglove
Globe Flower
Greater Celandine
Green Potato sprouts
Hellebores
Hemlock
Hemp
Henbane
Horse Radish leaves and flowering shoots Laburnum
Larkspur
Laurel
Lupin
Mistletoe
Monkshood (Aconite)
Nightshade
Oak leaves
Oleander
Privet

Ragwort
Rhododendron
Snowdrop bulbs
Spearwort
Spindle
St John’s Wort
Thorn apple
Vetchlings
Wild Peas


. . . and many more

Links to helpful websites:

The Donkey Sanctuary Fact Sheets