Eating the leaves- Rhododendron

[Letichia]

Hello

Everyday Freddie and Bella have a free run round the garden for about 2 hours while im watching them. Bella is fine but Freddie eats all the leaves that have fallen of the trees. I do pick most of them up but there is always a few i miss. He has eaten about 6 tonight.
My question is are leaves safe for him to eat? Or should i try and ban him from eating them?

Advice appreciated
Letichia

ETA: Freddie has eaten 3 or 4 Rhododendron leaves which i have just found out are poisonous. what should i do? Will he be ok?

[HS]

What sort of leaves are they?
Although, I have to say, mine eat leaves and have never come to any harm!

[hollyd123]

Hi Leticha, :wave:

Being a fairly new bunny owner, (I'm more used to the cockers :lol: ) I'm not that up on whats good and whats bad, but I have found a couple of good lists while I've been searching:

http://www.adoptarabbit.com/articles/toxic.html

What type of tree/s is it?

- Holly -

P.S - I forgot to answer your question on the other thread, but yes, that was little Rio testing out the rabbit run!

[Letichia]

Thank you so much for that list Holly:)
I more used to cockers too! I have only had Freddie and Bella for just over a week!

I have looked at the list and Freddie has eaten about 3 or 4 Rhododendron leaves. What should i do?? Will he be ok?

Letichia

[Letichia]

Anyone?
He seems ok at the moment.

[The Duchess]

Hiya.

Certainly isn't good for buns to eat them, but you already know that.

I would make sure that bun has plenty of hay and grass to get tummy really moving . It will kind of dilute the contents of his tummy and help it progress through. You'll need to watch him to make sure that he doesn't stop eating, stop pooing or look 'flat'. If you see a change in his behavior I would probably contact a vet as soon as you can, but if he seems to be totally normal I wouldn't worry too much. I am sure that bunnies will have often eaten things they are not supposed to but some things are poisonous and some things are just toxic, and not too bad if not eaten in massive amounts.

Nearly all evergreens are toxic and some are totally poisonous so I would always keep bunnies away from parts of the garden where there are evergreens or where their leaves have fallen. (We have Ivy which is supposed to be an evergreen but it sheds leaves all the time and they fly all over the garden. I have to run around taking them off the top of the runs etc.)

[halfpenny]

I would phone your vet now for advice, Rhoddie leaves are poisonous and I know of a goat who died from eating them, she was sick, but you won't see that in a rabbit. Your vet will be able to advise you best and call the London poisons unit for advice, it only cost me £10 when my goats ate honeysuckle.
Hope he's OK.

[Letichia]

Thank you for your advice.
He has got lots of hay and has eaten some romaine lettuce and his pellets.
He seems fine in himself, i have been to check on him 3 times tonight and he still comes bounding up to the hutch door looking for food!
I will be watching Freddie like a hawk tomorrow and will try and stop him from eating leaves. I would hate it if i had to keep him in his run because he loves having the whole garden to explore.


I haven't phoned the vet yet because he seems fine and is still eating normally.

Thank you for your advice again, i dont no what i'd do without RU!
Letichia x

[Letichia]

Well Freddie seems to have suffered no ill effects from eating the leaves. He is his normal cheeky self, eating and drinking. Its hard to tell if he is pooing because there are two of them.
He has had a run round the garden this morning and i managed to stop him eating all the leaves!

I would like to take all the Rhododendron plants out of my garden but i'm not allowed to:(.

Letichia

[Oompa-Loompa]

Boris ate orchids once and it didn't really do him any harm..mum wasn't too pleased though. :roll::lol: