Posting one case involving Foxglove in the event it helps anyone. In the hours spent combing the web at the ER visit, I found very little actual information on this, only two specific cases, so I'm putting one more anecdote out there. My 6 lb rabbit got an approximately 1" square bite of foxglove while walking on her harness. It was on the lower portion of the plant, which is apparently relevant to toxicity (upper leaves are more toxic). We followed poison control's advice and went immediately to hospital (on a Sunday, with no exotic vet on site.) We had bloodwork done and her heart rate was checked. She had no medical symptoms, thank goodness. We were given poison control's advice, which was to keep her for 24 hours in the hospital, where she would be checked once every 4 hours. She is in a bonded pair and the non-affected rabbit was not allowed back with her and she was not allowed to stay with him in their carrier, even as we waited on premises. By this point, it had been six hours and no symptoms, so I decided to take her home and actually monitor her all night long and try to minimize the also crucial social disruption. She never had symptoms. The hospital did give her some subQ fluids and activated charcoal...but that was about 5 hours in, so of peripheral medical benefit.
It is always hard to know when to seek care with an exotic. What was impactful was the hour and a half drive each way and 5 hour time span in hospital without their bonded mate. I am grateful to poison control for the work they do. Overall, I am surprised at the lack of information and wanted to put just one more case example out there. In no way would I ever advise anyone to not take precaution. However, I took every case study or even anecdote seriously in trying to decide what was best for our beloved bunny...mostly in deciding how to handle the overnight because there wasn't time to research once poison control said to get to a hospital. I'd like to add this one to the list for anyone in a similar position. There was only one other case that I found where 1 square cm was ingested with no symptoms, and one that had an arrhythmia with unknown quantity ingested. Wishing all your bunny friends well.
It is always hard to know when to seek care with an exotic. What was impactful was the hour and a half drive each way and 5 hour time span in hospital without their bonded mate. I am grateful to poison control for the work they do. Overall, I am surprised at the lack of information and wanted to put just one more case example out there. In no way would I ever advise anyone to not take precaution. However, I took every case study or even anecdote seriously in trying to decide what was best for our beloved bunny...mostly in deciding how to handle the overnight because there wasn't time to research once poison control said to get to a hospital. I'd like to add this one to the list for anyone in a similar position. There was only one other case that I found where 1 square cm was ingested with no symptoms, and one that had an arrhythmia with unknown quantity ingested. Wishing all your bunny friends well.
