Freaking out a little bit!

[bunny love]

So.... I really enjoy reading through all of the posts in the different topics sections here on the forum to learn as much as I can from other peoples experiences. Well.... for the past week or so I've been reading all of the posts in illness, injuries and parasites, and I came across a post that talks about tomatoes and eggplants being part of the nightshade family and are toxic to rabbits. Well... I have been feeding my doe and her kits (4 weeks old) the leaves from my eggplant all summer :shock: So far no one has gotten sick. Should I not feed It to them anymore? I feed it to my doe sometimes 2x a day :?. I knew about tomatoes leaves, but had no clue about eggplant.

 

[michaels4gardens]

all rabbits, and all nightshade plants,-are not the same-- although a nightshade- tomatoes, and eggplant have less toxin [generally] than potato... It is always a good idea to feed plenty of safe greens with any plant you may suspect could hurt them if they eat a lot of it. Rabbits will "generally " stop eating a plant if it's "toxin tolerance" has been reached- as long as it has something else "yummy, and safe" to move on to.

 

[akane]

Small and short term amounts of otherwise "toxic" things is not always enough to cause symptoms or even health issues. Some plants can be toxic at a certain quantity while doing nothing harmful with plenty of warning signs before you get close to deadly levels. Sometimes though damage is rather invisible until too late. Things like garlic that destroy red blood cells in most animals and at an unknown quantity will cause anemia or occasionally kidney and liver damage can show no signs until the organ is too far gone to recover. That's why it can be vague what truly should be completely avoided or not. It might be fine in small amounts but when no one has found out what that amount is across individuals it can be a risk. Knowing what type of health problem a potentially harmful plant usually causes can tell you if symptoms are going to be obvious and if they are more likely to be the result of permanent organ damage or not.