Bunny ate a dried (possibly poisonous) leaf and leather right after that!

[Horlicks]

This is the background story: I keep my house plants in the balcony right where my bunny can’t reach them. This evening though, we had very strong gales of wind that must have blown quite a few dead leaves right into the house. I was going around picking up the dead leaves when out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bun picking up a dried leaf and meticulously chewing it. I panicked and tried to wrench the leaf out but the leaf was really small and it’s all inside her mouth already.

I am pretty sure she ate up the leaf of either my lantana plant or Boston fern.

So while I was furiously googling whether those plants are poisonous to rabbits (seems like they are), the bun managed to take a bite out of my husband’s leather shoes on the floor. Now on top of worrying she’s poisoned, she might get blockage in her tummy as well.

I do have a nearby 24h emergency vet but I do not think they are rabbit savvy vets. I wasn’t very impressed by them when I called in earlier for what I thought was a spaying complication. They were pretty nonchalant and brushed off my queries. So I’d rather wait for my regular vet to open tomorrow morning and ring them up to see what they say.

In the meantime I am feeding my bun lots of hay (which she’s happily devouring away) and fresh water. I will wake up intermittently through the night to make sure she’s alright. Is there anything else I can do for my bunny to make sure she lasts through the night?

[Muchelle]

I’ve had the plant problem in the past. I’ve panicked a lot, but it seems that if the leaf is completely dry it shouldn’t be a problem. At least I’ve read so online, so far Kuro never had bad symptoms after eating dried leaves he shouldn’t have.

Keep an eye on her, feed her and make sure she drinks plenty of water and control that she’s pooping and not sitting up hunched or showing other signs of discomfort.

[GarfyTheLop]

Garf has eaten an entire house plant before and I completely freaked! My rabbit savvy vet said not to worry and as long as he was eating/drinking/pooping he would be fine and he was! I honestly don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about

[Bam]

I think she’ll be ok if it was only a small leaf and a dry one at that.

My bunny Yohio once ate part of a leather bag and had no problem digesting it. Leather is broken down by stomach acid.

Frances Harcourt Brown says that plant poisoning usually manifests within 6 hours.

[Author]

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