The danger of oleander

[Tango]

I was browsing some websites the other day and came across a site that had some miniature horses posed for pictures standing by oleander bushes. I don't even remember what site it was but thought I would mention here how dangerously poisonous oleander is. Just one leaf eaten by a miniature horse will cause death. The dried leaves of oleander are more deadly and can easily blow into a pasture or pen. The smoke from burning dried oleander is poisonous. I have known several people that have lost their beloved minis to oleander. Please be very cautious where oleander is concerned.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Thanks for the reminder about the dried leaves. I have one in a pot that lives in the house in the winter. It is almost time for it to go outside, and I wasn't going to bother removing the dried leaves. Now I will.

 

[^T-bird89^]

Yes, my family has had an experience with oleander. At our old house, there were many oleanders in the dog area and our 8year old Arabian got into the pen and ate some oleander. We called our vet out right away....Our horse got very, very sick and didn't eat, drink, poop, or pee for four days. He was on IV fluids during the whole time. However, he DID survive. Our vet said we were very lucky, and he thinks what happened is our horse accidently bit into an oleander leaf while eating the leaves from the mulberry right next to them, got a taste, and spit it out. And to think how deathly ill he our full sized horse even without swallowing! I can definitely believe the oleander would cause fatality in the little guys...

My suggestion- oleanders may be pretty, but AVOID having them if you have horses.

The arabian that ate the oleander is Thorn, my precious gelding, who is almost 19 years old. The oleander incident has not seemed to have any further side affects on his life

We were very lucky. Thank goodness!