# Goats ate Milk Thistle



## Carleyjsouza (Jan 22, 2016)

I'm a super paranoid goat mom and today the goats ate milk thistle. They're on a 1 acre lot with grass, oak trees, and some stray weeds. There is a lot of milk thistle but they've never bothered to eat it. Today they were eating it a little bit, nothing drastic that I saw. Will they be ok? There is baking soda always available to them also. Just wondering if I need to give them something else for it will make them sick.


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## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

It's unlikely it would hurt them. If it's the same milk thistle that people use as a supplement, the seeds are good for the liver. Some people give it to other animals, such as dogs, regularly.


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## RosebayRidgeNigerians (May 14, 2014)

*Milk thistle is good for monogastrics but bad for ruminants*

I just learned this, because my goat vet prescribed milk thistle erroneously to my doe kid with liver problems. 
Milk thistle is high in potassium nitrate. The goat's metabolism (gut flora) converts this to nitrate and then to ammonia. Ammonia enters the bloodstream and acts to bind the oxygen from the hemoglobin, depriving the cells of fresh oxygen. A coma & heart arrhythmia or heart attack can be the result. This would be in much larger doses than your goats have probably consumed. My doe kid had standardized extract. Probably better to get rid of them.


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