# Panic! My goats have eaten wild cherry bark!



## Greybird (May 14, 2014)

I am freaking out!
I just looked outside and saw a big reddish blotch in the woods where there never was one before, so I investigated and found what I'm 99.9% sure is a wild cherry tree that my goats have almost completely stripped of its bark. A band about 2 feet wide is missing on the main trunk, which is maybe 8-10" in diameter, and on several of the smaller sucker trunks as well.
I don't know when they did it but I think it was recent, like in the last few days, maybe even today. (It's not an area that I can see very easily.)

For now I have locked them up in their baby pen but it's only about 15 x 40 feet and they can't stay in there forever. They have hay, water, shelter, and all of the basics, but it's really crowded and it tends to be very wet when it rains.

They appear absolutely calm and normal, just standing around chewing their cuds like nothing ever happened. I can't find any info on how toxic the bark by itself is, especially when the tree is completely dormant. The info that I have been able to find about them eating wilted leaves says that the poison acts very quickly, but the bark is never mentioned except in passing.

Does anybody have any better info about how poisonous the bark is? 

I would remove this tree but I have no idea how to do it. You would have to see the situation. It's growing on about a 30% grade, it's completely surrounded by a massive blackberry thicket and it's over 200 feet of very rough terrain to get to the nearest access point in the fence. 

Argh!
:worried:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would just keep an eye on them.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

Inner cherry bark can be made into a cough syrup so just watch them good should be ok mine get into cherry anytime they can.


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## mrs.beers (Mar 26, 2012)

While mine have never completely stripped a cherry tree of it's bark, they HAVE eaten the bark and even regularly eat the fresh/green leaves off the tree. Wilted stone-fruit leaves are VERY poisonous (apricot, cherry, peach, etc), but the fresh are okay. Just be careful. Your goats should be fine, just keep an eye on them.


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## Greybird (May 14, 2014)

Well, it's been over an hour and they still seem fine. 
I've been Googling like crazy and I have found more info about cyanide poisoning, but most of it is well beyond my layman's grasp of biochemistry.

Sulfur is supposed to help with de-toxifying it. Some other chemicals were also mentioned but all of them are unknown to me except for methylene blue. If so, then this might be the first time that the sulfur in our well water has ever been useful for anything. I think I could get methylene blue since it's sold as a tropical fish remedy, but I have no idea what the dosage should be and I'm very leery of it - plus, I doubt if the fish version is pure. 
4-22mg/kg sounds like a huge amount, and it's supposed to be given via IV. 
That means ... ain't gonna happen.

This is the main source of info that I've found, but it's not goat-specific.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/toxicology/cyanide_poisoning/overview_of_cyanide_poisoning.html

There is also some talk of chronic cyanide poisoning, and the symptoms of that sound like they mimic some other neurological conditions. The page has some interesting reading if you can wade through it.

I'm guess I'm back to watching and waiting, but one part of the info says that dogs can clear most of it from their bodies in 4 days. Maybe goats are similar?
In any case, I think I will keep them in goat jail for the next 4 days, just as a precaution. It's already dark. If they're still happy in the morning I'm going to be greatly relieved.


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