[Dougal]

Time o year for sheep to start eating all sorts o rubbish that really shouldn't! Rhodies, yews, privet and anything else that might do them as much digestive damage as possible with the least input!
I know it can be heart breaking. I lost 5 pedigree ewes two winters ago to Rhody poisoning, managed to save three, not much of a return and still had the vets bill to pay.
I'm wondering if the old wives cure all really work or is it all wind?

[Dougal]

My own vet uses red bull for rhody poisoning. Has a lot of caffine in it for all the volume. Also uses a big dose of multi vit, 2 injections 12-24 hours apart. Activated charcoal is good too but trying to get a decent volume inside them can be really hard.

[Rosemary]

We nearly lost our wether on Saurday after he ate rhododendron.

We gave him black tea with sugar, then same again with charcoal ground up in it. Then the vet gave him pen&strep, a steroid, a vitamin injection and some twin lamb drench. We gave him more charcoal at bedtime and more in the morning but by then he was fine.

Coffee or anything with caffeine and charcoal seem the preferred treatment, although the vet said there was no antidote to the poison, it just depended how much the sheep had eaten in relation to its size.

[VSS]

And how quickly you catch it.