Apple leaves?

[starrynight0621]

I saw someone is selling apple leaves for chins
http://karynnd.webs.com/appletreats.htm

I have been reading these forms for over a year and I have never seen anyone mention those as being appropriate treats.

Thoughts?

 

[Sandi]

Click on the link below and scroll to post #6

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35868&highlight=leaves

I would not feed apple leaves due to the chance of cyanide poisoning - (they have a compound present in seeds and leaves, not the wood which is why the wood is safe)

Apple and other fruit trees contain prussic acid glycosides in leaves and seeds but little or none in the fleshy part of the fruits. Toxicity can result from improper or malicious use, but in the case of livestock, the most frequent cause is ingestion of plants that contain cyanogenic glycosides. These include Triglochin maritima (arrow grass), Hoecus lunatus (velvet grass), Sorghum spp (Johnson grass, Sudan grass, common sorghum), Prunus spp (apricot, peach, chokecherry, pincherry, wild black cherry), Sambucus canadensis (elderberry), Pyrus malus (apple), Zea mays (corn), and Linum spp (flax).

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in.../bc/210800.htm

 

[AZChins]

Sandi - thank you for posting that! I have heard quite a bit lately about people feeding the leaves and it has made me a little nervous because of the cyanide present in seeds. I just hope that none of the chins being fed the leaves get enough to cause any problems.

 

[ticklechin]

Karynnd? If that is the same person what a blast from the past and a real suprise.

 

[Spoof]

I saw someone is selling apple leaves for chins

Ronda will sell them but you have to ask her for them. She usually only sells to people who have wallabies or other herbavores. We did not put them on the site because of the potential for toxicity, I remember reading that the leaves of apple trees do not contain the cyanide compounds except for a certain time of the year but can not find the article.

 

[ticklechin]

If a chin was given apple leaves and died, how would one know it was from the leaves since most people do not bother with a necropsy and even then if one was done why would a vet check for cyanide. Since there is a chance of toxicity, no nutritional value that I could find to negate the risk and WAY better choices for treats, why even freakin bother with the leaves, its just stupid.

 

[AZChins]

Tara - definitely post the link to the article if you can find it. I've had customers ask about this a few times and I can't really give them a straight answer. The leaves just seem like too great a risk for the chins. I worry about people giving the chins the apple leaves in very large amounts - a situation like someone has an apple tree and gives the chins several handfuls at once or something along those lines.

 

[Spoof]

I agree fully with Dawn. This really isn't something we should be feeding to chins.

On the other hand, looking for that article was an eye opener! It isn't that the leaves contain cyanide, but a type of prussic acid that if eaten in large quantities essentially suffocates the animal to death and it occurs during times of drought.

Biggest shocker to me is that Bermudagrass and Ryegrass (annual) are often planted down here in the winter and cause tons of damage to horses due to sugar content. Who knew we were poisoning them too, and in the Merck link it says that the fertalized grasses during drought had 2-25 times more nitrates/prussic acid than normal. It will definitely change how I approach pasture management.

Fascinating!

 

[mercynursie]

Yeah I learned a new lesson about pasture and hay this fall.My mini donkey Zach suffered a bout of laminitis(founder) but I was blessed and caught it in very early stage. His diet at the time was just pasture browse(we haven't reseeded in years since donkeys don't need prime grass pasture),fescue hay !/2 flake only if he came into the barn for the night(usually about every 3 nights) and 1 small handful of miniature horse pellets which are already blended with hay.He isn't overweight or anything. I just couldn't understand how he could have foundered on minimal feed. The vet said that this past year had been really rough with pasture. She told me that the grass is highest in sugar content early in am and late in the evening.Apparently the sugars concentrate in the blades of grass at these times of day. She also said that fall pasture can cause as much problem as lush spring pasture. Now the donkeys have to wear grazing muzzles,no treats what so ever and their hay/pellet rations are very small. For the first few weeks after diagnosis he was on complete stall rest and we had to soak his hay for 30 minutes before feeding it to him.Apparently the soaking helps remove some of the sugar and starches but he definitely didn't like his "seaweed".

 

[ticklechin]

Its just something that should not be given, no point.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/210800.htm