Some years ago a pig was brought to me that had eaten a piece of foxglove plant about 30 minutes previously. Fortunately, the owner knew what it had eaten. The problem with foxglove poisoning is that the "active ingredient", digitalis, can cause an irregular heartbeat or an increase in the heart rate.
The only available treatment was to give the pig activated charcoal powder with water followed about 20 minutes later by 2ml of liquid paraffin. I also gave 10ml of Ringer's solution sub. cut. in an attempt to lessen the effect of shock. The pig was showing an irregular heartbeat and the outlook was poor.
However, much to my surprise, the pig made a complete recovery but only because of the very prompt action of the owner in seeking help, otherwise the outcome would have been fatal.
The reason the pig survived was the activated charcoal limited further absorption of the poison. The amount of digitalis that was already affecting the heart had been kept below a fatal dose.
The only other poisoning case I have seen involved a pig that had eaten privet leaves. This pig was not brought to me until some 15 hours later. It was desperately ill, more so than the previous case, it was cold and unable to move. Treatment was as before with the addition of crossed fingers. A few hours later the pig was well enough to return home. The speed of recovery was, all things considered, remarkable. I had told the owner that it had no chance of recovery.
The point is that if a pig is even suspected of being poisoned it is essential to begin treatment as soon as possible. If it has not been poisoned the treatment will, obviously, have no ill-effects. Should the pig die then there is some satisfaction to be gained from the knowledge that the proper emergency treatment has been given.
