Home / Safety / Toxic Plants / Lambkill (Sheep Laurel)
Toxic to dogs. The ASPCA lists lambkill (sheep laurel) as toxic to dogs. Serious tier, same as mountain laurel. Any real leaf eating is a same day call, and weakness or collapse after browsing wet ground shrubs is an emergency.
Lambkill, or sheep laurel, is mountain laurel's smaller, wilder sibling: a low evergreen shrub of bogs, wet meadows and poor northern soils, covered in June with deep pink, saucer shaped flowers. It rarely gets planted, which is the point: dogs meet it wild, on hikes and around rural properties, where nobody has vetted the vegetation. The ASPCA lists it as toxic to dogs.
Look for a shrub usually under three feet tall with narrow, pale backed evergreen leaves in whorls of three, and clusters of small, crimson pink, bowl shaped flowers along the stems in early summer. It grows in damp, acidic places: bog edges, pond margins, wet pastures and the low ground along northern trails, often in colonies.
The ASPCA names the toxic principle of lambkill (sheep laurel) as Grayanotoxin. Sheep laurel carries grayanotoxin, the Kalmia family toxin that disturbs the electrical control of nerves, muscles and heart. The ASPCA gives lambkill the same sign list as its big cousin mountain laurel: vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and cardiac failure. The folk name is the history lesson: this small shrub earned the name lambkill from generations of livestock losses, and a plant named by farmers for killing young animals deserves a dog owner's full attention.
The clinical signs the ASPCA lists for lambkill (sheep laurel) are: vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and cardiac failure. The exposure is a browsing dog in wild wet country. A dog quartering a bog edge or waiting while its owner fishes a pond bank can strip leaves from a knee high shrub without anyone noticing until vomiting starts on the walk out. Because the plant is unplanted and unnamed for most owners, the history comes out as shrub leaves by the pond, which is enough for a poison line if you add a photo and the flower or leaf description.
Most dangerous part: The narrow evergreen leaves, held low on a small shrub that grows in exactly the rough, wet ground where dogs run off lead.
Lambkill's livestock record is the useful context: sheep and young stock were poisoned grazing it when better forage ran short, which tells you the leaves are eaten willingly enough and in quantity when animals browse freely. Dogs browse less methodically, but a hungry, bored or teething dog at a camp or cabin by a bog has both the time and the access this plant needs.
Call your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 right away, even if your dog looks fine. Some poisons take hours or days to show their worst effects. Do not make your dog vomit unless a veterinarian tells you to, and keep the packaging, a photo, or a sample of what was eaten to show the clinic.
On hikes through bog and pond country, keep dogs close past low pink flowered evergreen shrubs in early summer, and do not let them graze at fishing and camping stops. At rural properties, clear lambkill from the ground around cabins and kennels where dogs wait unsupervised.
No garden swap applies to a wild plant; the alternative is recognition. Learn this one shrub by its whorled narrow leaves and pink bowls if you hike the northeast or upper midwest with a dog, the way you would learn a poisonous mushroom. Whatever you plant next, check it on the toxic plants index approach: confirm the plant on the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic list under its scientific name, Kalmia augustifolia is the name to avoid here, before it goes in the ground or on the shelf.
Yes. The ASPCA lists lambkill (sheep laurel) (Kalmia augustifolia) as toxic to dogs. Its toxic principle is Grayanotoxin, and the signs it lists include vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and cardiac failure.
Call your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away. Note what part of the plant was eaten and roughly how much, keep any remaining plant material to show the clinic, and do not make your dog vomit unless a veterinarian tells you to.
The narrow evergreen leaves, held low on a small shrub that grows in exactly the rough, wet ground where dogs run off lead.
Size and setting. Mountain laurel is the large planted and trail shrub; lambkill is its low, wild cousin of bogs and wet meadows. Same genus, same grayanotoxin, same sign list, same response when a dog eats the leaves.
Tell them the timing, the wet ground setting, and that a low evergreen Kalmia shrub was in reach, with a photo if you took one. Weakness after possible grayanotoxin exposure is a reason to be seen promptly, not monitored at home.
This page is general information drawn from the published guidance of the organizations listed under Sources below. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace your own veterinarian, who knows your dog. If your dog has eaten something toxic, contact your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away. A consultation fee may apply on the helplines.
Last updated: November 2026. Every verdict on this page was checked against the sources listed above. How we work: our methodology.
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