Doped Up Dogs: Veterinarians Share Dangers Of Fido Eating Medical Marijuana Stashes
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Veterinarians are seeing a trend of dogs ingesting medical marijuana, and warning owners of the dangers and warning signs that could save their pet's life.
It's a picture-perfect checkup for Reasel the poodle. But as he sits, bright and alert, the same can't be said about other dogs.
Some of his canine comrades, some captured on YouTube, are having a rough time with an ugly trend—marijuana toxicity.
It's what happens when dogs go digging into their owner's medical marijuana.
Both the dogs featured in the videos CBS13 shared ended up being OK, but Sacramento veterinarian Kelby Weaver says it's no laughing matter and can be fatal.
"I'm lucky I've never seen one that was fatal," Weaver said. The worst case I saw was a dog we had hospitalized for a week, because his heart rate got really, really low."
That low heart rate from dogs getting high is just part of the problem.
"Sometimes they're dribbling urine. They're kind of sitting there, and they want to fall over," she said. "So whenever we see something like that we think, 'Oh, could there be a possibility there's marijuana toxicity.'"
Doctors say that a dog earing a marijuana plant is less dangerous than getting ahold of say, a pot brownie, but any contact as bad.
And most importantly, owners need to be honest about what the dog may have eaten. Telling the truth will give vets a better chance of survival.
"A lot of people are afraid to admit, whatever it is," she said. "If we're told yes, they got into THC or some sort of component of that we say, 'OK, we know what to do and we can help you.'"
Also important is time—vets say treating a dog within 30 minutes of ingestion can make a huge difference
Of course the first thing you can do is keep your stash stashed.
