Animals and Drugs

[Cure20]

If your dog starts drooling, has wobbly legs and tries to eat your cheese doodles, check your pot stash, says a spokesperson for the only poison control hotline in North America dedicated to animals.

Dana Farbman, a veterinary technician with the American SPCA's Animal Poison Control Centre, which takes calls from across Canada and the U.S., said pet overdoses of marijuana and other drugs are on the rise.

"In the past 12 months we've had 130 cases of marijuana overdoses," said Farbman. "With the bulk coming from California."

She said a cat or dog ingesting marijuana suffers similar side effects to those experienced by stoned humans, including muscle weakness, wobbly legs, depression, a drop in blood pressure, head bobbing, vocalization and possible vomiting. Farbman noted that herbicides and pesticides are also a concern if the animal has been eating live plants from a marijuana grow operation.

While pot overdoses in pets are seldom fatal, alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamines, which speed up the brain, are dangerous. An animal on cocaine or meth will become overexcited and can suffer cardiac or respiratory arrest and possibly death. An overdose of alcohol can put an animal into a coma.

"Alcohol overdoses are a common holiday hazard," said Farbman. "People leave their drinks unattended and animals will drink them. It affects their central nervous system and they become intoxicated."

The most common method by which dogs or cats overdose is by ripping into baggies full of drugs, said Farbman. Dogs, including the occasional police dog, are the animals most commonly exposed. The effects occur 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion and can last up to 72 hours. In most cases, callers are encouraged to seek the help of a veterinarian.

Because the hotline is anonymous, owners tell the truth when asking for help for their pet. But honesty is not always the situation in Vancouver, said a veterinarian with the Vancouver Animal Emergency Clinic Fourth Avenue and Fir Street.

"They're not going to tell you if their pet has been eating pot leaves because that would mean they have a grow-op," said Emmeline Tan. "They deal with us face to face so we rarely get the full story."

Tan can usually determine if an animal is affected because the symptoms are easy to spot. If Tan suspects a dog or cat has ingested pot or a prescription drug like Valium and it's too late to induce vomiting, she will administer activated charcoal. The charcoal absorbs the remainder of the drug before it is absorbed into the blood stream.

On one occasion a staid, middle-aged couple came to the clinic with a stoned dog. The couple refused to admit the dog had ingested marijuana, said Tan. "Then I asked if they had a teenager. They stopped and asked if they could use the phone and they went into the other room," she said. "Then all I could hear was screaming. I think that kid was grounded for the rest of his life."

The animal poison control hot line number is 1-888-426-4435.

[Kid A]

Ok Hypothetical questions here...if an animal were to consume psychedelic drugs, would they experience the same things as a human beings do? Could it kill them?

[Kid A]

could they still hallucinate?

[dip]

[paranoid]

[ThePopeIsMyPal]

theres a video out there of a cat on lsd and it gets really messed up and kinda disturbin so ya they would probley trip out but ya best not be givin ur animals drugs

[mouthwater]

SWIY should read "LSD Related Death of an Elephant" (on erowid) and "LSD in Animal Experiments and Biological Research" from "LSD: My Problem Child."

[dreamatrix]

swim knows some ppl who's cat accidentaly ate the leftover mushrooms from the tea ,it kind of freaked out for a couple of hours and was never realy the same afterwards they claimed,also swim saw a dog on some stuf at some freakfestival too ,, ,, ppl gathered about the poor fella even trying to sit with him,, the next day he was fine hehe ,also swims dog has eaten leftover spacecake and tripped out for a full night ,,slept for 18 hours or somth ,didnt realy feak out , actually improved her behaviour as she never will steal or come near any stash of swim haha ,no long term problems though, and yeah dmt kills sheep hehe while it fires up the mokey mind , also siwms knows of some cats who actually come to look up the smell from mj

[Rush]

Animals use drugs, just like humans.

and often they use by their own choice, not because of humans corrupting them.

elephants like alchool, and they like to get drunk, and when they are drunk they are very dangerous. they've learned that old fermented fruits make them drunk they like it and they do it again.

goats made humans discover coffee



here's a book:
http://kittsdream.com/Books/animals_psych.htm

[mouthwater]

Originally Posted by Rush

elephants like alchool, and they like to get drunk, and when they are drunk they are very dangerous. they've learned that old fermented fruits make them drunk they like it and they do it again.

SWIY should read "Elephants Drunk in the Wild? Scientists Put the Myth to Rest," published by National Geographic. It outlines how there isn't that much untouched fruit left allowed to ferment, and how an elephant would need to eat huge quantities to feel any effects.

goats made humans discover coffee

The International Coffee Organization asserts that the goat-theory is unlikely. The slave-theory is much more plausible.

[Nagognog2]

Cats need no coaxing to party-hearty on catnip.

Scientists killed a dog with ibogaine.

Life goes on.

[Akewstick]

In the early days, when SWIM and his friends started to experiment with ecstacy, during an emotional touchy-feely conversation (probably about how lovely the world is), one of SWIM's friends (or was it SWIM?) came up with the idea that the best thing one could ever do on ecstacy was to buy about 4 or 5 small fluffy white kittens, and give them quarter of a tab each, do a couple of tabs yourself, and just roll around with them.

In relation to what to do with the kittens afterwards, the only plausible answer was bag+brick+canal, so the plan, sadly, was never executed, and neither were the kittens.

[turkeyphant]

Interesting question. There's no doubt that all sorts of animals like to alter their consciousness. From reindeer who eat Amanita mushrooms to insects. In fact, Dr Ronald Siegel suggests that the urge to intoxicate is so strong that it is the fourth most primal instinct after hunger, thirst and sex. He argues that animals all over the world have historically always used psychoactive substances and that the desire to take mind-altering drugs is inherently programmed into our biology as a natural drive (Siegel 1989; Siegel 1983). It has even been claimed that it has been claimed that the existences of these chemicals is plants must have played a part in the evolution of consciousness (Albert 1993: 230-232).

If you are interested in these theories, check out the following literature:
Albert, D B. 1993. Event Horizons of the Psyche: Synchronicity, Psychedelics, and the Metaphysics of Consciousness (Riverside, CA: University of California).
Siegel, R K. 1983. “Teachings From Psychoactive Plants And Intoxicated Animals”, in Psychedelic Reflections, ed. by Grinspoon, L and J B Bakalar (New York: Human Sciences), pp. 213-222.
Siegel, R K. 1989. Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances (Boston: Dutton).

[Millsley]

http://www.shoutfile.com/v/BZqXMAU2/Cat_On_LSD

Here's that video, doesn't look like he's having a real good time. :/

[Spare Chaynge]

Poor cat that is so mean. I hope they did the right thing and gave the cat a lethal amount of valium

[Nicaine]

Originally Posted by dip

Undeveloped, unevolved mind along with a low IQ.

This is an utterly false, unsophisticated view of an animal's brain. Most are quite highly developed and *perfectly* evolved for the biological niche the creature inhabits. Can't get any better in many cases.

As far as IQ, who would be dumb enough to measure an animal's IQ using human criteria? Might just as well measure human IQ based on how well the person can triangulate a multiple attack 20 feet off the ground in a jungle setting.

[Nagognog2]

I'd rather throw that idiot "researcher" into the jungle and let the Jaguars have a snack.

[turkeyphant]

Sigel also did some really interested things. He used a trained pigeon called Noah to show that psychedelics elicit spiritual states.

He showed that rhesus monkeys would only smoke lettuce cigarettes if they got water as a reward. They would not smoke DMT cigarettes for a reward. However, once the monkeys were put in sensory isolation for a few days, they would self-administer DMT even when water was freely available. He hypothesised that the monkeys were escaping from isolation and searching for stimulation through the psychedelic action of the DMT.

Siegel, R K. 1983. “Teachings From Psychoactive Plants And Intoxicated Animals”, in Psychedelic Reflections, ed. by Grinspoon, L and J B Bakalar (New York: Human Sciences), pp. 213-222.

[knot]

My dog and I were laughing hysterically for 8 hours straight. It got to the point where laughing wasn't fun anymore. (ok, I'm joking)

[pokeyjo304]

i know it sounds mean, but you all know you've done it, swim loves getting his pets high, it is just so much fun when you are sparkin a spliff and your like "hey there puppy, you wanna hit' lol

Swims dog will actually runs to him if he smells weed, guess he really likes getting high, swim always pours him a big ol bowl of puppy chow afterwards,

words can't even describe the appreciation that emits fromt that dog when swim gives him that puppy chow.

anyways, do any other swimmers out there have pets that like to blaze?

Reputation Comments on this post:

	idiocy
	We haven't all done it, at least not deliberately, & few will approve - people have been banned for similar posts to...
	not a welcome topic on this board

[fnord]

check this link: www.peta.org

[Dvgrn]

i have to say that this is very offensive.

[Isochrist]

SWIM doesnt get their animals high. It just seems wrong and unnatural. There is a friend of SWIM who's dog seems to love getting marijuana smoke blown in it's face. So much so that when in a circle, the dog will come sit in the middle and lick the lips of whoever happens to be exhaling.

[Nicaine]

SWIM doesn't see anything offensive about it, if the animal shows signs of pleasure related to the process and perhaps even seeks it out. SWIM thinks this would be uncommon/unlikely, but possible.

However, if it's forced/unwelcome then it's no different than forcing any painful/unpleasant procedure on an innocent creature for no good reason. It's bad enough to have to do this for a pet's health (e.g. give pills, injections, etc) but if there's no medical reason for it then it borders on torture.

[JustNeedToBeFree]

SWIM believes that putting animals under the influence of drugs is wrong. They are not doing it under their own free will, do not know what they are feeling or why. Animals usually end up scared and/or hurt on drugs,Swim thik s its just outright irresponsible and stupid. Drugs could most certainly traumatize many animals depending on their personality.

[Alicia]

Swia agrees that forcing them is wrong but has seen people house cats eat small amounts of buds now the other ones will not, seems to like to flake out on the sofa. Hates tobacco smoking but will walk in the same room as someone who is smoking herbal cannabis. Dispite effort of the guy keeping putting the cat out the room. he never exhales in front of the cat but it does like looking up at the smoke and seems to be content being in a smoke filled room. Mr J used to get sick of putting the cat out as she always find away in. The other cats he has hate the room. Strange different tastes i suppose.