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.