Marijuana Toxicity In Dogs-A Personal Tale

marijana pot pot dog Oct 08, 2019

By: Leann Mann

With the legalization of marijuana we have started discussing safe storage of the product in our classes.  Recently our office administrator had a first hand experience with marijuana toxicity in dogs. Here is her story: 

Saturday started out like any other morning, with our three dogs playing in our yard.  At around 10am our youngest dog, Tilly (6 months) came up the hill with a baggie that had been tossed into our yard from the walkway next to our house. Tilly came to the door and gave the empty baggie to my husband who threw it away. Soon after, my husband left to take two of the dogs for a walk.  When they arrived home my husband said our one year old, Winston, had been lagging on the walk and acting unusual. Winston stayed with me while Tilly went on her walk. 

Within moments of my husband leaving I checked on Winston who was laying in his favourite spot but moving unusually slow. I picked him up to check him thoroughly. His breathing was shallow and his eyes were two giant black discs. I tried to open his mouth to check his gums and make sure he wasn’t choking on something. His tongue was shriveled up in the back of his mouth.

I immediately called my vet who had me take him directly to the emergency clinic.  My daughter and I headed out, and as we frantically drove, she was working hard to keep him awake. He would slowly sink down and clearly wanted to sleep.  We noticed his body starting to twitch as well. 

Upon arrival at the local emergency veterinary clinic Winston was triaged.

A few minutes later, the vet tech came to tell us his heart and breathing were stable, she wanted to bring him to us so he would be more comfortable and we could monitor until the vet came to see him. 

When she brought him in we put him on the table where he very slowly slunk down to his belly. She took his history and then asked us to put him on the floor to see him walk. It was apparent that standing was difficult for him, as he was having difficulty balancing.

The tech did another test where she moved her hand quickly about a foot from his face.  Winston became hyper-aware of his surroundings and whipped his head away like he had been slapped.  The tech nodded her head like she knew what was wrong with him.

Having just had a discussion in our training class about the dangers of dogs ingesting pot, I asked “is he high” and she said “that seems to be the issue.”  

My daughter and I monitored Winston until the vet arrived. Sure enough, the doctor informed us they see this all the time. He explained the symptoms such as lack of balance, loss of bladder control, hyper-awareness, and fatigue. 

We had not seen him eat anything, so we couldn’t not say what or, how much he had ingested. We chose to take him home and monitor him ourselves, and promised to bring him back if he wasn’t recovering or got worse.

We were released with very specific instructions NOT to give him any food or water. The vet explained, many times animals who are high will inhale food or water into their lungs rather than swallowing. This can lead to pneumonia, which can become and even more serious situation.

My daughter, Winston and I arrived home where we were discussing the plan to monitor him with my husband and trying to figure out how this happened.  I took one look at young Tilly and she was doing the exact same thing. She was sitting and swaying, and I noticed a spot on the couch where she had been laying was wet with urine . Darn it, now we were dealing with two high dogs.

It was around noon when we moved both Tilly and Winston’s beds to the kitchen so we could monitor them, and, more importantly, give them a place where they would not be able to fall or hurt themselves. 

Tilly had lost all control of her bladder, and by this time Winston couldn’t even lift his own head. We watched them carefully, and every hour we got them up, took them outside and tried to get them moving. Tilly was able to stand, but was unsteady and would not move around. Winston could not hold his own body weight and slowly slunk to the ground as soon as we put him down and had also lost control of his bladder.

By 6pm Tilly started to move around, and was vomiting bile.  Winston was starting to try to lift his head, but was still having great difficulty.

At 7pm, Tilly had made great strides, but was still staring vacantly, and Winston was not showing much improvement. We took them into the yard, and laid Winston in the grass, with a nice cool, gentle breeze blowing. After a few minutes he suddenly seemed aware, he stood up and was trying to walk. It took another hour before he was moving around somewhat normally.

Tilly was bathed to clean her up after her urinary incontinence. While Winston continued to sleep it off. They both slept until about 3am they were both unable to settle for about 2 and a half hours once they were awake and aware.

By midday on Sunday they were back to normal. 

We aren’t pot smokers, and know it did not come from inside our home. We suspect that pot was in the baggie they found in our yard which must have been tossed over our fence. What happened was an awful experience. The dogs were exhausted and confused and we were sick with worry.

What did we learn from this experience? A lot. Now we do a daily search of our yard before we can let our dogs play. We are very careful when walking our dogs to make sure they don’t pick anything up off the ground. We learned the signs and symptoms of a marijuana toxicity. Most importantly, we learned NOT to give them food or water. We learned to keep them confined in a place where they aren’t likely to hurt themselves too. 

Our family is thankful both dogs have made a full recovery . I have no problem with people smoking pot, but I have a very big problem with people who don’t do it responsibly. The smallest amount can be devastating for a dog.

If you have pets and use pot, store your pot where your dog can’t get it. Learn the signs and how to handle an animal with marijuana toxicity. DO NOT give them water. DO NOT give them food or, they could end up in a much worse situation.  Know the phone number of your vet as well as the location of your closest emergency vet clinic, some dogs will need supportive care when suffering marijuana toxicity.

DISCLAIMER: Consult your veterinarian if you suspect your dog has ingested marijuana. 

 

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