Shuswap family gets scare when dog ingests marijuana butt
A family in the Shuswap endured eight nerve-wracking hours on New Year’s Eve when their puppy got sick from ingesting a marijuana butt.
Beth Anderson’s 11-month-old puppy started showing alarming physical symptoms shortly after a late afternoon walk around the neighbourhood.
“She went to her bed while we were eating and that was unusual,” she said. “She started to lift her head and was weaving back and forth. Something was very wrong and we went over right away and tried to get her to stand. She had wet her bed; she had never had an accident before.”
Many dogs are attracted to the smell of marijuana butts left on sidewalks and in dog parks, and ingesting them can be dangerous for them, according to BC SPCA.
When inhaled or ingested by dogs, marijuana can cause lethargy, loss of balance, vomiting and whining, with more serious symptoms being things like seizures, coma, irregular heartbeat and breathing problems.
READ MORE: Beware of discarded roaches, they can poison your dog: BC SPCA
Anderson called the emergency vet right away.
“The vet technician was confident Ruby was reacting to marijuana,” she said. “We don’t use marijuana but we concluded she’d ingested it on her walk as the timing of the walk and her symptoms lined up. We were told activated charcoal is helpful but in our case the drugs were already in Ruby’s system. We were advised to keep monitoring Ruby and if her condition progressed, run her to a vet hospital in Kelowna.”
Signs of possible toxicity show up anywhere between five minutes to 12 hours after exposure. Depending on the amount of marijuana the dog has been exposed to, symptoms of poisoning can last from 30 minutes to multiple days, according the BC SPCA.
“About seven hours later she had control over her back end but she couldn’t close her eyes,” Anderson said. “She would close her eyes, then fearfully bolt to the door, it was the scariest thing. She couldn’t sleep but she was tired. She wanted to stand but couldn’t.”
Anderson is asking others to be aware of the dangers and put marijuana butts in the garbage so that other dogs don’t get sick.
“I just want people to be aware marijuana is toxic to some dogs,” she said. “The vet said they like the smell of it. All dogs are different and maybe Ruby’s reaction was more on the extreme side.”
Anderson said her pup was back to normal by the following morning.
“We are so thankful we didn’t end up going out that night,” she said. “We were supposed to go to see a friend but decided to stay home. I can’t imagine our poor Ruby going through that experience by herself.”
If your dog has been exposed to marijuana, call your veterinarian or Animal Poison Control immediately.
READ MORE: Warning about marijuana dangers from SPCA after puppy named Bear overdoses
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