For the last few years, veterinarians across the country are seeing a concerning trend when it comes to canines and cannabis.
“Pets don’t really don’t get high. They get sick, and that loss of control is scary for them,” vet Dr. Sandra Faeh, president of the Schaumburg-based American Veterinary Medical Association, said.
Dione Pliskin’s Boston Frenchie pug mix Stitch got into a bag of THC gummies when she and her friends went out to dinner. When she got home, she noticed something was off.
“When we saw him, he was limping and falling over. It was kind of funny, but we were also freaking out because I had never had this experience before,” Pliskin said.
She estimates Stitch ingested three 10mg. THC gummies.
Sabrina Laycock’s husband had just taken their Italian Greyhound Kiki on a walk, and within 15 minutes after getting home, she started acting strange.
“With Kiki it really seemed like she’s been poisoned,” Laycock said. “She just couldn’t stop rocking like she couldn’t get her balance. If I would reach for her she was leaning away.”
Her vet believes Kiki likely had eaten some form of marijuana that had been discarded on the ground on her walk.
James Harris is a veterinarian and his dog Stu also got sick. His wife had been prescribed medicinal marijuana gummies to combat a painful medical condition. The gummies were inside a plastic container and a sealed bag in a kitchen drawer. Harris was doing some spring cleaning and accidentally left the bag out.
“The marijuana was mixed in packing with some other things on the floor,” he said. “We went to bed not even thinking about it. There was no odor it wasn’t obvious what it was, but in the middle of the night I heard Stu whining quite loudly.”
He got up to see what was wrong and quickly realized what his dog had gotten into.
“I went downstairs to investigate and found him lying down with his tongue out,” he said. “I jostled him a little bit and said ‘What’s going on?’ I stood him up and he immediately urinated. In our guest room I found he had gotten into it and eaten a lot of it out of the packaging. He was pretty symptomatic, and I had to rush him in.”
He estimates Stu, who weighs 15 pounds, ingested about 25 mg. worth of THC.
“We gave him fluids, medication for nausea and watched him for the next couple of days. He got worse before he got better. He was really out of it. He didn’t know where he was, he was rolling around,” he said.
Emergency vets report they are seeing as many as half a dozen dogs a week with what’s known as marijuana toxicosis. Symptoms include urinating uncontrollably, wanting to sit down, not walking straight and stumbling. A dog’s face can be drooping and eyes dilated and watery. They can also have seizures from a spiked body temperature.
“It’s really important to let your veterinarian know what your dog was exposed to. A lot of people are afraid to tell us even when it’s legal, they’re afraid to admit it,” Faeh said. “Treatment is usually relatively straightforward, inexpensive and most of the dogs can be corrected pretty fast if we just know what’s going on.”
The cannabinoids in marijuana impact a dog’s central nervous system and signs typically present within an hour of ingesting a THC product. Vets can use a urine or blood test to confirm a diagnosis and then treat a dog’s symptoms which can be severe.
“If we know they had just eaten it we may induce vomiting. If it’s been a while we may do activated charcoal which binds the toxins. Nowadays it’s not just pure THC. Edibles have all different things in them, whether it’s chocolate or xylitol. Often the worst part is what it’s combined with that can be poisonous to dogs,” Faeh said.
Smaller dogs are more susceptible and depending on how much they ate; dogs can have seizures which can potentially cause brain damage. After treatment, most dogs return to normal within about two days, but for others it can take longer.
In the US, there are now 38 states where medicinal marijuana is legal and 24 states that have legalized the drug recreationally. In 2019, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal’s Poison Control Center reported a 765% increase in cases of marijuana ingestion in animals over a 10-year period.
Vets encourage owners who have marijuana products in their home to keep them in a safe place where pets can’t have access. In states where recreational marijuana is legal, including Illinois, all cannabis products must be sold in child-safe packaging.
“A dog is obviously much more adept at getting into containers than a small child, so it would be nice if they were packaged a little more robustly,” Harris said.
Last year the ASPCA’s Poison Control Center reports there were 6,796 calls involving cannabis-related exposures. Of those calls, 247 were from Illinois. That number is 1-888-426-4435.
