Medical Marijuana has been legalized in several states and while that might be good for the people suffering with debilitating illnesses who need it, it's come with a bad side effect- dogs are ingesting the marijuana, getting sick and sometimes dying.
Marijuana poisoning is getting to be a real danger to the pets of medical marijuana patients, it can can cause the shakes, loss of motor control, lethargy and vomiting. Sometimes the dog can be treated and is fine, other times though the dog is not so lucky and dies.
Signs of Marijuana Toxicity
Approximately an hour after a dog ingests marijuana, symptoms of toxicity will appear. Symptoms include: drowsiness, glazed or red bloodshot eyes, slowed heart rate, drooling, shakes, loss of motor control, falling down, drop in body temperature, vomiting, agitation, whining or crying, urinary incontinence, seizures, rapid heart rate and coma. In some cases, although uncommon, death can occur.
If your dog is exhibiting any of these signs or symptoms you should get your pet to the veterinarian right away. If you know that marijuana ingestion may be the cause, it's very important to let the vet know this right away so they can give your pet the right treatment.
How Many Cases of Marijuana Poisoning in Dogs Are There?
According to
CBS Denver, "Vets say they used to see dogs high on marijuana just a few times a year. Now pet owners bring in doped-up dogs as many as five times a week."
That's quite the increase. Pet owners should know when they bring marijuana or the marijuana edibles into their home when they have a pet, that these substances can be life threatening to their pets. It should never be left out in the open where a pet can easily eat them.
Think of your dog as a small toddler because that's the mental equivalent of a dog. Just like a human toddler, dogs will get into most anything left out where they can get into it.
Marijuana, just like any other drug needs to be kept up and out of reach of kids and animals for their safety.
According to
CBS In Denver, "Meola is a veterinarian at a Wheat Ridge clinic. She coordinated a five-year study that shows the number of dogs sickened by marijuana has quadrupled in Colorado since medical marijuana was legalized. Most dogs survive, but not all. "Two dogs, however, got into baked goods with medical grade marijuana butter in it, which presumably seems to be more toxic to the dogs, so we did have two deaths,"
Some people who use medical marijuana think it's funny to get their dogs, "high" but the fact is dogs don't experience the same 'high' that humans do. Marijuana ingested by dogs, causes neurological toxicity and is not fun for them.
Doctors say the real issue is with the edibles items. Dogs are eating things like cakes, cookies, brownies and suckers that are all laced with marijuana.
A responsible pet own would not give their pet a substance they they know could cause harm or even death and in most cases this is not done purposely but leaving a toxic substance out where an animal can get it and eat it is as bad as leaving it out if you have a toddler in the house. Both can be harmed by it, so it's up to you as the pet owner to make sure any marijuana or marijuana edibles are not left out where your pets can get them and eat them.
Those people purposely attempting to get pets high as a joke are under the mistaken belief that marijuana is not dangerous to dogs. I think it's now been proven that they are very much mistaken.
