Colorado
veterinarians have a message for medical marijuana users: Don't get your dog
stoned. Marijuana is toxic in a dog's system, they say, and has even resulted
in some canine deaths.
"There
are huge spikes in the frequency of marijuana ingestion in places where it's
become legal," veterinarian Dr. Debbie Van Pelt told local CBS affiliate WTSP.
"They basically have lost a lot of their fine motor control, they have a
wide-based stance and they are not sure on their feet."
Before
medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado, local vets say they saw only a
handful of cases of dogs exposed to the substance per year. But now, those
numbers have more than quadrupled.
The vets say
most of the dogs are getting high from medical marijuana edibles left out in
the open by their owners. Marijuana edibles are cookies, brownies and other
foods prepared with a butter laced with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in
pot.
And while
some pet owners may think it's funny to get their dogs high, the vets say pot
is actually toxic to a dog's system. Cats are
similarly vulnerable to
negative effects from inhaling second-hand marijuana smoke or eating edibles.
Cat experts say many owners inaccurately believe that marijuana will have a
similar effect on their cats as catnip.
"I just
want dogs, kids to be safe. It needs to be treated like any other drug. If you
came home with a prescription of Vicodin from your doctor you wouldn't just
leave it sitting there," veterinarian Stacy Meola told the station.
In fact, Dr.
Meola said that two dogs recently died after ingesting a lethal amount of
marijuana. Such deaths are rare, but even in cases in which a dog's life is not
threatened, the dog is still subjected to painful symptoms, including vomiting
and even comas.
"We
need people to realize it is potentially toxic and potentially fatal to their
pets," Van Pelt said.
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