Nelson A. Pryor: Guest Columnist
More and more dogs are being sickened by eating marijuana, New York veterinarians say.
In New York City, veterinarians say canine marijuana poisoning has become a daily occurrence.
"We probably see close to one a day at one of our four hospitals," said David Wohlstadter, senior emergency clinician for the city locations of the veterinary chain Blue Pearl. "And we've definitely seen an increase in the past couple of years."
Animal Medical Center says it treats several cases a week.
Fortunately, the effects: lethargy, wobbling gait, dribbling urine and saliva, over reactions to sound and light and movement-are not life-threatening. Treatment usually consists of inducing vomiting, if the ingestion was recent enough, and simply keeping the dog hydrated in a quiet place until the drug clears, though that can take a couple of days.
The center saw a 144 percent increase in pet marijuana overdose calls from 2010 to 2015. New York State had more cases than other states except California.
New York City calls itself "Pet City." An article: "The Dog Is High, and its Not Funny," Feb. 5, 2017 New York Times p. 1 mb, spells it out. One cookie strong enough to get a human stoned could have 10 times the effect on a dog.
Examples
"Something was wrong with Betsy Gotbaum's poodle. Harry, a reddish-brown 5-month-old puppy, was usually a ball of energy. But Mrs. Gotbaum, the former New York City public advocate, had a hard time rousing him one morning last month.
"He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink, his head was bobbling back and forth," Mrs. Gotbaum said.
"When he tried to get up, he staggered and fell. 'We were afraid it was something neurological."'
She rushed Harry to Animal Medical Center on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Many tests were done. Only one came back positive: Harry had gotten his paws on some marijuana.
Her household's working theory is that Harry scarfed something off the ground the night before on a walk to the entrance of Central Park. "In the park, I'm always smelling marijuana," the dog walker, Mrs. Julia Alvarez said.
Cats, by the way, tend not to partake. The A. S. R. C. A. poison center says that dogs account for about 95 percent of pet marijuana poisonings. "Dogs put some really dumb things in their mouths," Dr. Brett Levitzke said. "We have dogs come in that have mouth and esophageal burns from drinking bleach. You never see a cat do that because they're smart. Dog will try anything once, sometimes twice."
Children
With all this concern in the Big Apple about dogs, one would think they would have concerns about the children. Lock the cookies up, like, they would for firearms. But, no such thing! The marijuana-laced cookies are coming from somewhere. And they appear to be available as a finder's keepers sort of thing. Sorry about your dog! Mister; just keep those cookies away from my children!