Bunny Bear, an eight-month-old Pomeranian pup, was returning home from one of her daily walks around Sunset Park when odd symptoms started to appear.
The pup had been her usual energetic self on their walk, zooming around the sidewalk and greeting passerbys, owner Elizabeth Shelton said. But now, carried in Shelton’s arms, she was trembling uncontrollably.
“When we got home, she suddenly didn't want to get out of the elevator,” said Shelton.
When symptoms didn’t abate a few hours later, Shelton took Bunny Bear on a midnight trip to the emergency vet. After an overnight visit, Shelton got a shocking diagnosis: Bunny Bear was suffering from marijuana toxicosis.
“She’s an eight-month-old puppy who was perfectly healthy, and then suddenly being unable to walk,” Shelton said. “We later figured out, she was probably stoned out of her gourd and poisoned.”
Signs of marijuana toxicosis in pets can appear within just 30 minutes of ingestion, according to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Signs include uneven gait, disorientation, dribbling urine, lethargy, and sensitivity to light and sound. In cases of synthetic cannabis, tremors and seizures can occur.
While fatalities are rare, cases such as Bunny Bear’s are not.
Recreational drugs, including marijuana, snagged a place in the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’s top 10 pet toxin list last year, based on calls made to their Poison Control Center. Marijuana-related calls to the Pet Poison Hotline within New York state have risen since legalization, according to the hotline’s toxin trends dashboard.
Increased presence of marijuana in neighborhoods over the past few years – paired with increasing strength of marijuana products on the market – pose a special risk to curious dogs like Bunny Bear. With no such products in Shelton’s home, it was obvious that the toxin came from the street.
Anjana Mangalat, who specializes in emergency medicine at Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group in South Slope, said she’s seen such cases come in more frequently, in tandem with increased use of legalized marijuana in New York.
Prospect Park and Fort Greene Park, are particular hot spots for exposure outside of the home, Mangalat said.
Both Mangalat and Anna Kaufman, a veterinarian at Bond Vet’s Cobble Hill location, advised erring on the side of caution if a pet exhibits symptoms.
“When we live in New York, there's lots of stuff on the streets, trash, garbage, and we definitely see products that have marijuana. It's very hard to prevent your dog from eating that stuff, said Kaufman.
Treatment is easier when pet owners know exactly what a dog consumed – cases in which the dog found a marijuana stash at home. Pet parents can call the ASPCA’s poison control hotline or the Pet Poison Hotline to figure out how to proceed.
Mangalat said it’s important for pet parents to be upfront about how pets got exposed to cannabis, whether it is something in the home, or from a moment of inattention on a walk.
“Even if they're not a scavenger, even if you are maybe embarrassed about it, just be open, because I'd rather know than us guessing and worrying about other neurologic diseases,” Mangalat said. “So if there's any kind of drug exposure, we're just here to take care of these guys. As long as we know, we can move forward with whatever they need.”
Veterinary hospitals can offer pets supportive care in the form of fluid therapy, anti-nausea medication and, in extreme cases, something called intralipid therapy. When a pet accidentally consumes cannabis, it is not only alarming for owner and pet alike – it is also costly.
Shelton, who is between gigs while working in the costuming industry, paid a $1,600 bill for Bunny Bear’s overnight stay in the emergency room.
Thankfully, Bunny Bear made a full recovery.
“It took a day or two to fully regain the full Bunny Bear leaps, but she was so happy to be released,” Shelton said.
