Off the Leash: Marijuana and Dogs
Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 7:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Official Stash Dog Roscotelli "Smelly Felly" "Semicolon Puckerbutt" "Nutstomper Boobsquisher" Gomez-Sanchez-Rodriguez-Ramirez Coltrane , and the ONLY green thing he cares about, The Ball V*.
I’ve only recently become a dog-person. I fell in dog-love with Roscoe, the Jack Russell terrier, a couple of years ago, and since then I can’t imagine living my life without him. When my wife takes him out of town, I miss him more than her (only because I can call, email, and text her – I’m not a cad!)
He sits in a chair beside me as I type up news stories for the Stash. Around 10am he makes me take him outside to pee, forcing me to disconnect from The Borg for a while, probably keeping me somewhat more physically and mentally healthy. Around 1pm, we walk to the park with The Ball* and have our Noontime Dog Fun event. Around 5pm he needs to go out again and forces me to take another break, otherwise I could literally be in front of the computer from 6am-8pm straight (and have done so many times… not healthy!)
So I was amused when a Stasher sent me a link to DogNews.com’s magazine, Volume 25, Issue 17, dated April 24, 2009, page 58, and an article by Shaun Coen called “Off the Leash: Marijuana and Dogs”:
But should the effort to legalize marijuana ever see the light of day, what would be the effect on our canine companions? We know that second hand smoke can cause lung and nasal cancer in dogs, as well as breathing problems, salivation, diarrhea, vomiting and cardiac abnormalities. What would happen to man’s best friends should they be exposed to not only tobacco smoke, but marijuana smoke as well?
Uh, since tobacco smoke causes cancer and lung disease in humans and marijuana smoke does not, I’d suppose that marijuana smoke doesn’t seriously hurt dogs, either.
And what if our curious canine friends decided to eat a stash of hash?
Then we put him in his timeout box and sternly say, “Bad dog!”
The signs of a dog that has inhaled or ingested marijuana may include incoordination and listlessness along with dilated pupils, slow heart rate, and sometimes urinary incontinence.
…and riding around in a van with four teenagers trying to solve mysteries for Scooby snacks.
During a study done in 2002, 250 cases of marijuana ingestion were reported to the ASPCA, resulting in two deaths. It’s harder to know what the mental damage may be to dogs under the influence of marijuana but it’s believed that they will become fearful and scared because they don’t know what’s happening…
Oh, I love it when people play sloppy with the studies. There was, indeed, a 2002 peer-reviewed paper entitled “Marijuana exposure in animals” by Caroline W. Donaldson, DVM. It does confirm that a dog should not eat cannabis:
According to the ASPCA APCC Database, the most common side effects of marijuana toxicosis are depression, ataxia, and bradycardia. Other signs include agitation, vocalization, vomiting, diarrhea, hypersalivation, tachycardia, hypothermia, mydriasis, urinary incontinence, seizures, and coma.
But also notes:
An LD50 (the amount for a dose that will kill half of those who take it) has not been established in dogs or cats. Research in dogs and monkeys showed that oral doses of delta 9-THC and delta 8-THC ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 mg/kg were not lethal, and all dogs recovered within 24 hours of ingestion.
3-9g/kg means a dog like Roscoe, who weighs 10kg, eating one to three ounces — of oral THC at 100% potency, like Marinol pills, not one to three ounces of new-and-improved 10% THC “super-pot”. And the kicker:
Out of more than 250 cases of accidental marijuana ingestion reported to the ASPCA APCC, two deaths were reported. In one cat, exposure to multiple agents was possible, and the results of a gross necropsy revealed that the animal probably died of complications of cardiomyopathy. The second death reported was a horse with signs attributed to colic, but a gross necropsy was not done. The prognosis is favorable for symptomatic animals with no secondary complications, such as aspiration pneumonia. With supportive care, these animals usually recover within 72 hours.
So the “two deaths” the author refers to, implying they are deaths of dogs from cannabis ingestion, are actually a cat and a horse with other serious health problems. Is this guy auditioning for a job at the (Non-Alcoholic, Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Tobacco) Drug Free America Foundation?
In the same study, the author reports that no veterinarians surveyed had ever filed an animal abuse complaint when someone brings in a stoned dog. She also notes that veterinarians often have trouble getting the owners to tell them their dog had eaten cannabis, since possession of it is a crime. If the vet doesn’t know the true cause, she may proceed as if the dog had ingested a serious toxin, like antifreeze, and the treatment for that may cause more harm to the dog than the cannabis did!
Bottom line: Pot’s not good for your dog, but it’s not going to seriously hurt him. Personal note: I think people who purposefully get their pets high for amusement sake are being cruel. Owning a Jack Russell is a high; they’re like Red Bull with fur. Pets are great the way they are; no need to alter them (aside from the whole spay/neuter part).
* I’m serious about The Ball. This is a green plastic ball with orange-wedge-like grooves studded with soft nubs and a half-inch diameter hole through the center through which a rope was once attached. The rope, of course, becomes Jack Russell floss in a matter of minutes, but The Ball is what he really wants, anyway. He can get a good grip in the wedges and the nubs work to massage his teeth and gums. He fricken LOVES The Ball (even more than The Kong… that’s another story). So much that this is actually The Ball V, as The Balls I, II, III, and IV have all been lost and he steadfastly refuses to get excited about any other spheroid of any size, shape, material, or configuration. The Ball costs $15, and I’ve only been able to find them at one particular Petco that’s way out of my neighborhood.
Topics: ASPCA, dogs, veterinarians
I’ve have a small 12 year old poodle terrier mix that had a terrible cough caused by a variety of issues. Anyway we could not control the cough and it was killing her. Our Vet gave us codein cough syrup that knocked her out but didn’t stop the cough when she was awake. At our wits end we decided to feed her some of my Cannabis edibles and kept her medicated 24/7 for about a week with an occassional 1/2 dose of the cough syrup. Slowly I weened her off both and it worked, she has finally recovered. Our Vet does not know yet what we did but I’m going to tell when she goes back in for some testing. What’s interesting is that he inadvertantly suggested it when he gave me the cough syrup. He said the cough syrup will work on the dog in two ways, it will physically help control the coughing but will also work on it from a psychological stand point as well. Hmmm now what does that sound like? So being a Cannabis expert witness and a student of the Cannabis theraputics for many years I decided to give it a try. I started with minute amounts on her and gradually incresed it until I noticed that she was starting to look intoxicated. That’s when I stopped increasing the dosage. My other terrier snagged one of the medicated cakes I had prepared and I had to scold the first dog for sharing her medicine! That’s illegal I said.;)
I’d love to hear from some Vets that have used cannabis on mammals.
Many years ago I had a Doberman named Thaistik Hai. He thought he was a person. He would plop his butt on the couch and sit amongst us when we would party. He lost one leg to cancer and had to have it amputated.
* I sure do adopt some needy animals.
Later, he got cancer in his gonads… I had to have him put down.
That was ‘77. I still miss him a bit every now and then.
I keep catnip growing around the house for Midnight. When spring hits (May to early June) she gets high on her own nip. Otherwise, when I smoke indoors, she will hang around close by. Bud likes to hang around and slobber all over me when I am
breathin’ in what I exhale. The piglets will fuss about who gets to sleep across my feet whenever I get high.
My cats go nuts over catnip and are entirely uninterested in the ganja (peoplenip?)
I have smoked around my 2 dogs and 4 cats since they were all puppies and kittens.. They are all healthy, have shiney coats, and smarter than some people I know… Their only problem is outrageous appetites. :)
Cat lover here. $150 an ounce for MJ or $1.50 an ounce for catnip, which the cats actually enjoy. Hmmmmm, not a tough decision.
One of my cats (died about three years ago at age 16) used to get high with me. Meaning he’d see me light up, would jump in my lap, wait for me to inhale, then put his face next to mine while I exhaled. He’d always do it for two hits, then jump off. I don’t think this made me a bad owner as he genuinely seemed to want it and liked the results. He was a great friend and I still miss him every day even though I have four other cats.
None of the others get high and I don’t blow smoke near them.
If you want to enjoy your cat drug free, try my two favorites: tie a pair of socks together, then tie them around the cat’s stomach. Not tightly, just firmly enough so it won’t fall off. Instant drunk walk.
Or you can put plastic sandwich baggies on each of their paws held on loosely with a rubber band. Sit back and enjoy the high steppin fun! Cats freakin’ rock
Neat story about your cat. My cat is just the opposite. As soon as she hears the vape starting up she runs out of room. If she’s outside with me and light out a joint, she’s gone.
Mine do too, except the one that adopted me. She tolerates the noise and an occasional whiff but doesn’t want any vapor.
I believe that the high pitch of the fan in my heat gun caused the others to shy away. It sure has affected my hearing on one side after several years so I can understand (I wear headphones now when I vape).
Getting your pet high is one thing. Your pet getting high is another. I’ve heard tales of dogs and cats who come running for the weed. I don’t know if they just know they’ll get attention from stoned humans or if they really like it. Do cats and dogs even have CB1 and CB2 receptors?
The cruelty of getting animals high that I’m thinking of is the jerks who’ll grab a dogs snout and force pot smoke into their nose.
I also knew of a guy who used to stone his iguana. It would become absolutely frozen; you could pose it and it would stay frozen in that position. Looking back now it seems cruel, but damn if it wasn’t funny as hell at the time.
Yah, agreed. I wouldn’t force another human to smoke weed, why would anyone think it’s cool to that to an animal?
OTOH, I don’t care how many legs you have, just don’t don’t leave spit on the J or bogart. If that’s cool, then walk, crawl, slither, or swim by my place any time, fellow living being stoners
Russ back in the day I was a bad guy when my ex & I got married and she had a huge dog that didn’t want me to horn in on her master’s time with her. I thought,(in my younger and more foolish days)I’ll get her stoned and then she will calm down. So I did it a couple of times. She seemed a little calmer.
But then I made the mistake of leaving a big gallon baggie of hoochiekoo on the dining table overnight. The next day there was hootchie all over the room and one very stoned dog. Poor thing went out in the yard and just lay there grooving on the sky and grass. I felt so bad that i had corrupted her.
Well, I learned my lesson. Don’t make a dog high, they just might like it.
While we are on the subject,
I saw 2 VERY high cats while making the coffeeshop rounds in Amsterdam. Being in an enclosed environment with some of the best smoke in the world all day (and a lot of tobacco smoke) is probably not too good for them.
We quit smoking cigs around our cats a while back (I quit totally :thup: ) because they were getting sick from the secondhand smoke. They seem fine with vapor and the occasional spliff.
I think that poisoning cats and dogs with tobacco smoke is much worse than pot.
BTW big dogs don’t live very long. My ex gave her up to “grandma & grandpa” and she died a year or so later at 4 1/2. Sad really. She had a drug reaction to some antihistamines the vet gave her.
My dog used medical marijuana!
I used to have a dog in high school that was severely depressed. He was so pathetic, always sad. He was sad, listless, a bump-on-a-log. He would just move around from outside to inside sitting there. When you were busy, that is when he would want attention. When you were ready to give love, he wanted none of it. He was really depressed, we really didn’t like him.
UNTIL we were smoking pot one day, and decided to get him high. I am telling you 180 degree turnaround!! The dog instantly became playful and happy! Something changed in him that day. He was a whole new dog! It was ASTOUNDING! I didn’t even believe that mj had any medical benefits at the time, but I was fully convinced that marijuana changed his whole attitude about life! From then on we would always smoke with him, especially when he started acting depressed again, and it would always work!
When I left for college, my sister and step-brother kept smoking him out. The dog lived the rest of his life happy, a respectable family pet. Everyone loved him. Even my parents talked about his change in attitude many times, but ofcourse they had no idea of the cause.
Believe me medical marijuana saved my dog’s life! I am not kidding!
Interesting. I’d like to see some vets study medical marijuana for dogs.
This goes right along with the positive ADHD and Autism results reported in humans. Animals must have chemical brain problems too. I can’t wait to see the science that comes from this once cannabis is studied.
Roscoe is a pretty cool dude!
Thank for the info Russ. I have two yorkies and love them. you are right they are great the way they are. I fill getting my dogs high is no different then getting a child high and we know better then to do that i HOPE.
I am accompanied daily by my pets… a brain damaged (not by pot) Rottweiler named “Bud”, a black 3 legged cat named “Midnight Toker” (likes her catnip better), two black miniature pot bellied pigs named “Ganja” (female) and “Spliff” (male). They stay clear of my stash, but the two piglets like to lick my tray after I grind and fill my smoking utensil.
I wonder how many dogs (and other pets) die in pot raids? Where’s the vets outrage now?
This vet is just another moralistic crusader that is trying to turn dog owners against legalization.
The dog I saw eat the stash ate a bowl of food, drank water and took a nap.
To this day she’s still a happy puppy.