A Lynn Valley woman is warning fellow dog owners about the danger of roaches – and not the kind that scatter when the light is turned on.
Amanda Birrell’s four-month-old golden doodle Scout had to be treated by the vet overnight after becoming poisoned, she suspects, by marijuana resin.
Birrell had taken Scout for a walk on the trail off Lynn Valley’s Harold Road on Oct. 25. About half an hour after they returned home, she found Scout had violent vomiting and diarrhea, and was shaking and drooling.
She rushed him to the Lynn Valley Veterinary Clinic where he was treated with an overnight intravenous drip, anti-nausea medications and charcoal to absorb the toxins.
“I’ve had dogs for my whole life and I’ve never seen a dog that sick,” she said.
The affair cost her just under $420.
John Bratty, one of the vets who treated Scout, said it could have been any number of things that left the pup in such a state, and that generally, marijuana poisoning is usually not so severe.
But, he added pot poisoning is a common reason for a trip to the vet’s.
“It’s one of the more common toxins veterinarians see in dogs. It’s not just roaches on trails. It’s people’s brownies and it’s something in the back lane and something tossed over a fence,” he said. “They just act stoned. They’re woozy, unsteady. They stand with their legs far apart because they’re having trouble with their balance.”
Birrell said she suspects it was a roach as she would have noticed him trying to eat something bigger.
“Right now, with all of the mushrooms, I’ve been watching him like a hawk when we walk through the trails and I didn’t see him pick up anything,” she said. “It’s such a small amount that they need to pick up, people don’t even know they’ve ingested anything. It’s not like they’re chewing on something.”
Now Birrell wants to get the word out that not only are dogs keen to munch on found pot roaches, it’s also likely to make them sick.
“When (the vet) said that, I thought ‘Oh, gosh. People don’t know about that,’” she said.
Bratty said it’s probably not realistic to keep dogs muzzled and on leash at all times in hopes of preventing poisoning, as dogs are known to devour a plethora of things that will make them sick.
“I don’t actually recommend people get their knickers in a knot over dogs eating poisons. I do recommend basic common sense. If you see them eating something, try to intervene,” he said.
Instead, he said, people who partake in a joint while on the trails should probably find a better way of disposing of their butts. “It’s a good reason to put it in an ashtray or in the garbage and not drop it on the ground.”
