More and more states are legalizing marijuana and with this legislation has arrived more cases of dogs getting into marijuana products.
According to the ASPCA, the number of dogs getting high off of cannabis products has increased significantly.
The ASPCA’s poison hotline has increased with calls of high dogs according to The Los Angeles Times.
Tina Wismer, a veterinarian and senior director of the New York-based ASPCA Poison Control Center, has told the LA Times that between 2017 and 2020, national call volume for cannabis ingestion in dogs rose from 1,436 to 3,923 cases.
The numbers are also believed to be just a fraction of actual instances.
In the state of California the number of cases has jumped 276% since 2016 while in Colorado they have jumped 11-fold since 2012.
“If you ask any of our emergency room veterinarians, they would all say that the number of cannabis-intoxicated dogs has increased by leaps and bounds since legalization of medical and then recreational marijuana for humans,” Karl Jandrey, a professor of veterinary sciences at UC Davis, told the LA Times.
Dana Long, a resident of Tiburon, told the newspaper that he noticed his 12-pound Chihuahua terrier mix Bentley was “in a haze” and acting strange. The dog also declined a french fry, which is one of his favorite foods.
Long took Bentley to the vet, where he was asked if he had marijuana at home.
“I said no, because we don’t use pot. It’s not that we morally disapprove,” Long told the paper. “It’s just not our thing.”
Long and the vet determined that Bentley had likely picked up a chocolate edible in the grass outside.
“Avoidance is the only prevention,” said Jandrey. “Dogs get into many things outside and inside the house.”