Me? A Pot Head?

Let me tell you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

I was having sooooo much fun hiking around Trillium Lake, up near Mt. Hood. I found something really, really tasty and ate a bit of it before Mom made me ‘drop it’. When we got home, I had to go have a bath, because Mom said I stunk. Then I ate dinner and a little bit later, threw up. I was feeling pretty icky and didn’t want to do anything but just lay there. Pee was dripping out on the floor. What’s up with that?

Mom and Dad put me in the car and took me to the hospital…by that time I was walking funny. Sorta staggering. The vet said I had to stay the night and they put needles in me and stuck something up my pee-pee place and made me eat something that tasted like charcoal. I felt so bad for a while that I didn’t care what they did, but I finally started feeling better…after they sucked out some more blood and made me walk and stuff. I finally got to go home. Let me tell you, I was sure happy to see Mom and Dad this morning!

Mom here: The incidence of dogs ingesting a neurotropic toxin like marijuana (which is what they suspected she did) is higher in states with legal medical marijuana. Unfortunately, there are irresponsible people who leave their stash or whatever around and dogs love it. Sage apparently found one of these stashes and ate some of it before I could stop her. At the time, I had no idea what she had found. As soon as she exhibited symptoms, after we got home, we took her to our emergency animal hospital, Dove Lewis, where they admitted her to the ICU. The vet was a bit guarded with her prognosis at first, which was really scary. Of course, we didn’t know it was marijuana at the time, but the vet suspected it. Later blood work showed lowered glucose levels, which is another indication of a neurotropic toxin and is related to her lack of coordination. Fortunately, she is a very healthy dog and was able to recover fully. After a night in the ICU, she’s now sleeping off the effects of the pot.

Not knowing much about marijuana myself, it is something I never realized dogs loved. There is a good article on a Oregon Medical Marijuana site about Pets and Pot. Dogs are the most affected; it’s not generally fatal, but dogs need treatment and close monitoring as quickly as possible.

We are thankful that she will be OK, although it’ll be a couple of days before she’s back to her old self. We (Sage & I) will post some of the gorgeous photos taken on this rather eventful hike in the next day or so. Of course, that includes visits to all of you!