For the very first time, recreational drugs have made the ASPCA’s top 10 list of toxins for dogs and other pets. This includes not only marijuana-based products but also hallucinogenic mushrooms and cocaine, although marijuana makes up the lion’s share.
In 2022, the latest year for which records are available, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center received almost 11 percent more calls for what looked like marijuana ingestion than in the previous year. Lest you think most of this toxicity came solely from marijuana preparations manufactured exclusively for dogs, a study published in PLoS One last year found evidence suggesting that almost half of the toxicity cases are suspected to be caused by the ingestion of edibles meant for humans when a dog is unattended. The ASPCA, for its part, says that the most common recreational drug cases reported to its Animal Poison Control Center involve pets eating marijuana-laced baked goods.
Such baked goods may also contain additional canine toxins — chocolate, raisins, or the sugar substitute xylitol. The cumulative effect of such toxins can serve to make matters worse.
Common signs of marijuana toxicity in dogs include ataxia (poor muscle control that makes for stumbling around) and lethargy or depression. Other common signs: vomiting, urinary incontinence, increased sensitivity to motion or sound, head bobbing, dilated pupils, increased salivation, and a heart rate that’s lower than normal.
Medicinal use of marijuana in dogs has no doubt also contributed to the rise in toxicity reports. It’s not surprising. As was pointed out earlier this year in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, there is scant information on both the therapeutic and toxic effect of marijuana-based products for dogs. Moreover, there has been poor correlation between what’s stated on labels and the actual content of the product, making safe and effective dosing difficult.
We should note that marijuana and other recreational drugs compromise just one of the top 10 categories of toxins for dogs (see box on page 1). Toxicity for our pets may be going up in general. Calls to the Animal Poison Control Center (888-426-4435) increased almost 5 percent from 2021 to 2022.
