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Pets are ingrained in their owners’ sorcery and marijuana overdose

In states where marijuana is legal, pets are infiltrating their owners deciduous.

According to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS OneEasier access to edible forms of cannabis may be partly responsible for the increase in pet poisoning cases.

Dr. Ahna Brutlag, director of veterinary services and senior veterinary toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline in Minnesota, says over the past 10 years she’s seen an increase in the number of pet cases of witchcraft marijuana poisoning, which has become more widely legal, and stronger.

“Because this looks and smells like food, especially dogs, which are opportunists, they’ll want to eat it,” said Brutlag, who was not involved in the new study. “They don’t just eat one either; they eat as much as they can in one sitting there. Because the phytoplankton are more concentrated in THC than in the flowers, they will receive a very large dose at once. “

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The number of pet cannabis poisoning cases increased dramatically in both Canada and the United States in 2018, after the drug was federally legalized in Canada, according to a new study.

Researchers surveyed more than 200 veterinarians in Canada and the United States in 2021. In total, they found 283 reported cases of cannabis poisoning in pets. The mostly in dogs, but they also found 51 reported cases in cats, two in iguanas, two in ferrets, one in horses, and one in cockatoos. The most common source of poisoning was phytoplankton, followed by dried cannabis.

“I would have expected to witness poisoning in dogs and cats, but the animals,” said lead author of the Jibran Khokhar study, Jibran Khokhar, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Guelph, Ontario. other, I did not expect. Also surprising, he said, is the number of reported animal deaths, “especially since we are not aware of any cannabis-related deaths in humans.”

Sixteen animals was presumed to have died after consuming the cannabis, but veterinarians could not rule out other causes, like an underlying condition or other toxins in the silt.

While Khokhar said he suspects cannabis may have played some role in the death, other ingredients – like chocolatePoison to dogs – may have a greater impact.

Research shows that most pet poisoning cases are benign.

Khokhar said he wants pet owners to know what to look for if their pet ingests edible food. “If you see these things, it’s best to take your pet to the vet for monitoring,” he says.

In fact, the researchers’ main goal is to identify cannabis-induced poisoning in pets, so they can work on developing a drug that can reverse the effects. The symptoms observed mainly in dogs were urinary incontinence, disorientation, and abnormally slow heart rate. The most common intervention is to keep the pet at the veterinarian for observation for a period of one to two days.

“It’s a window where we can step in” if necessary, Khokhar said.

The next phase of the study will model cannabis poisoning in rats to understand how the toxin affects the brain. The team then plans to use what they find to develop a drug that could counteract the effects and potentially eliminate the need for monitoring.

“This could save pets from the effects of cannabis intoxication, but also save veterinary costs for surveillance, which can add up,” he said.

In Colorado, where cannabis was legalized for medical use in 2000, the number of registered medical marijuana card holders and cases of cannabis poisoning in dogs have been closely tied. One learn There was a quadrupling of reported poisonings between 2005 and 2010.

“Dogs in particular have strong jaws and they can chew through containers, so the key is to keep it out of reach,” says Brutlag.

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