Pets & Pot
The Dope About Marijuana and Your Pet
The medical use legalization of marijuana for humans presents a conundrum for pet owners and veterinarians. And, there aren’t any easy answers regarding its use for animal patients.
The two of the biggest concerns are for toxicity and for lack of substantive research. However, the largest problem is that marijuana and its medical products are considered a Schedule 1 controlled drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency. As such, veterinarians in all 50 states and U.S. territories are not authorized to prescribe nor recommend its use as a treatment. It is a prosecutable offense that would lead to the loss of one’s veterinary license to practice.
One of our more common toxin concerns of late has been the ingestion by a pet, usually a dog, of an edible marijuana product. Unlike prescribed medications, which have a standardized concentration, the concentration of beneficial active ingredients is not standardized across the board for medical edibles and tinctures. A Colorado based study of veterinary emergency hospitals noted a 200 percent increase in calls related to marijuana intoxication between 2005 and 2010.
Marijuana is considered a drug with a wide margin of safety, but that does not mean it is safe for pets. In a recent case here in Colorado, two small dogs died after ingesting a highly concentrated medical grade marijuana butter. Ingestion is not the only route of toxicity; it can come from inhalation of the smoke, ingestion of the dried plant and also from products made with hashish.
The most common effects of marijuana intoxication are depression, listlessness, loss of coordination and balance, vomiting and low body temperature. You could see dilated eyes, depressed appetite and decreased water intake. Other less common side effects can include a slow heart rate or an accelerated heart rate, agitation, vocalization, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive drooling, urinary incontinence, seizures, and, in extreme cases, coma or death.
The neurotoxic effects of marijuana ingestion begin to show within 30 minutes to two hours post exposure and usually last about 12 to 24 hours. However, in obese pets, the clinical signs can last for several days as the active ingredients are stored in fat and take longer for the body to process out.
If your pet has been exposed to marijuana, do not wait for clinical signs to develop, but rather get them to the veterinarian as soon as possible. And, be honest about what happened; veterinarians need the information to care for your pet properly and have no obligation to report such a poisoning to a legal entity.
Keep all marijuana – buds, joints, edibles, tinctures, etc. – safely up and away from pets and children (poisoning is an issue for the little ones too).
The other side of the controversy – what use can marijuana and its medical products have for our veterinary patients – will be determined in time with research and changes in dispensing laws.
There may be real benefits to using the medically active components in marijuana, particularly if they can be synthesized without the “high” giving components. But remember, currently, it is illegal for your veterinarian to recommend treatment with or prescribe marijuana or its medical/edible products.
Dr. Margot can be reached at parkhillvet.com