Nausea, wobbling, confusion, these are some of the symptoms of cannabis use. And now dogs are getting as high as people without any fault of their own. They’re getting sick from discarded weed they pick up on the streets.
In places where recreational use is legal, smokers are tossing the remains of joints in the street. Dogs are eating them and getting sick in increasing numbers, veterinarians and poison-control centers say.
Last weekend, Lola Star’s dog Dazzle, a mini goldendoodle just shy of 2 years old, ate a joint she found on the ground in Staten Island. It wasn’t the first or even the 10th time the dog had done this, Ms. Star said with a prolonged sigh.
She had not seen it happen but there was a telltale sign. “I was taking her out of the car, and I saw her little head bobble,” Ms. Star, who lives in the Prospect Park South neighborhood of Brooklyn, said. “That’s when you know your dog is stoned.”
Her dog is not the only unwitting weed consumer. Now that marijuana is widely available in New York City — after the city legalized adult recreational use of the drug in 2021 and the first legal dispensary opened in December — veterinarians are saying they’ve recently noticed a steady increase in the number of cases of dogs accidentally eating cannabis. And pet owners say their dogs are running into more discarded cannabis on streets and sidewalks during walks.
Veterinarians who used to see a case once a month now say they see several a week. Though most dogs recover, the symptoms can be scary: Loss of balance and difficulty walking, nausea, sleepiness and even hallucinations. And some owners do not see right away when their dogs eat a small remnant of a joint while out on a walk.
There are no precise figures about the number of dogs picking it up on the street, but the data show they are getting sick from weed more often in places where recreational use is legal.
The trend is not exclusive to New York City. In the past six years, there’s been a more than 400 percent increase in calls about marijuana poisoning to the Pet Poison Helpline, a 24-hour animal poison control center — with most reported in New York and California. Last year, the A.S.P.C.A.’s Animal Poison Control hotline fielded nearly 7,000 calls for marijuana toxicity, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.
If it happens to your pet call a veterinarian or poison help line.
Veterinarians said they had seen cases of pets eating marijuana in a variety of forms: flower, discarded joints, edibles and even vape cartridges.
The best protection is to train your dog to leave those items alone. When they do get into the substance, the first step is to reach out to a poison help line or call your veterinarian’s office, experts say. (The help lines charge between $85 and $95 for a consult.)
Although the behavior of a dog that has eaten cannabis can be “pretty alarming,” if you reach out for help immediately when the symptoms appear your dog will recover.
