Your Beloved Pet Just Ate Your Weed, Here’s What To Do Next

Anyone that’s taken an edible knows how volatile they can be. Take a 23mg Cheeba Chew and you don’t feel anything at all, except your wallet in your back pocket being $10 lighter for nothing. Take a 24mg Cheeba Chew, and you also don’t feel anything at all, but only because you’re certain that your nervous system has shut down and you’re dying and you’re on your way to the promised land. Sucks, doesn’t it? Now imagine if your poor labrador puppy had to go through that as well. That’s certainly a thought no one enjoys.

I would cry forever if anything ever happened to my two little furballs because of me.

With the rise in popularity of marijuana and the states slowly going through a domino effect of legalization, cases of pet poisoning have grown substantially. The average number of pot-related trips to the hospital was one every month. Since the legalization in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, that number has jumped to one every other day.

As it turns out, there are a few ways to make sure this doesn’t happen to your cat or dog, or ferret if you swing that way. First, let’s cover the obvious ones.

Don’t leave your weed/wax/paraphernalia lying around: Seems simple, but you would be surprised how often pets (especially dogs) find their way to a leftover pot brownie or half-smoked blunt resting on the side of an ashtray.

If you do leave it lying around, keep it in a locked place: Emphasis on the word “locked.” Dogs and cats are pretty persistent if they see or smell something and want it. Too many times have I seen video of a dog or cat opening a drawer or jumping a fence or shaking down their owners for their drug caches. Ok, the last one was a lie, but not too far off from the truth anyways.

If you’re following these instructions and your little furball still finds a way to gobble up your ‘dro, then you need to take one or both of these more extensive measures.

1. Activated Charcoal

This stuff is basically your all-in-one poison controller. If ingested immediately after eating poison, it should absorb a large amount of it and prevent it from getting too ingrained into your body, i.e. making it to your bloodstream and being generously pumped throughout its entirety. Even when feeding this to Rex, be sure to have preparations made to rush to the vet’s office if need be. When it comes to our four-legged loved ones, not a single second should be wasted.

2. The Veterinarian

I mean, you don’t really want to risk it, do you? It’s not worth it. Yes, the bills will be outrageous, and the doc will probably just sedate your pet until their highness passes. The best part though? THEY WILL BE ALIVE. Unless you’re a veterinarian yourself, you can’t be sure how your pet will react. If the charcoal works out, fantastic. If not, get your asses in the car and get to the hospital STAT. While at the vet’s office, try to follow these steps:

Honesty is key: Lying helps no one, especially your struggling friend. The vet doesn’t care about you enough to judge you, and they’re certainly not going call the police on you. They don’t have the time or the energy. It’s weed, and it’s 2016. It’s not that crazy anymore. Furthermore, if you want to avoid telling the vet why you’re there, he’s going to have to take every test possible to figure it out what’s wrong with , and you’re going to pay for all of them, and he’s going to figure out that it’s weed anyways. Save yourself and your companion the time, trouble and money.

Keep your wits about you: Animals are very intuitive creatures and can tell when their owner is panicked or worried about something. You staying calm will help your little guy stay calm as well, or at least as much as possible while they’re still battling the THC demons.

Plan for the future: Learn from this mistake and make sure it doesn’t happen again, for your pet’s sake. If you’re worried about looking foolish, don’t be. Nobody needs to know about this little mishap if you’re uncomfortable talking about it, as long as you did everything in your power to help. Still, use this as a virtual “what not to do” template for the future and hopefully you can prevent this little problem from ever happening again.

If you do, however, cause poor little Buster to go through this again…

Photo Credit: Woof In Boots, Toke Signals