Animals, mostly dogs, are being brought staggering into veterinary hospitals high on pot, a toxic and potentially lethal condition. Sometimes they’re just sleepy, disoriented and unable to control their bladders. Other times they’re vomiting, having seizures or are comatose.

The symptoms “depend on how much they have,” said Dr. Nicholas Davainis, a Sonoma County veterinarian.

Some animals just need to sleep off the effects, but others suffer dangerous symptoms, including extremely slow heart rates and seizures, that require treatment.

Davainis sees as many as 10 cases of canine marijuana toxicity a month. Farther north, the number of cases climbs, coinciding with increased marijuana production.

Veterinarians at Mendocino Animal Hospital usually see two or three cases a week but last Friday alone had three, said Dr. Jennifer Bennett.

The incidents peak in Humboldt County, the heart of marijuana country.

“I see at least one a day,” said Dr. Joe Humble, and it’s not uncommon to get two or three cases a day at his emergency clinic in Eureka.

“we see more cases than anybody in the world, said Humble, who belongs to the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society.

When he told veterinarians at an international convention in Nashville last year how many cases he sees, they wanted to know where he worked. When he told them Humboldt County, they “went wild” with recognition.

“We’re well known up here,” Humble said. “It’s kind of an embarrassment.”

Nearly all of the affected patients are dogs. The poison hot line run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals received 361 calls in 2011 about animals ingesting marijuana. Ninety-six percent of those involved dogs.

“Cats don’t tend to eat indiscriminately like dogs do,” said Bennett, although she has treated a few cats with suspected marijuana toxicity.

“We’ve got a dog here who’s eaten laundry. They eat anything that seems interesting to them,” she said. Dogs will ingest a variety of forms of marijuana. They’ll eat the plants, dried marijuana, joints and food made with pot, Bennett said.

The items they eat can become even more unusual when they get pot-induced munchies, Humble said.

He recalled a dog that was brought to his clinic, limp and unresponsive.

“The dog’s mouth was jammed” with baking soda, Humble said. The owner thought that’s what was making the dog sick, but it turned out it first had eaten a bag of marijuana-laced cookies. Marijuana food products can pose particular problems because they taste good and contain concentrated amounts of pot.

The dog’s heart rate was in the 30s, dangerously low, Humble said. The normal range is 60 to 160, depending on the size of the dog.

Animals with marijuana toxicity also may exhibit very high or very low temperatures, Davainis said.

Treatments vary with the symptoms. They include induced vomiting, administering activated charcoal to bind the toxins, intravenous fluids and anti-seizure medication. Humble is experimenting with a therapy that binds lipid-soluble toxins.

Animals find pot to eat in a variety of places. They may find discarded marijuana while on a walk, at a neighbor’s house or in an ashtray in their homes.

“some people are a little cagey,” with their explanations,” Davainis said. “It’s always the neighbor and the roommate,” whose pot was devoured. “we don’t ask too much.”

Owners also have been known to administer medicinal marijuana to their pets, erroneously believing that what alleviates their ailments will help their pets.

While marijuana toxicity in pets occurs in other places, it’s more common in California, the doctors say.

“I went to veterinary school in Wisconsin. we never saw it,” Bennett said. “Here, it’s common.”

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or Glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.

Revelstoke dogs are being poisoned.  As word flashed around town many dog owners I talked to jumped to the same conclusion I did, that some heartless cretin was intentionally luring dogs with strychnine-laced meat or some other irresistible bait. 

The weekend of April 16 two dogs from Revelstoke and one from Salmon Arm fell critically ill after ingesting toxic substances.  After talking to two vets and the RCMP the consensus seems to be that the culprits are Mother Nature, and us.

“We’ve received no complaints about dogs being intentionally poisoned,” said RCMP Corporal Rod Wiebe.  “We rely on the veterinarians to give us evidence, and I can confirm at this time that no complaints have been received.”

“Because the dogs came from three completely different areas, and had similar substances in their stomachs or vomit, I think we’re seeing poisoning from toxic vegetation, particularly coarse grasses,” explained veterinarian Jim Clark of the Shuswap Vet Clinic in SA.

Revelstoke vet Lisette Valdamanis agrees with Clark, “I have zero suspicions that we are dealing with someone intentionally poisoning dogs. that glaze of white you see on last year’s grass is mold,” explained Valdamanis, “and it can be deadly.”

“Just like our ancestors craved fresh greens in spring like dandelion, which they used medicinally and as nutritional supplements, dogs crave their own tonic, new grass,”

Clark said.  “Unfortunately molds ingested from vegetation and food stuffs can induce tremorgenic mycotoxin toxicity (TMT).”  in lay terms, an attack on an animal’s nervous system.

Potentially lethal toxins can be found in a host of decomposing substances;  feces (which many dogs love to gobble) and very dead critters such as mice, snakes, birds, fish, and large carcasses like deer.

In an article Clark sent me, Linda Shell, DMV (neurology) explains the symptoms of TMT.  She says a small amount of ingested tremorgenic mycotoxin can cause fine muscle tremors of a dog’s face, ears, eyelids, and/or ataxia – confusion and inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements.  Increased exposure causes severe tremors, seizure and possible death.

A dog thus poisoned will be seen to be twitching, staggering, have a glazed look and may convulse, and will not likely have gastrointestinal upset, ie vomiting or bloody stools and diarrhoea.  If your dog experiences these symptoms, get him to the vet immediately, or call for advice as one Revelstoke dog owner did.

“There were lengthy delays on the west on the Trans Canada Sat, April 16, due to repairs on the  Malakwa Bridge,” said Clark. “The owner of one of the Revelstoke dogs exhibiting symptoms of TMT couldn’t get to Salmon Arm so called in and I was able to assist him to induce vomiting.”  that quick action probably saved the dog’s life as the disease manifests quickly, within half an hour to two hours said Clark.  All three dogs survived.

According to Shell, tremorgenic mycotoxins are found in a range of food stuffs mainly moldy dairy products, moldy walnuts and peanuts, stored grains and moldy garbage and compost.

“A compost that is not “hot” enough can produce deadly molds on a variety of food stuffs, including coffee grounds and fermenting cottage or cream cheeses,” said Clark.

To be safe follow the rules of successful composting – put no oils, meats, fats (cheeses), or cooked table scraps into your bin.  and if there are dogs running in your neighbourhood, cover the compost securely.  The dog you poison might be your own.

Clark also said he has treated dogs with severe symptoms from marijuana poisoning as some people think it’s cool to deliberately feed dogs recreation drugs and watch them get stoned. “In August we start to see dogs sick from ingesting common mushrooms that grow on lawns,” Clark said.

If you suspect poisoning of any sort and can’t get to a vet, the American SPCA has an animal poison control centre.  “For a fee, you can talk to a veterinarian 24/7 who will give advice for poisoning,” said Valdmanis.  The poison control centre number is 1-888 426-4435.  Consult fee, $65. your pet’s life, priceless.

The ASPCA website lists the top 10 toxins from the 167,000 calls they received in 2010 as follows; human medications, insecticides, rodenticides, people food, vet meds, chocolate, household toxins, indoor and outdoor plants, herbicides and outdoor toxins.

It also clarified that yes, raisins, grapes, onion and garlic can be lethal to dogs, if enough is consumed.

According to Cheryl Hermansen at Home Hardware, society is going green and reducing and replacing the use of harmful substances. “We’re phasing out products laced with poisons like strychnine and warfarin,” said Hermansen.  “There are now pet-friendly antifreezes and rodent poisons.  we carry Green Earth products made from powdered corn cobs that are not dangerous to pets.”

Dogs will be dogs. they love to run off leash and they love to eat crap. Clark’s best advice, “If you want to keep your dogs safe, keep them leashed, or within range, and pick up their poop wherever you walk.”

To which I’ll add: be prepared to sprint over and extract suspicious substances from your dog’s mouth (owning a Lab, affectionately known as ‘pig dogs’ or ‘bottom feeders’, I’m doing a lot of sprinting!); keep vet and poison control numbers handy; get a good canine first aid book; google Dog Poisoning and educate yourself – the list of potential poisons for dogs is staggering.

And finally, most important, report any suspected intentional bait poisoning of dogs to the vets, RCMP or Crimestoppers.

Barbara J. little is a regular contributor to The Revelstoke Current

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Hi. Just now, I noticed my GP having like stiff neck. I dont know why. my first GP also had the same symptom but died after 2 days. Pls help. I dont know what to do

Ok. I'm from the Philippines. Vet here only treat dogs and animals. If there's a guinea pig vet here, I wont ask questions here. I'll bring him to the vet ASAP. but there's no vet specialize in guinea pigs. Guinea pigs here are considered exotic pets. Really hard to find veterinarians that can treat guinea pigs. Please help. This way is my only hope. I know guinea pigs are cheap, but I love him. it cannot be easily replaced. I really value him. Please help me.

I've been feeding him guinea pig pellets ever since. I always give him parsley because he loves it so much. no diarrhea nor loss of appetite.

Yes. his neck is tilted to the side. If it's scurvy, how much vitamin c should I give him? I only have human vitamin C in capsule 500mg. How will I divide the dosage?

First of all, if you are going to give him parsley make sure it's only a little bit. you don't need to give your guinea pig vitamin C, because parsley has more vitamin C than an orange, so it can't be scurvy.
Don't know what else it could be though.

If his neck is tilted to the side, he might have ear mites that are causing neurological damage, which is actually fairly common in rodents and small animals. One of our rats we used to have, my sister's old rabbit, and our hedgehog we just recently lost all had this problem. If you can, I suggest taking him to the vet ASAP, even if there are no vets that specialize in guinea pigs. He /needs/ to see a vet, before it's too late.

Torticollis might be why.

Alarge pet vaccine program, a stepped-up effort to trap more gray foxes and the remote possibility of raining vaccinations from the sky are all potential reactions to a rabies outbreak in the Cave Junction area.

The various options are outlined in a draft report now circulating among various state agencies to address the bat-rabies outbreak that has killed 10 animals — mostly gray foxes — over the past 13 months in the Cave Junction area of rural Josephine County.

Local veterinarians are offering low-cost rabies vaccination clinics, and more local people are bringing in their cats for vaccinations lately, says Dr. Joe Hoelzle, a Cave Junction veterinarian.

Vaccinations cost $20 for animals examined within a year, Hoelzle says. State rules require an examination within a year of vaccination, and that package costs $40, he says.

“About 80 percent (of the animals) I see are vaccinated,” Hoelzle says. “But there’s a huge population out there that doesn’t get veterinary attention, period.”

While dogs must be vaccinated for licensing, cats are not — yet they pose a greater risk of contracting rabies and passing it on to humans, says Colin Gillin, state wildlife veterinarian for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Cats are more like likely to capture a bat flopping on your porch or get in a night fight with a rabid fox,” Gillin says.

Encouraging people in the area to get their pets, particularly dogs and cats, vaccinated and possibly paying area veterinarians to do so could be the best choice for keeping the disease from spreading to pets and possibly people, according to the draft.

Left untreated, rabies is 100 percent fatal.

“If dogs and cats were vaccinated, it would go a long way toward protecting public health,” said Colin Gillin, the state wildlife veterinarian for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and principal author of the draft.

The draft also outlines how increased fox trapping could help slow the disease spread if monitoring proves foxes are infecting animals. but that would require a change in trapping rules and could cause undue harm to other species, such as bobcats, according to the draft.

The plan also considers inoculating the area’s foxes and other wildlife by dropping vaccination-laced baits via helicopter, according to the draft. the baits, called Oral Rabies Vaccinations, have been effective in Texas along the Mexican border and in Massachusetts, where they have been used on public land.

However, the Cave Junction area where the rabid animals have been found is largely private, with nearly 1,000 individual tax lots in what would the target area. Each landowner would have to consent before any vaccinations were placed on their land, according to the draft.

“That’s probably way out there,” Gillin says. “You’d have to have the public and everybody on board. you can’t have big holes in your coverage area.”

The draft also spells out “triggers” for any of these different management options to kick in. A trigger could include a non-bat strain of rabies showing up or a human exposure to rabies.

“I think we all agree that, if we get a human exposure, that might trip it,” says Mark Vargas, the Rogue District wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We’ve never had anything like this with rabies before in Oregon,” Vargas says. “Obviously, human health is an issue.”

When completed, the plan represents a systematic approach to dealing with rabies in wildlife while biologists ferret out the distribution and range of the disease until it is either stamped out or recedes on its own.

“What you don’t want to do is take on an effort that was poorly planned, spend a lot of time and money without getting a result,” Gillin says. “It’s a great tool.”

Since the outbreak began, seven foxes, one domestic goat and one coyote have died of rabies in the Cave Junction area, along with a fox found dead near Merlin.

They all suffered from the same bat strain of rabies, and biologists have theorized that the disease hit the fox population by gray foxes eating dead or dying rabid bats in the area.

Since then, health officials already have launched a public education campaign asking people to vaccinate their horses and pets. the ODFW now also plans to test every dead fox found or trapped in Jackson and Josephine counties.

Despite the concern, Gillin says, the numbers of reported cases are the only ones in Oregon and represent rabies levels far lower than other states find regularly, Gillin says.

“Massachusetts probably gets a dozen cases in a week,” he says.

Biologists also do not know the extent of its presence in the area.

“If it’s still isolated in one area, can vaccinations control it and keep it there?” Vargas says. “That’s the big question.”

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the nervous system of mammals and is fatal if untreated.

Rabies symptoms in wildlife include lethargy, walking in circles, loss of muscular coordination, convulsions, irritability or aggressiveness, disorientation, excessive drooling and lack of fear of humans.

Anyone who finds an animal acting peculiarly is urged to keep clear of it and telephone ODFW biologists at 541-826-8774.

Over the past two years, a strain of non-bat rabies, called terrestrial rabies, has been found in animals such as foxes and raccoons in Northern California, but not in Oregon.

Anyone who believes their pet could have interacted with the infected coyote found at Laurel Hills Cemetery in Cave Junction should contact their veterinarian or Josephine County Animal Control immediately at 541-474-5458.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail at .

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I just wanted to know what are some pregnancy symptoms for dogs because my dog might be pregnant. no one please get nasty on me because I am breeding her.

I bred my dog, but it was only after I'd spent several years leaning about breeding so I'd know what I was doing.

I suggest you do the same.

Signs a dog may be pregnant are behavioral symptoms. Initially, you may notice a decrease in appetite. Dogs may become restless and interact less with their people and may prefer seclusion. they often make natural attempts at “nesting,” evidence by the shredding of paper or digging at blankets and bedding in the last week or so. a pregnant dog can also become irritable, with minor personality changes in the last two to three weeks.

A pregnant dog requires good nutrition to develop healthy puppies. Veterinarians may recommend protein supplements or other additions to the dog's diet and owners should be aware that a pregnant dog may have an increased appetite. Fluid intake is also important and thirst may increase, so be sure to provide fresh water at all times.

Some dogs also display signs of false pregnancy after coming off their heat cycle. the physical symptoms, such as enlarged abdomen and mammary glands do not surface, but psychological signs may be present. some dogs adopt “babies” by carrying around and nesting with stuffed animals. However, do not allow a dog who displays signs of a false pregnancy to try stealing puppies from another litter.

If you are attempting to breed your dog, be aware of the signs she exhibits after breeding. Provide her with the proper care and attention, but remember nature mostly takes its course on its own. be sure to provide a suitable whelping box for delivery and monitor your dog’s ability to care for her pups. All puppies should see a veterinarian for routine de-worming by 3 weeks of age and should be weaned between 3 and 4 weeks.

If you have a pregnant dog and are unfamiliar with delivery and aftercare, consult your veterinarian for information. if you have a pregnant dog, but had no intentions of breeding her, be responsible in her care and that of the puppies and then have your dog spayed as soon as possible.

~Taiilor

Why not get nasty on you because you are breeding her.

If you have been on here enough that you know what everyone is going to say to you then you cannot even plead ignorance can you.

You only have to put your question into the "search answers" bit above and I am sure you will come out with hundreds of other byb's asking the same question.

Either get an emergency spay – or be prepared to be responsible for those puppies for the rest of their lives. That's if your b*tch and pups survive the trauma of birth with an inexperienced owner.

normal dont know nothing till 4-5 week and then they get really fat
she might start leaking milk from her nipples to that a bugger when they lie on you as it looks like ya wet ya self
some dog lose all there engry in to resting
eating more to

good luck hope you have lots of healthy puppys

Take her to a vet.

If you're going to be irresponsible and ignorant, the least you could do is provide your poor experiment- sorry, /beloved pet/- with good vet care including prenatal care and scans.

I don't want to be nasty with you but if you don't know what the symptoms are of pregnancy in dogs than you really shouldn't be breeding at all.. PLEASE do more research before breeding again, you can endanger your dog if you don't wait long enough between litters!!

The early sings include:
Nipple growth, the nipples of an unbread female dog are usually pretty tiny much like a male dogs nipples, when a dog is pregnant you will notice breast material developing beneath them so they kind of pop up.
Behavioral changes, they will usually become much more dependent and affectionate OR aggressive and wanting to be alone.. i have seen the sweetest dog become the meanest when she was pregnant and vise versa.
They will become much more lethargic, they wont want to take a ton of walks or play.. they get exhausted easier
Decreased appetite this is pretty much the first sign, its kinda like "doggie morning sickness" make sure that all the food she DOES eat is richer in nutrients, high in fats and proteins!!

as the pregnancy goes on you can notice that she will begin to gain a lot of weight, especially if you feed her food that is more rich as i said earlier.. her appetite should increase dramatically after the first few weeks.

Longer term signs:
Weight gain will become centrally located in the abdomen, depending on the breed her tummy may eventually LITERALLY drag on the ground, this happened to my cousins chihuahua i felt so bad for her!!
Puppy movement- this ones fun! in the last few weeks you may be able to feel pups moving around
Her nipples and breasts will become much much larger and ive seen dogs who lick and lick at their nipples and you can see the first milk at this time

PLEASE BREED SAFELY if you do again!
Make sure to have her checked for Canine Herpesvirus before and after litters, keep her UTD and keep her on rich foods throughout pregnancy