Today's guest columnist is Dr. Susan Wright. Her article, "Alcohol and Drugs in Dogs" provides some helpful tips and advice for your humans if you get into things you shouldn't. If you happen to get caught with alcohol or drugs, I can tell you from experience that using the excuse, "I was just holding it for a friend" doesn't really work.
It's not uncommon for dogs to be presented to their veterinarian with vague symptoms including drowsiness, staggering and sometimes vomiting. After examining the dog, and questioning the owner, some of these dogs are diagnosed as being drunk or stoned!
Who would knowingly give their dogs illicit drugs? No doubt there are some who would do that, but in many cases, these dogs accidentally get intoxicated.
You may be surprised to learn that dogs can become inebriated from eating bread dough. The yeast in the bread dough ferments in your dog's stomach, and produces alcohol. This has the same effect as drinking a glass of beer. Dogs will certainly drink an alcoholic drink if it's left on the floor - liqueurs in particular are very sweet and dogs enjoy the taste.
Alcohol poisoning occurs if a dog drinks between 5 and 8 ml of alcohol per kilo body weight. That’s not ml of whiskey or wine, it’s ml of alcohol. We’ll need to do some mathematics here. Whiskey may contain up to 70% alcohol, which means that in a 30ml “nip”, there’s 21 ml of actual alcohol. That’s more than enough to cause severe poisoning in a 3-4 kg Chihuahua.
Symptoms of alcohol poisoning in dogs are similar to those in people. His breath will smell of alcohol, and he'll be unsteady on his feet. He may become very excitable, or he may fall asleep and be difficult to wake. Drinking alcohol can lead to coma and cardiac arrest so you do need to get in touch with your vet.
Your dog will usually make a full recovery providing he hasn't drunk the bar dry, and treatment is started early. Treatment is activated charcoal to stop any more alcohol being absorbed by your dog's system, and an intravenous drip to speed up excretion of the alcohol in his bloodstream.
Marijuana is also something your dog shouldn't include in his daily diet. Most dogs become intoxicated when they steal some cookies containing the drug. The good news is that marijuana intoxication isn't usually fatal, and most dogs recover within 24 hours.
Symptoms in dogs are again similar to those in humans. Your dog will be wobbly on his feet, and behave as if he is drunk. He may have dilated pupils and a slow heart rate. About 30% of dogs will vomit after eating marijuana, which will stop them absorbing any more drug.
If your dog has eaten your cookies within the last half hour, you can make him vomit them up. Call your vet for instructions on how to do this. Again, activated charcoal will reduce further absorption. If he's getting agitated, your vet may prescribe some valium to calm him down.
If your dog gets hold of your alcohol or marijuana, it's not only expensive, but it's not good for his health. Keep them well out of his reach, and you'll both be better off.
This article was written by Dr. Susan Wright for Dog Fence DIY. Dog Fence DIY shows pet owners how to create a pet containment system for their home and train their pet on how to use it. They stock a wide variety of systems from leading manufacturers like Innotek, PetSafe, and SportDog including the acclaimed Innotek IUC 5100.
Thank you, Dr. Wright, for reminding us to be a bit more careful when sneaking drinks out of the glasses of our human significant others. I for one, will also lay off the brownies from now on. I was wondering why the heck I was getting the munchies after eating those brownies.
Would you like to become a Whisker Gifters Blog Guest Columnist? We'd love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Baron, Director of Dog Stuff
No comments:
Post a Comment