Vets: More pets are coming in high on pot
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Canines and cannabis don't mix. That's the message a veterinarian in Arizona is sharing with the public, now that he's seeing more and more pets come in for treatment after ingesting marijuana.
"Usually [stoned pets] will become sedate, they'll act stuporous," Dr. Billy Griswold of Emergency Animal Clinic in North Scottsdale tells KCTV. At the five Emergency Animal Clinics in the Scottsdale area, veterinarians are seeing at least 24 cases of marijuana-eating animals every month. While the natural stuff isn't toxic — the pet will just have an upset stomach or other minor side effects — synthetic marijuana is, and Griswold has seen fatalities.
"There are more serious side effects and longer treatments associated with that," he warns.
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According to KCTV, the spike in the number of animals being treated for pot ingestion directly coincides with the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona, starting in December 2012. Vets estimate that they're treating twice as many animals already in 2014 than in all of 2013, the station adds. Maybe it's high time you remind your four-legged friends to just say no. --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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