Dorito is one lucky dog after ingesting what is believed to be a cannabis product while at the local dog park earlier this week.
Michelle Tuan brought her rescue dog named Dorito to Leigh Dog Park in Coquitlam on Wednesday. Several hours after their park visit, Michelle noticed the dog started acting strangely and seemed to be in pain.
"I grabbed a little treat and made him try to walk over to me but his whole body was kind of like, curved... sort of walking almost sideways toward me," Michelle told CTV News.
The following day Dorito’s symptoms had not improved, so Michelle took him to the veterinarian.
“I thought he was having a stroke,” said Michelle.
She was shocked when the vet looked at Dorito and suggested the dog had ingested some kind of drug, because they see it so much now.
"We have a lot more dogs coming in regularly that have ingested marijuana," veterinarian Fraser Davidson said.
"Fortunately, the signs - while they're disturbing - don't tend to be life-threatening, so it's more just the animals going through a miserable time. But I think the public just needs general education. It's not just children at risk, people's pets need to be looked after, too."
A urine test confirmed the presence of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
After giving the pooch a charcoal solution to help remove the THC from his system, Dorito is feeling better. But it could have been much worse.
Michelle says, "With this day and age, we have to search the dog parks to see there’s if something we should be picking up - the same thing we do which is happening at children’s playgrounds.”
She also says she doesn’t think they will be going back to the dog park for a long time.
