Denver vets treating more dogs for eating edible marijuana

DENVER, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The number of dogs who are eating edible marijuana is on the rise in Denver after pot legalization in Colorado, and veterinarians at the VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital are warning that it’s not something people should be feeling too stoked about.

The hospital usually treats hundreds of dogs a week, but now the hospital regularly has to deal with dogs that have gotten into their owners’ stashes of pot food.

“What we are seeing is dogs getting into the baked products,” Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald told CBS Denver. “The butter gets a higher concentration of THC, the active ingredient.”

Fitzgerald conducted a year-long study involving dogs being exposed to marijuana and found that it can cause symptoms like disorientation, seizures and temporary comas. In some cases, the symptoms lingered for days.

“Half-life for a dog is 72 hours, maybe 96, before it gets out of their system,” said Fitzgerald. “The one thing we see with almost all of them is urinary incontinence when they eat a bunch of it,”

[CBS Denver]