A California woman is warning residents about the dangers of opioids on the streets being ingested by unknowing and vulnerable victims – pets.
On 15 August, Lori Burns was out for a walk with her dog, Chance the Rapper, in Palisades Park, a sprawling 26-acre green space located along Ocean Avenue in the Santa Monica area of Los Angeles.
During the stroll, however, her pet began to behave erratically, breathing heavily until he eventually collapsed.
“Out of nowhere he just stopped. I looked down and he collapsed,” Ms Burns told ABC 7 about her small white dog, who gained his namesake from the famous musician by the same name.
The dog’s paws were to the sky before Ms Burns could process what had happened, but her quick thinking got her and sick pet to VCA Animal Specialty and Emergency Center in West Los Angeles shortly after he began exhibiting the terrifying symptoms.
Upon arrival, the veterinarian tested Chance’s urine and was able to confirm that the small canine who was at that point measuring a 106-degree-fever must have ingested a pill that contained the highly addictive opioid while they were walking through the park where they’d spent so many other uneventful afternoons.
“He said it’s really serious, and I said to the point, ‘Is he going to live?’ and he said ‘I don’t know.’ And, that’s when I lost it,” Ms Burns told the local ABC affiliate.
Fortunately for her and Chance, however, the 24-hour stay at the emergency vet – a visit that set her back $4,000 – had a somewhat happy ending. Chance survived his close brush with the prescription medication, which is capable of killing human beings several times larger than the small canine, but he is now partially blind as a result.
Further testing, however, has confirmed that there is some retina activity in Chance’s eyes, Fox 11 reported, and so there is the hope that he may one day regain more vision.
Now, Ms Burns wants her and Chance’s story to serve as a warning for other pet owners, noting that this could’ve easily happened to anyone else.
“If I could give a message to people, it’s to know your surroundings and know where to go,” she told Fox 11 “Because had I not gone to the animal hospital and had I driven home, he would have died”
Ms Burns told the local Fox affiliate that her vet informed her that, unfortunately, the cause for her emergency visit is not uncommon.
Pet Poison Helpline, a 24-hour animal poison control service that is available throughout the US, Canada, and the Caribbean for people who require help treating a potentially poisoned pet, notes on their website that when opioids and opiates are accidentally consumed by animals, it can lead to severe poisoning that can be fatal if left untreated.
The symptoms to be on the lookout for if there’s a suspicion that a pet has accidentally ingested one of these toxic substances include: pinpoint pupils (in dogs), dilated pupils (in cats), walking drunk, sedation, slowed breathing, respiratory depression (which can lead to respiratory arrest or death), or coma.
Treatment for pets when they consume prescription pain medication is similar to that used for humans, as naloxone, the medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, is typically deployed. Veterinarians will use a lower dosage than that used in human beings, and the Pet Poison Helpline recommends contacting your vet or the hotline as soon as you suspect a potential poisoning.
