Owner claims dog ingested THC between home and Butler Memorial Park
Millie, a 1-year-old, 7-pound whoodle, had quite a trip June 1 after walking from her Miller Avenue home to Butler Memorial Park and back, according to her owner.
Amanda Gibson said her two teenage boys took their wheaten terrier-poodle mix to the park June 1. She said they were there for about 30 minutes after the short walk from their home.
When Millie came back, she was different. She was lethargic, “wasn’t really walking straight” and could barely keep her head up, Gibson said. She took Millie the next day to VEG ER for Pets in Cranberry Township.
The dog incurred a vet bill of more than $600.
“That’s not something I should’ve ever had to do,” Gibson said.
The vet told Gibson that Millie’s symptoms aligned with ingesting high amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. With only eight houses between hers and the park, Gibson said, she believes the dog found it at the park without her boys noticing.
According to vet records, Millie presented as being wobbly and drooling with an abnormal neurological exam. The vet took her blood pressure, glucose and lactate levels and administered 8mg of Maropitant, a veterinary antinausea and vomiting medication, before coming to her conclusion.
The vet recommended Gibson watch for signs of seizure, coma, difficulty breathing and continued abnormal behavior and to have Millie rechecked if she didn’t improve within 24 hours.
The recommended treatment was to keep Millie in a dark and quiet room for the next 12 to 24 hours without too much stimuli, and to take her on frequent potty breaks.
Gibson said it took a couple of days for Millie to return to normal. The vet told her compared to humans weighing more than 100 pounds, marijuana metabolizes much slower in 7-pound dogs.
“It’s really a shame because my kids like to go down there and play basketball,” Gibson said. “At this point, I don’t even allow them to go down there.”
Gibson said she’s certain her boys would never feed Millie marijuana or do anything to hurt her. Her boys were scared and upset about their dog’s condition, she said.
She suggested the park be better monitored.
Butler Memorial Park is being allocated $240,000 of the city’s CDBG funds this year for improvement, Butler City Councilman Dan Herr said at a July 9 meeting.
The project includes “dealing with the basketball court, the tennis courts, roofs on some of the shelters, bathrooms and so on,” he said.
Herr added the project is in the hands of the engineers and hopes to get started either this fall or next spring.
Mayor Bob Dandoy said the city did not receive any reports of Millie’s incident or incidents involving other dogs. He suggested the dog could have picked up the marijuana anywhere between its home and when it returned from the park.
“Whether she picked it up within the less-than-a-block walk to the park or the park itself, it still poses a huge issue,” Gibson said.
