- Please put your dope away somewhere your pet can’t sniff it up.
In general, drugs are not good for you. But they’re even worse if you’re not even a human being that’s supposedly meant to consume them.
That’s why vets are quite concerned over an alarming trend — more and more pets are ingesting drugs.
A recent study examined the rates at which pet owners were calling the Pet Poison Helpline (PPH) due to their critters getting into their drug stashes. They discovered that over the past few years, dogs and cats have been getting high in increasing numbers.
Specifically, our pets are sniffing cocaine. Coke exposure was up significantly for dogs and cats alike, and we’re only talking about the cases where the owner dared call the helpline.
Although the study didn’t account for how the pets managed to get into the drugs, the study’s covered time period coincides with the COVID lockdown. It’s possible people were keeping more coke at home while isolating, which made it easier for pets to access it.
So, if there’s anything you take away from this story, let it be this — if you snort dope, store it securely so that your furry friend can’t accidentally poison itself.
Cocaine Use on the Rise
The study on pets on drugs was carried out by public health researcher Orrin Ware from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and veterinary toxicologist Renee Schmid from the PPH. Together, they decided to evaluate the rates at which pets are exposed to cocaine and methamphetamine.
Why coke and meth in particular? Well, they are the most common illegal stimulants used in the U.S., with 1.8% of the population being on cocaine and 0.9% on meth.
Consequently, cocaine and meth are also in the top five of the drugs accidentally consumed by pets. Just to satisfy your curiosity, the other ones are nicotine, morphine, and fentanyl.
With all that said, it can be very difficult to track pets’ drug consumption. So, Ware and Schmid looked at the only source of data they had available — emergency calls made to the PPH.
The researchers examined calls involving confirmed drug exposures between 2019 and 2023. The results revealed a concerning increase in pets’ cocaine consumption.
According to the study, the cases of cats coming into contact with cocaine had increased by 52%. Dogs’ cocaine consumption rate, meanwhile, had grown by 39%.
However, dogs are getting exposed to cocaine in much higher numbers than cats. The research data included 433 reports involving dogs, while there were only 63 cases involving cats.
As a slight silver lining to the study, meth exposure rates hadn’t increased in any statistically significant manner. Sure, some pets are still accidentally taking meth, but not in any larger numbers than before.
Drugs at Home
It’s probably needless to say, but the increasing rate of cocaine consumption doesn’t bode well for animal welfare. If cocaine is unhealthy for you, it’s much more so for your pets.
“Animals are highly sensitive to the stimulatory and sympathomimetic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. Any degree of exposure should be considered concerning, as there is the risk of severe toxicity and death,” the researchers note.
Among the negative effects, both coke and meth can cause vomiting, tremors, seizures, internal bleeding, and (obviously) death. The drugs’ effects are so severe, that veterinary care is unlikely to be of much use.
If your little buddy happens to get into your stash, it’s unfortunately game over in all likelihood.
But why is this uptick in pets’ drug exposure happening? The researchers didn’t evaluate how the animals accessed the drugs or whether they survived the incident, but there’s one thing that jumps out in the research data.
The time period of the study coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown. Most of us spent much more time at home between 2019 and 2023 than usual — and that includes people doing coke and meth.
While there’s no hard evidence, it’s possible that drug users took more drugs at home during the pandemic than before. Consequently, they would’ve stored the substances where their pets might be able to access them.
And as any dog or cat owner will tell you, your curious pet will probably want to check out what this weird white powder is all about.
As such, while the researchers have no power over such things, they do issue a stern warning to drug-using pet owners. If you take dope, you must make sure it’s somewhere your pet can’t reach.
At least then you’ll only harm yourself.