It’s a real danger:
A five-year study found that such poisoning of dogs quadrupled in Colorado after voters there legalized medical weed in 2000. The Oregonian in April reported cases in the Pacific Northwest were on the rise. …
One man, who asked for anonymity to protect his family, said his dog ate an entire batch of his son’s hash brownies. The normally healthy, playful pup began falling over one night. Her eyes were rolling, her breathing was labored and she began drooling uncontrollably, he said. After they rushed her to the emergency pet clinic, the dog’s heart began to shut down. The vet gave her adrenaline and, after three days, she was good as new. “I try to think of it as being funny, but my dog was dying,” he said. “I have no issue with marijuana — I think the laws against it are stupid and it should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco. But people are being less careful with it, and pets are suffering for it.”
Most dogs recover, but some do not. Castillo said one Jack Russell terrier died after ingesting a huge amount of pot even after he vomited up “tons of it.” The Colorado study reported two dogs that died after eating marijuana-laced butter, a particularly dangerous combination.
Previous Dish on how cannabis in certain doses can help dogs here and here. Update from a reader:
Regarding the anonymous man whose dog ate an entire batch of hash brownies: chocolate poisoning is equally dangerous. His dog likely would have had that reaction with or without the pot in those brownies, though it sounds like the pot didn’t help.
The Dish 