A Delta resident is pleading for marijuana butts to be properly discarded after a recent health scare for her 14-month-old Italian water dog.
Following a late evening walk, Emillia returned home and could barely stand.
Owner Innocenza Tuason soon realized something was seriously wrong.
“She was wobbling and she couldn’t get up on her hind legs. She ended up vomiting and had no control over her bowel movements. She was drooling and her pupils were enlarged. Personally I thought she was having a seizure,” recalled Tuason.
Emilia was rushed to a 24-hour animal clinic in Langley where the Tuasons were shocked to learn her symptoms pointed to marijuana poisoning. She had ingested a discarded butt during her walk.
Fortunately, Emilia was able to go home after an intake of fluids. The Tuasons learned it could have been much worse in what has become a growing trend in the Lower Mainland since cannabis was legalized and has resulted in hefty vet bills.
“When you have a new puppy you have to be extra diligent and I’m always fishing stuff out of her mouth. When she got sick I never thought it was pot,” said Tuason. “We later saw videos online from friends of ours and their dog was doing exactly what Emilia was doing. Now we have been on this kick of trying to inform people how dangerous this is. I have since read a few things about it. Their little brains have receptors that are far stronger than people so they act to pot much more severely.”
Since Emilia’s incident, Tuason would often see discarded marijuana butts on the pathway they routinely walk in North Delta’s Sunbury Park area, so much so that she even created an ashtray out of a tin can and hung it on a fence.
“Now every time we walk past it in the morning we see a whole bunch in there,” she added. “I always advocated it to be legal. That to me isn’t the issue. Smoke it all you want do whatever you want. Please pick them up.”
