Warning to pet owners after dog eats drugs found at bus stop
Lurcher Twiglet went on a trip of an altogether different kind when he was taken for a walk near his home.
His vet owner Nick Fisher said his bedlington lurcher had a 'serious hallucinogenic episode' after eating something he found on a quiet village green.
He and his wife Karen are warning other dog owners to beware after Twiglet fell seriously ill.
The family dog is believed to have eaten drugs that were left lying near a bus stop close to their home.
Karen, 33, a farm consultant and mother-of-one, said it led to a 45 minute episode in which the seven-year-old dog showed symptoms of being under the influence of narcotics.
Fortunately Nick, 31, a surgeon, was able to deal with the problem swiftly she said, but others may not be so lucky.
"Symptoms include hallucinating, partial seizures, tremors, hyper salivating, in-coordination and collapsing," she said.
"We wanted to make other owners aware to be vigilant when walking their dogs in the area."
Nick said: "We had been taking our dogs out for a walk as we normally do, and we went past the bus stop which is just like a seat around an oak tree.
"A few people often hang out there and drop things like food and so on, so the dogs like to go scavenging around that area.
"He came back in the house and lay down, tired as you might expect.
"But then he got up and started running around, doing laps of the room as if he was being chased. When I got hold of him he started shaking uncontrollably and producing huge quantities of saliva, and panting excessively.
"He then lost his balance on the laminate flooring and fell onto his side."
He said he phoned the nurse at his surgery to come and take a blood sample and made Twiglet vomit. The blood test did not show any obvious medical cause.
"The following day he was much more his normal self. I've got a friend who is a neurologist so I asked them what they thought it was and because of the circumstances and symptoms they suggested it sounded like he'd ingested something hallucinogenic," said Nick of, Leintwardine, Shropshire.
He said anyone who notices their pet displaying such symptoms should contact their vet immediately.
