Why You Shouldn’t Get Your Pet High
The post Why You Shouldn’t Get Your Pet High appeared first on High Times.
There comes a time when you’re sitting around, enjoying your own stoned thoughts and your pet walks into the room. You wonder: Would they enjoy this as much as I do? In short, don’t share the herb, especially if that means blowing smoke in your pet’s face. Here’s why you shouldn’t get your pet high.
A doggie high is different than a human high
Getting your pet high can be dangerous. According to experts, weed can lower a dog’s blood pressure and heart rate, and cause them enormous stress.
It’s unlikely that your pet will be seriously hurt, or die, from marijuana, but the smaller the animal, the greater the risk. The number one reason why you shouldn’t get your pet high is how unsafe marijuana can be for animals.
Like humans, dogs, cats and all mammals experience ‘highs’ from marijuana due to the cannabinoid receptors found in the brain. In fact, dogs have more of these receptors, so they get more high than humans do.
Animals’ size also plays a role in how an animal experiences marijuana. What might contribute to a subtle high for you could get your pet high for over a day. In doggie years, a day is a long time.
If your pet gets high, accidentally or not, take it to the vet as soon as possible. They could need medication, administered orally or intravenously, to counter the effects of marijuana.
If you’re worried about the consequences of giving your pet weed, know that you won’t get in trouble at the vet. What is most important for the veterinarian and for you is getting your pet the right medical attention, and being honest about what happened.
They don’t understand what it means to be ‘stoned’.
Unlike humans who understand, and enjoy, everything from the mellowest of mellows to full-blown couch-lock, animals, no matter how smart, have no idea what’s going on.
The stress animals feel when they’re high can exacerbate the symptoms listed above. Even if your pet enjoyed the feeling of being stoned, which is unlikely, it didn’t consent to this experience.
Getting anyone or anything high against its will is unethical. And it’s totally not what cannabis culture is about.
Other ingredients in edibles can get your pet sick.
The most common form of edible is the pot brownie. Unluckily for dogs, who often consume edibles accidentally, pot brownies contain two ingredients that are unsafe for dogs: weed and chocolate.
As most pet owners know, chocolate is poisonous to dogs. It is for cats, too, though they are less unlikely to eat it unless encouraged. At best, chocolate will make your dog throw up on their own.
When dogs eat a lot of chocolate, they can experience seizures, diarrhea and extreme anxiety. For cats, chocolate is even more dangerous and can result in death.
With the combined effects of psychoactive marijuana and chocolate, edibles pose a huge risk to pets. If your pet eats an edible, take them to the vet as soon as possible.
You can also check out these at-home tips on what to do if your dog eats a chocolate edible.
Are CBD products dangerous for animals?
There is huge momentum in the medical community to use CBD as a treatment for a variety of illnesses. Whether you’re looking to stop PMS, or for an alternative treatment to a serious condition like epilepsy, CBD could be the answer.
Understanding the medical and medicinal, many pet-owners are wondering what CBD can do for their pets. As many know, CBD is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana, meaning that unlike THC, CBD won’t get you or your pet high.
While both compounds have enormous health benefits, CBD is less ethnically problematic when considering cannabis for pet care.
It’s important to remember that very little research has been conducted on the effects of cannabis, CBD-specific or otherwise, on animals.
What we do know is that CBD may function as an alleviate to many of the conditions affecting humans and animals alike.
Some sources believe that CBD products can help their pets with seizures, nausea, pain management, and arthritis.
Final Hit: Why You Shouldn’t Get your Pet High
Weed is extremely potent for animals because of their size and the subtle difference between their endocannabinoid systems and ours. Not only can weed really harm your pet, it can also cause psychological stress.
There are a lot of health and ethical reasons why you shouldn’t get your pets high with psychoactive THC.
When it comes to CBD, we’d suggest using your own discretion. There is a lot we don’t know about this miracle cannabinoid when it comes to health, especially animal health. But if it seems to provide a holistic remedy to your animal’s health issues, we’re all for it.
The post Why You Shouldn’t Get Your Pet High appeared first on High Times.
