BOTHELL, Wash. — A Bothell family is warning others, after their boxer somehow got poisoned by meth.
They noticed something was off with their two-year-old pup “Allie” and rushed her to the pet ER Friday.
The Veterinary Specialty Center in Lynwood – where they brought Allie - says cases where pets get poisoned by pot or illicit drugs is going up. Now about 25 percent of its cases are from pets eating drugs.
Saturday morning, Allie was able to come home, but the Bothell family is still trying to figure out where the meth came from and how their dog got ahold of it.
“She’s a typical boxer. Out of control all the time, happy, a clown,” said Jen O’Brien, her owner.
Her and her fiancé’s two boxer dogs have access to a fenced-in backyard and the house during the day, but on Friday, they found Allie behaving strangely.
“She just wasn't right,” O’Brien said. “Neurotic, moving around very weird, wouldn't eat a cookie. Very abnormal for her.”
O’Brien showed KIRO7 a video of a very different Allie, tapping her foot, looking confused.
Their vet recommended they take Allie straight to the ER.
A urine analysis showed she tested positive for meth, cocaine, and amphetamines.
“I was very startled. I’ve never heard of a dog even ingesting that before. It made sense with the symptoms she was showing, but it was pretty scary. Very scary,” O’Brien said.
The Veterinary Specialty Center’s medical director, Karen Kline said over the phone that stimulants cause heart failure in pets, and if Allie didn’t get to the hospital she could have died.
“They said based on her urine and color, it was a substantial amount,” O’Brien said.
What has her scared - her dogs didn't leave the house or yard. O’Brien wonders if someone, somehow left or planted the drugs on her property.
“I think it's very strange,” O’Brien said. “I think it needs to be out there just so people are aware.”
“I don't want any more dogs hurt. I’m worried about having my own dogs in my own yard and that shouldn’t happen,” she said.
Kline says she has not heard of any recent cases of people intentionally dosing dogs with drugs, though again - accidental poisonings are on the rise.
If this case warrants it, O’Brien is offering a $1,000 reward that leads to an arrest.
O’Brien says she is filing a police report with Bothell Police.
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