Pet dog falls ill after eating ‘dumped’ cannabis
A PET dog was rushed to the vets after she ate cannabis thought to have been dumped at a beauty spot.
The owner of the 10-month-old cockapoo, named Pepper, said she lost the use of her back legs and vomited after her urine tested positive for the illegal drug.
It is thought she ingested the substance when Stephen Davies took his two dogs for a walk at Giant’s Tooth, just off Goitre Coed Road, between Abercynon and Merthyr Vale. He said he stopped to report a fly-tipping incident at around 12.45pm on Saturday when he noticed Pepper sniffing around.
The 46-year-old said: “I constantly walk the mountains and if there’s any fly-tipping on the mountains, I will try and report it.
“About three-quarters up the mountain road, where it started to level out before it drops back down, there was a substantial amount of rubbish including plastic, plastic bottles, takeaway rubbish and a mattress.
“I took a couple of photos and messaged the councillors. I didn’t think anything of it. My dogs were sniffing around and we carried on walking for an hour after it.”
When Stephen, from Abercynon, got home, he said his family noticed Pepper stopped using her back legs as she normally would. However, at this point he said it was quite mild and put it down to her being tired after their eight-mile walk.
But after a few hours, Pepper started to deteriorate.
“A couple of hours later, my youngest daughter – who is nine – shouted that Pepper had been sick,” he said.
As Pepper became even more ill, Stephen and his family began to wonder if something more serious was going on.
He said: “We immediately got hold of an emergency vet in Taffs Well.”
Stephen said the vet tested Pepper’s urine after suspecting she had consumed an illegal substance, which came back positive for cannabis.
“It could have been a lot worse because a large ingestion of cannabis can cause seizures in dogs, particularly in younger ones,” he said.
Luckily, Stephen said Pepper was back to her usual self after 24 hours.
It is understood the incident has been reported to South Wales Police.