A woman was recently walking her dog in California when it allegedly ingested a dose of oxycodone and became blind.
Lori Burns was walking her two dogs along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica last week when she noticed one of them, a 15-pound pooch named Chance the Rapper, was breathing heavily before eventually collapsing.
She then rushed the dog to an emergency veterinarian for treatment.
"They said they needed to immediately ice his body and give him oxygen and start an IV and that’s when I looked at the vet and I said, ‘Is he going to live?’ and he said, ‘I really don’t know,'" Burns told KTLA.
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The veterinarian told her the dog had a fever of 106 degrees and if they were unable to lower the temperature, his organs would begin to fail and he would die.
She was told her dog had somehow ingested oxycodone and overdosed. The dog's symptoms were treated and he was able to go home with his owner the following day, but the canine blind.
The veterinarian told her that dogs ingesting opioids is more common than most people would assume, but that it typically happens when a dog gets into an owner's prescription bottles.
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Oxycodone was the only unusual substance discovered in the dog's system. Burns said nobody in her family takes the drug, so the pooch had to have found it during their walk, although she is unsure of the exact location.
Burns said she is thankful she decided to rush him to the veterinarian.
"If I could give a message to people, it's to know your surroundings and know where to go." Burns told Fox 11. "Because had I not gone to the animal hospital and had I driven home, he would have died."
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The dog has recently had additional tests, and animal doctors told Burns he does have some activity in his retina, meaning he may not be completely blind.
