A simple walk with their dog landed this British couple in trouble when he accidentally ingested marijuana. The couple was left shocked when they were slapped with such a huge bill, thankfully they had their pet insurance to cover it. However, the couple now wants to raise awareness regarding this incident to save someone else out there from going through all the trouble.
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Maureen and Bob Wakeman faced a whopping £800 dollars bill from their vet after their dog accidentally ate some marijuana. The UK couple took their 6-month-old puppy Charlie out for a walk near Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, and everything was going well initially.
The couple then noticed that their cocker spaniel had a little snooze, but nothing was out of the ordinary and he kept eating his dinner. However, later the dog started to act out of his character, zooming around the garden in circles before becoming incontinent.
Credit: Sussex Live
Maureen and Bob - both in their 70s immediately called their vet in Henfield who recommended them the out-of-hours New Priory vet in Patcham, where Charlie was received as an emergency admission at around 8:15 pm on Sunday (2 October).
The dog was kept overnight and it was seen that he ingested marijuana.
Following this discovery, the couple met with an £800 bill for this incident, but gladly they had pet insurance to cover this.
Credit: Sussex Live
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"I am so very sad for all our lovely pets and very angry this has happened," Maureen said. "I feel the need to share this with other pet owners.
"Fortunately, we've got insurance. But some pet owners can't afford insurance nowadays, that's another problem.
"What do you do in that instance?
Credit: Sussex Live/BPM Media/Postmodern Studio/Alamy
"I think of the poor pet owners who have bought a pet in all innocence and something awful like this happens. How do they cope with the financial side of it?"
Now, little Charlie is back home and enjoying his time with his toys, meanwhile, Maureen is sharing her story with hopes that the incident can help raise awareness about the importance of cleaning up after ourselves and being vigilant when taking our dogs out.
She said: "Our puppy enjoys the outside world, his nose is always glued to the ground.
"Can this happen again? My goodness yes. We need to be more vigilant and aware that our little Charlie was lucky."
Another terrible incident reported some time back when Sarah Kenny was walking Max in a park near her home in St Helens, Merseyside, when he darted off to a nearby bush.
But the woman realized something was wrong when they got home as Max was unable to stand, and he was continuously shaking and vomiting.
Veterinary nurse Sarah said: "He looked off his face, it did seem like he was on drugs but I was dismissing it in my head thinking 'that's not possible'.
"As soon as we started getting him ready to go to the vets he started throwing up.
"I could tell that it was chocolate which immediately raised alarm but then I smelt this really distinctive smell and I knew it was cannabis."
Fortunately, after a night on a drip at Rutland House Veterinary Hospital, he pulled through.