{"id":1466,"date":"2026-06-01T23:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:35:13","slug":"marijuana-toxicity-cases-rise-among-pets-as-legalization-expands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1466","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana toxicity cases rise among pets as legalization expands"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 As medical marijuana becomes more widely legalized, veterinarians are seeing an unintended consequence affecting pets.<\/p>\n

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Animal poison control centers are reporting a nearly 300% increase in marijuana-related calls over the last several years.<\/p>\n

For Hannah Branson, a pet emergency started with chocolate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I see when we walk in is just foil everywhere all over the floor,\u201d Branson said.<\/p>\n

Branson had recently adopted Falcore, a small terrier-Chihuahua mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cI glance over at the dining room table and the bowl is completely empty so my heart sank,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she had no idea her new puppy would be able to climb onto the table and help himself to a bowl full of chocolate Easter candy.<\/p>\n

\u2018The bowl was pretty full, it was a Costco-size bag, so quite a decent amount, for sure,\u201d Branson said when asked about how much chocolate Falcore ate.<\/p>\n

Unsure what to do, she rushed her 5-pound dog to an emergency veterinarian.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey give an injection which induces vomiting pretty much immediately, so he started throwing up and the amount that he threw up, they were like, \u2018Oh wow, he ate a lot of chocolate,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chocolate toxicity remains a major concern for pets, but veterinarians say it is no longer the most common toxin they treat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more often, we\u2019re seeing people come in with marijuana toxicity cases. It\u2019s one of the more common toxicities that we see,\u201d said Dr. Ignacio Casali of Veterinary Emergency Group in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\u201cTHC, chocolate, chocolate and mushrooms, now we\u2019re seeing it a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Casali said he sees at least one case a week, and sometimes more, involving pets that have eaten THC edibles or marijuana-infused chocolate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get dangerous at high quantities, especially now that for humans, they are selling it in concentrated forms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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The dosage intended for adults can be far too much for small animals.<\/p>\n

Early symptoms include lethargy, confusion, glassy eyes and trouble walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are losing balance, they\u2019re walking around and they\u2019re kind of falling to the side and they\u2019re doing the bobbling head sometimes. They are walking into the hospital and they are dribbling urine,\u201d Casali said.<\/p>\n

Veterinarians say one of the biggest challenges is getting accurate information about what an animal may have ingested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more information we have, the easier it is for us, because we do have toxicity calculators with chocolate, with THC. We can plug in the patient\u2019s weight and the amount of THC they were exposed to and immediately we have an idea of how heavy the symptoms are going to be,\u201d Casali said.<\/p>\n

Treatment typically includes fluids and support for blood pressure and body temperature.<\/p>\n

Veterinarians say THC toxicity is mostly treatable and usually nonlethal, with most side effects subsiding within 12 to 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Back at home, Branson said she is relieved Falcore has returned to his normal energetic self, keeping his older sister Pippa busy.<\/p>\n

The incident left her with a $500 veterinary bill.<\/p>\n

While Branson is comfortable talking about her dog\u2019s chocolate overdose, veterinarians say some pet owners are reluctant to admit when their animals may have consumed marijuana because of the stigma surrounding it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is forcing me to report to the authorities about what the dog got exposed to. Our main goal here is to help pets, no matter what toxicity it is,\u201d Casali said.<\/p>\n

Veterinarians recommend keeping all candies, chocolates and THC products out of reach of pets.<\/p>\n

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As medical marijuana becomes more widely legalized, veterinarians are seeing an unintended consequence affecting pets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMarijuana toxicity cases rise among pets as legalization expands - South Florida Moving Guides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marijuana toxicity cases rise among pets as legalization expands - South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As medical marijuana becomes more widely legalized, veterinarians are seeing an unintended consequence affecting pets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T23:35:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e\"},\"headline\":\"Marijuana toxicity cases rise among pets as legalization expands\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T23:35:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/48e4d41f598165fe03b9c72a4f92e8ae.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=1466\",\"name\":\"Marijuana toxicity cases rise among pets as legalization expands - 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