Addiction is a serious disease; when one person is going through it, he/she does not suffer alone the consequences of it. His/her family and friends are also affected by their mental and physical illness; the ongoing behavioral changes affect the people around them. It also affects so many pets.
Pets are also family members, just how the family of such a person is affected by the consequences of addiction, animals understand their owner’s behavior, so they get affected by their swing in moods as well.
Animals are sensitive to such changes; they understand their owner more than any human would. They feel the despair they are going through. Which, in turn, affects their behavior too. You must have noticed, when you are upset or troubled, your dog/cat is not quiet those days.
The lifestyle of an alcohol or drug addict can affect the pets around his house in different ways. As human life is becoming unhealthier day by day, his surroundings also become harmful, which can have a severe impact on the health of the animals in their house.
However, there are not much studies done on how exactly an animal can develop an addiction to drugs or alcohol abuse around them. Still, it is for sure known that these toxic substances can drug them.
The capacity of a human for drug and alcohol usage is quite different from that of animals. What seems less for us humans is way too much for animals, and then varying from animal to animal.
Drugs are life-threatening to animals as much as they are to humans. Animals have the same nervous system as humans, which means the effect of the drug is similar to that of humans. You can determine that by the sedatives you give your animal at the vet’s clinic for any surgery, which is what we humans also get for our surgeries too. The mechanism of the body works the same for humans and animals. The only difference is the tolerance for it, humans may have more than animals regarding drug or alcohol use, but that too can vary from person to person.
Various Ways By Which Dogs Can Get In Touch With Drugs
A drug addict can affect the health of his dog in the following ways. His lifestyle can directly or indirectly have a grave impact on the life of the animal. Give a read to the following ways.
1. Drinking or Eating Drug Contaminated Water or Food
A drug addict’s health is deteriorating with his new lifestyle. Therefore, you will see drugs or alcohol around his house. The residue of these substances can directly or indirectly contaminate the food or water bowls off the dog at the house.
Mishaps can happen since the addict is more likely not to be in his senses; the animal may have to suffer the consequences when it consumes the drug or alcohol contaminated water or food. This can cause severe problems for the dog.
2. Licking Their Fur
Another way that can affect a dog is when they are licking their fur. The residue of the drug or alcohol on the floor, carpet, or furniture, etc., can get on their fur, which, while the dog licking its fur to groom themselves, can consume it.
This can affect your dog’s health. The health of the drug addict is deteriorating as well as his pet’s, by his unhealthy habits.
3. Inhalation of Drugs Smoke
The smoke of cigarettes or any other drug is not only harmful to humans but also to the animals as well. If a drug addict is smoking with his pet around him, it’s obvious the dog is going to inhale the smoke. This smoke can cause the same serious problems to the dog as it can to the smoker.
It can damage the lungs of the smoker as well as the animal, causing lung cancer or heart problems. Blood pressure can rise. Other than this, regular ingestion of the residue of the cigarettes can give them digestive problems.
4. Chewing a Cigarette
You must have seen used cigarettes lying here and there around an addict’s house. Dogs are like children; they put everything in their mouth, they like to chew on things that are not food.
There is a high chance of them chewing on the used cigarettes, which has toxins that can harm the animal. If the dog gets used to chewing the cigarettes, it’s health will most likely deteriorate. Its food intake will be irregular, and it’ll have a hard time being active.
Drug Abuse Done to Pets by the Owner
This is another grave problem, which does not happen usually, but under the effect of drugs or alcohol, an addict is prone to act in behavior that is unacceptable because they are not in their right state of mind to think or see straight. In a report by vets, it is mentioned that at times, drug or alcohol addicts may make their pets consume drugs with them.
They will abuse them with drugs or alcohol, which may result in their ultimate death, but if it is done in particular phases, it can affect the health of the animal gradually. This is a serious problem of the addicts who, in desperate times, make their pets addicted to drugs as well. Since animal drug capacity does not match the human’s, they will overdose and die, or their health will deteriorate and eventually die.
Symptoms of Drug Intake in Dogs
The consumption of drugs in dogs can result in the following symptoms.
- Your dog may experience seizures.
- There is a high chance of vomiting when it has ingested any such toxins.
- Your dog will be dizzy and lazy.
- Disturbed heartbeat can be a symptom, which means that there must be a heart problem arising from the abuse.
- Such toxic substances can cause nosebleeds in dogs.
- It is common for dogs to experience diarrhea in such cases.
- Your dog will physically become very weak as his health deteriorates.
Precautionary Requirements
You can take precautions to avoid your dogs getting in touch with any of the toxic substances. Such as;
- Don’t smoke when your dog is around.
- Keep your drugs or alcohol away from your dog food and water.
- Don’t leave the residue on the table or furniture.
- Keep your surroundings clean for the sake of your dog’s health.
Bottom Line
The answer to whether or not dogs can get addicted to drugs is as simple as one can perceive, although it is not much studied whether or not dogs may carry on doing it for the dopamine pleasure. But it is for sure that dogs don’t have the know about of drugs or the urge to do drugs as we humans do. So how can they be addicts when they don’t know what these drugs are for?
Yes, it is accurate, and for the fact that they are as affected by drugs and alcohol as humans areas, our bodies’ mechanism is the same. After all, we are all animals, yes more advanced than them, but at the end of it all, the functions are similar, which means drugs can affect their health big time. They can cause heart and brain problems in them, just like in humans. But to be addicts is to keep coming for more? Dogs don’t intentionally do drugs to want more; they are either directly or indirectly in contact with the drug because of the recklessness of their owner.
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