Veterinarians recently needed to use Narcan to save the life of a woman’s beloved beagle after the woman said her dog overdosed from drugs he ate while out for a walk in Boston’s South End.
Nancy Rittenhouse said she had been on a walk with her puppy, Finn, on Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Corridor Park when they stumbled upon an item on the ground.
“We came across like a melted ice cream sandwich and next to the sandwich was a bag,” she said.
Rittenhouse said the bag was tied, adding that she saw white powder coming out of it.
Rittenhouse said she pulled Finn away but realized something was not right. After about three minutes, her dog collapsed on the ground.
Rittenhouse shared video of herself rushing her lethargic pet to a veterinarian.
Speaking with 7NEWS, Dr. Lauren Krone of the Boston Veterinary Emergency Group said that upon seeing the pup and hearing what had happened, the decision to administer Narcan was a fast one.
“When I saw the bag and the description, I just said ‘Permission to give him Narcan?’ because the story and the presentation of him looked like what I could expect a dog who could have gotten into opioids,” she said. “It was safe it didn’t work and it was lifesaving if it did.”
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WATCH: Hear from Boston veterinarian who administered Narcan to Finn
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The results were near-immediate.
“Within seconds, he started wagging his tail, he started lifting his head and within about a minute, he was looking for food,” Krone said.
“He woke up and he stayed there for six hours and he came home and he was fine,” Rittenhouse said. “I wasn’t, but he was.”
“It was really terrifying,” she said.
Rittenhouse said this was not the first time Finn ate drugs.
“He has ingested marijuana three times since July and then this one time yesterday,” she said.
Moving forward, Rittenhouse said she plans to take Finn on walks elsewhere.
“I’ll probably make a real effort to take him out of the city until we’re over this period, I hope,” she said.
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