Pets Who Are Exposed To Illegal Drugs In Their Own Homes Have Increased Since 2019, Study Finds

A new study finds that hundreds of pets in the US are being unintentionally poisoned by cocaine and methamphetamine by their owners in their own homes.

In the study, the researchers emphasized the crucial role that pets play in households, often providing comfort and emotional support, and how it is the humans’ responsibility to make sure they stay healthy.

“Considering the involvement of cocaine and methamphetamine in overdose deaths among humans in the US, this study examined trends in cat and dog exposures to these substances using data from a specialty animal poison control center,” the researchers wrote.

For this study, the researchers used secondary data from calls to the Pet Poison Helpline from 2019 to 2023.

Adorable cat and dog resting together on sofa indoors
New Africa / Shutterstock.com

According to the results, a total of 63 cats and 433 dogs were exposed to illegal drugs from 2019 to 2023.

And among those 63 cats, 65% (41 out of 63) were exposed to cocaine while 58% (250 out of 433) of the dogs were exposed to meth.

While the study found no significant trends of meth exposure for either cats or dogs from the data used, they saw a staggering increase in cocaine exposure.

“Animals are highly sensitive to the stimulatory and sympathomimetic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine,” the authors of the study wrote.

“Any degree of exposure should be considered concerning, as there is a high risk of toxicity and death, even with aggressive medical therapy.”

Furthermore, the researchers said that as this continue to “trend upward”, creating awareness and recognizing the potentially fatal effects on pets can help minimize the exposure to these drugs.

Symptoms of cocaine and meth poisoning in dogs include hyperactivity, panting, vomiting, hypersalivation, dilated pupils, and seizures among many others.

Lort Smith Veterinary Hospital explains, “Cocaine causes stimulation of the central and sympathetic nervous systems, causing constriction of blood vessels, an increased heart rate (tachycardia), cardiac arrhythmias and high blood pressure.”

Longevity Drugs For Dogs Could Also Work For Humans, Researchers Say

Last year, a biotech company named Loyal revealed they were working on a drug that could extend our four-legged best friends’ lifespan, and today they’re planning to launch the medication early this year.

According to Loyal, they are confident that their anti-aging medicine, LOY-002, will be available on the market this year.

LOY-002 is one of the biotech’s company’s anti-aging medicine, which is a daily, beef-flavored pill specifically developed for dogs age 10 and older, weighing at least 14lb.

“We’re developing LOY-002 to support healthy aging in senior dogs of nearly every size,” Loyal reveals n their website. “The product is meant to target metabolic dysfunction, which may extend the number of healthy years your dog lives and support their quality of life as they age.”

The Guardian reports that Loyal has raised $125m in funding from companies who have held back from investing in human longevity projects due to the fact that trials would take decades.

However, founder and chief executive of Loyal, Celine Halioua, believes that their work on the anti-aging dog medication can also benefit humans in the future.

“Finding out how to prevent canine age-related decline is a really strong proxy for doing the same with humans because dogs get similar age-related diseases, and share our environments and habits in ways laboratory mice do not,” she said.

Halioua said that they’re not making immortal dogs. Instead, they are extending dog lifespan “by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing.”

A middle-aged man hugs a dog on a walk
Kazantseva Olga / Shutterstock.com

Similarly, a team of researchers for the Dog Aging Project are studying rapamycin at the University of Washington to slow down the ageing process of dogs, if given in low doses.

Rapamycin is a cheap and easily produced drug that is already commonly used as an immunosuppressant for humans after organ transplant operations.

The researchers believe that it can increase dogs’ lifespan by improving both their heart and cognitive functions by regulating cell growth and metabolism.

Daniel Promislow, a biogerontologist at the University of Washington and a co-director of the Dog Aging Project, said, “Our study is light years ahead of anything that’s been done on humans or can be done on humans. What we’re doing is the equivalent of a 40-year-long study on humans, testing the ability of a drug to increase healthy lifespan.”

While the drug is not officially approved for longevity use in humans, gerontologists believe that it has the potential to do so in the future.

Kate Creevy, co-founder and chief veterinary officer of the project, also tells The Guardian that studying spayed and unspayed dogs could also provide insights into pre- and post-menopausal women’s health.

Creezy explains, “We also have data on what age dogs have been spayed – which could cross over to the variation in age that women have their menopause – and data on why they were spayed, which could cross over to women who have had hysterectomies for medical reasons.”

Furthermore, Promislow hopes that when the project finally reports in four to five years’ time, rapamycin will have the power to give dogs an extra three years of healthy life in their lifespan.

Promislow said, “If we’re successful with dogs, it could be a turning point in informing us how to give human populations extra healthy lifespan too.”

Scientists Discover Dog Owners Fit Into 3 Distinct Categories. Find Out Where You Belong!

In a new study, researchers in Hungary surveyed 800 dog owners and found that they all fit into three distinct categories.

The study, published on Scientific Reports on November 12, dives into the role dog owners play in their pet’s life and how it affects their daily life.

“Owned dogs are often regarded as family members, best friends, or even as substitutes for children,” the study’s abstract read.

“These new roles and their effects on human well-being have received scientific attention, but little is known about how attributing such social functions to dogs might influence the caring behaviour of the owner, which in turn can impact canine welfare.”

Adorable Beagle dog puppy sleeping on young female owner's shoulder.
Sorapop Udomsri / Shutterstock.com

In the study, the researchers created an online survey to answer their questions about the characteristics of the owner and the dog, management practices of the owner, the dog’s behavior, and many more.

The researchers got results that helped them put the 800 dog owners into three distinct categories. These results include:

What owners appreciated about their dogs:

  • Petting and physical contact with their dog (97.6%)
  • Unconditional love (93.7%)
  • The dog’s beauty (88.4%)
  • Walking with the dog (86.5%)

Most frequently mentioned problems:

  • Socialization issues (20.4%)
  • Lack of time (15.9%)

Most frequently mentioned canine behavior problems:

  • Jumping up (33.2%)
  • Chasing animals (28.5%)
  • Territoriality (26.7%)
  • Overexcitement (20.9%) 

Furthermore, the researchers found that almost a quarter of dog owners rated their dogs as “totally obedient” while 30.6% are rated as “totally safe off-leash”.

With these results, the researchers were able to come up with three dog owner profiles, based on the roles they attribute to their dogs. And these three categories are:

  1. Dog Parents (49.5%): These are the dog owners who rated their dogs higher on the following roles: domesticated animal, friend, family member, child, and more important than any human, compared to the roles of colleague and assistance/guard dog. This dog owner profile emphasizes that these dog owners think of their dogs as family members.
  2. Companion Dog Owners (19.4%): These dog owners are described as people who keep dogs for companionship but appear to maintain a greater emotional distance from their dogs.
  3. Dual Status Owners (31.1%): These dog owners are a mix of both profiles. They see their dog as their “colleague” and security guard to keep them company and safe, but also has strong emotional ties to their dogs.

“As we previously assumed, several dog and human factors were associated with these three profiles,” said Professor Eniko Kubiny, one of the study’s researchers and the head of the Department of Ethology at the Eötvös Loránd University.

Two dogs in forest looking up at person for treat or obedience training
sophiecat / Shutterstock.com

“For instance, dogs with dual functions were perceived as very obedient and were trained with positive reinforcement and professional training methods like clicker training.”

The researchers concluded that despite general trend observed in Western countries, not all dog owners are the same.

“Despite the general trend observable in Western countries, in which dogs are more and more perceived as family members providing unconditional love and support, this study highlights that not all dog owners are the same, even in a convenience sample interested in dog behavioural studies.”

And while they believe that their research may not be true for the entire pet dog population, they believe that the results “contribute to a better understanding of the modern dog-human relationship.”

What do you think? Which category do you belong to?