It is no secret that many communities worldwide battle drug abuse. When it affects a significant proportion of able bodied adults, the economy suffers. Opioids are infamous for being the most abused recreational drugs since the opium wars between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. Today, police sniffer dogs are among the most affected as they routinely suffer K9 opioid overdose.
Police dogs usually go through a lot during field work. As they are naturally curious creatures, they like to sniff out drugs in all manner of places and sometimes inadvertently ingest drugs such as heroin. In such cases, emergency assistance should be given lest death sets in.
Luckily, there are training programs for law enforcement officers that are tailored for such catastrophes. During training, officers get to learn how to respond to overdoses by their K9s on emergency basis. Emergency handling is usually done using a set of tools that every K9 officer must be comfortable to handle at the end of training.
The main antidote used to treat an opioid overdose in a human being is Naloxone. This drug works by reversing the effects of heroin in the blood. It is usually administered in the form of an injection or nasal spray. Luckily, the same antidote works on dogs too.
When a dog overdoses, the drug that will most likely kill it is Fentanyl. This is a drug that has long been abused and is 50 times more potent than heroin. When a dog inadvertently ingests it, it may collapse and die within minutes. With such a short treatment window, the most advisable thing to do for officers is to carry the antidote during field missions.
If you are an officer, there are a few signs that should help you know whether your dog has overdosed. The first noticeable signs are staggering and weakness. The dog may appear to drag its feet and can collapse if no action is taken immediately.
Once these symptoms kick in, start by checking its heart rate. Most abused drugs make the heart beat slower and can cause respiratory failure if ingested in excessive amounts. Your primary response ought to help prevent the canine from suffering a cardiac arrest.
You should also know that most overdosed dogs react aggressively when attempts are made to treat them. As such, you should muzzle it before you administer Naloxone. The most prudent thing to do is to have someone to help you restrain the dog as you undertake the emergency procedures.
Responding to respiratory failure is often the trickiest bit of handling an overdose. Once this phase kicks in, the dog stops breathing. The first thing you should do is administer CPR. However, you should not put your mouth in the snout directly as some drug residue may be left over in it. You do not want to ingest that.
Your treatment kit should have a face mask and CPR tube for this purpose. Once you put the tube in place, give the dog 10 to 12 breaths per minute. Once it gets it consciousness back, monitor it for about 30 minutes. If the condition worsens, administer Naloxone till everything normalizes.
Police dogs usually go through a lot during field work. As they are naturally curious creatures, they like to sniff out drugs in all manner of places and sometimes inadvertently ingest drugs such as heroin. In such cases, emergency assistance should be given lest death sets in.
Luckily, there are training programs for law enforcement officers that are tailored for such catastrophes. During training, officers get to learn how to respond to overdoses by their K9s on emergency basis. Emergency handling is usually done using a set of tools that every K9 officer must be comfortable to handle at the end of training.
The main antidote used to treat an opioid overdose in a human being is Naloxone. This drug works by reversing the effects of heroin in the blood. It is usually administered in the form of an injection or nasal spray. Luckily, the same antidote works on dogs too.
When a dog overdoses, the drug that will most likely kill it is Fentanyl. This is a drug that has long been abused and is 50 times more potent than heroin. When a dog inadvertently ingests it, it may collapse and die within minutes. With such a short treatment window, the most advisable thing to do for officers is to carry the antidote during field missions.
If you are an officer, there are a few signs that should help you know whether your dog has overdosed. The first noticeable signs are staggering and weakness. The dog may appear to drag its feet and can collapse if no action is taken immediately.
Once these symptoms kick in, start by checking its heart rate. Most abused drugs make the heart beat slower and can cause respiratory failure if ingested in excessive amounts. Your primary response ought to help prevent the canine from suffering a cardiac arrest.
You should also know that most overdosed dogs react aggressively when attempts are made to treat them. As such, you should muzzle it before you administer Naloxone. The most prudent thing to do is to have someone to help you restrain the dog as you undertake the emergency procedures.
Responding to respiratory failure is often the trickiest bit of handling an overdose. Once this phase kicks in, the dog stops breathing. The first thing you should do is administer CPR. However, you should not put your mouth in the snout directly as some drug residue may be left over in it. You do not want to ingest that.
Your treatment kit should have a face mask and CPR tube for this purpose. Once you put the tube in place, give the dog 10 to 12 breaths per minute. Once it gets it consciousness back, monitor it for about 30 minutes. If the condition worsens, administer Naloxone till everything normalizes.
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