Pets abused by meth users and meth labs
Methamphetamine (meth) users, cooks, and traffickers keep pets for protection and/or companionship. Cats and dogs are dependent upon their sence of smell, and their lungs and brains are exquisitely sensitive. It is difficult to imagine second-hand smoke from meth not being deleterious! Meth contains amphetamines, which stimulate the central nervous system, and cats and dogs "who are exposed to amphetamines often show clinical signs such as tremors, agitation, high blood pressure, fast heart rate, heart rhythm disturbances, high body temperature and possibly, coma". 1
Many rescue and care facilities have seen an increase in pets from meth labs. Dogs and cats abonded at meth labs and meth users are skinny, malnorished and abused. When pets are brought to a rescue shelter they must be decomtaminated to remove dangerous substances. There are several companies now manufacting soap for meth decomtamination which does not harm children or animals. Most of the animals coming from drug-using environments tend to show indications of neglect-they are malnourished and afraid of people. 2
Methamphetamine and drug traffickers are using pure breed pets to carry illegal drugs inside their stomachs. Animals which transport drugs are called "swallowers".
Letters about meth abused pets
I volunteer with pug rescue. In April of 2008 I took a 9 month old puppy in to foster for our group. She was badly starved. Just 7 lbs at 9 months. She came out of a meth lab. She had been in a coma for 5 days. When she came out of the coma she was deaf, blind and couldn’t walk. She did get all of that back over several weeks. She also came out of it with Epilepsy, Thyroid condition, Enlarged heart and Addisons disease. She will be 3 years old next week and is trying to recover as much as possible from an episode of congestive heart failure.
Boy would I like to get my hands on the people who did this to her. She is the sweetest little thing. I ended up keeping her because we didn’t want to place her in a home because we thought she was going to die. Well she will end up dying with me because I just adore her. Feel free to use her story. If any good can come out of it I am all for it.
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Alisa
I have seen meth pipe burns on my son before. He would never admit what caused it, but I knew. His second wife had a little poodle named Sassy. They were homeless and I took Sassy in. I noticed the dog didn't act right. She would try to walk and her back legs and would go into a kind of seizure.
Sassy was a sweet little thing, but it was plain there was something wrong with her. She would sit and look at the wall and growl like something was there. Once, while (my son and his wife) came to eat and clean up, I asked them what the hell they had done to the dog that made her so crazy?
They were tweaking themselves that day, and they laughed their heads off and told me how once, when they were cooking, Sassy got into some they spilled and she has been a meth addict herself ever since. My son would often tell me things under influence and later deny them.
I took the dog to the vet and the only thing he found was some sort of fungus in her ears. I treated her for the two years and it never healed. But she also kept up the seizure activity. I always wondered if it was something to do with her maybe getting meth in her ears. I mated her with my male poodle at time. She tried to kill her puppies. I had to bottle feed them. I kept one little male and he never acted like he had any sense.
Once after she (his second wife) left my son, she came to me needing $200. I felt like crap and was aggravated to death with her. By then I thought the dog was pregnant again. I picked the dog up and handed her to the woman and told her to sell the puppies. I never saw her or the poor little dog since.
Send your story about abused pets to: kcimeth@yahoo.com
1. http://www.dogandcatshelter.org/infocenter/poisons.htm
2. http://www.justthinktwice.com/hot/puppies.cfm
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