Is marijuana toxic to cats?
Thursday September 11, 2008
Marijuana usage by humans is a politically-charged topic, which has nothing to do with cats. However, the effects on cats who have been exposed to marijuana in the home, through no fault of their own, is a different matter. This reader wants to know the potential danger to cats who are exposed to marijuana. He writes:
Is marijuana toxic to cats? Will inhaling second-hand pot smoke cause problems? How about eating marijuana brownies or the leaves of the plant? I've heard that it it just the same as catnip as far as cats go, but I wouldn't want to do anything to harm my cats.Read my Reply
I'm sure readers will want to discuss the pros and cons of this topic. However, please confine your remarks to the effects of marijuana as related to cats. All other comments will be deleted as being off-topic.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Christopher Furlong
Comments
I’d love to read your reply out of curiosity alone, but for some reason the link just points to “http:///” for me.
That’s strange, Ben. It works fine for me, and there is no triple /// in the url. Try it here:
http://cats.about.com/od/healthfaqs/f/marijuana_cats.htm
I’m a life long herb smoker and a cat fanatic. My tabby cats Cheech and Chong both enjoy my herbs with me. I’ve had them both for eight years since I rescued them from a shelter here in DC. No issues here.
I had the same problem as Ben (using Firefox if that matters).
Anyway, I love my cats too much to take risks with them, so I’ll stick with not given them any drugs or medications (even 2nd-hand) unless prescribed by a vet.
Enjoy your little joke, Kenny. If you really have cats, I feel very sorry for them.
All the websites I’ve seen so far are lacking evidence either way. Some say its harmless and others say it causes seizures and death. There is also an assumption that cats in nature would never encounter cannabis. My kitten tore into a plastic shopping bag of “wet” marijuana leaf when he was 4 months old (I am a medical marijuana patient) and apart from scattering leaf all over the place and peeing on the bag, he also apparently ingested some of it (there were leaves hanging out of his mouth). This was something he chose to do on his own, and I’m sure if he were outdoors and encountered a cannabis plant he would eat it. It seems to cause his eyes to dilate and give him energy. The next morning he was back to normal again.
Give me a break. I’m not saying it’s a good idea to be blowing carcinogenic particulates into your innocent little cat’s repriratory system is a good thing to do, but when testing the LD50 of marijuana (the point at which 1/2 of subjects died of overdose(, and the effects of marijuana on rats, they injected THC directly into the cerebrum of the rats, aka an intracerebral injection. I’m guessing that, while it may not be a good idea to have your cat toke up as frequently as you and your buddies do, I’m sure your cat will never die- for God’s sake, marijuana is jut about the most benign substance on the face of the earth..water will kill you sooner, and in fact kills more a year- as there is not a single documented report of “marijuana overdose”. Like I said before, water poisoning is much more common..in fact, demineralized water is actually toxic to our bodies as it leaches the natural minerals from our bodies. I don’t know, it’s just something to think about..
So what evidence or data do you have to back up tts are smaller than humans, so that just makes them more susceptible?
If you had done your research, you would know that ingesting marijuana does nothing. It needs to be combusted, or heated in an oily substance, for the psychoactive material to come through. I’m guessing this is the same in a cat’s digestive system.
As far as second hand marijuana smoke goes, it has almost no effects once you’ve already inhaled it. Blowing it out into another humans face won’t get them high because 99 percent of the THC is absorbed by your own lungs in 2-3 seconds.
So you’ll be fine if you don’t blow it directly into your cat’s face, and even then just because any kind of smoke is bad.
I’m astounded that you just respond to people with nothing to back up your claims. You might be a cat owner but you are not a pot user, so take it from someone who is both a user and a cat owner.
Kooftah and other marijuana “experts” who posted here:
Kooftah sez: “If you had done your research..”
If YOU had done your research by reading my entire article including the linked URLs, you would see that the ASPCA Poison Control Center was one of the sources for my statement. Marijuana is listed in its database as toxic to animals. It goes on to say: “According to the ASPCA
APCC Database, the most common side effects of marijuana
toxicosis are depression, ataxia, and bradycardia. Other signs include agitation, vocalization, vomiting, diarrhea, hypersalivation, tachycardia, hypothermia,
mydriasis, urinary incontinence, seizures, and coma.”
“I’m astounded that you just respond to people with nothing to back up your claims.”
See the above.
Excuse me Ms. Fran, but only marijuana smokers would know what effects are caused to them. You have to remember that both cats and humans are individuals. Also i would like to know why its so bad? Alcohol gets more people into more trouble every year and marijuana is only illegal because the government isnt growing it and selling it like they are tobacco.
Excuse me, Mr. Kevin. I am not concerned with what marijuana smoking does to humans, but I know a heck of a lot more about it than you think I do. BTW, check your research. The government does NOT grow and sell tobacco. It allows it to be grown and sold because of the money it makes on taxes. Some day, the same thing will likely apply to marijuana.
But I digress: I AM concerned with what marijuana does to cats. I would no more intentionally expose my cats to marijuana plants and/or smoke than I would offer them a shot of vodka.
Please let me know of one single documented case of anyone going into a coma from ingesting
Cannabis and me and my cat(Meowy Wowie)will eat an entire 6 foot plant together.
With all the speculation, i think i’m gonna have to go with someone who has actually exposed their cats to cannabis. I’m with you Kenny!:-)
For whatever it’s worth, According to Petwellbeing.com, Of all pet cannabis intoxication cases, only 3 percent are felines.
i let my cats decide, sometimes when i light up they’ll leave the room, other times the get right up in my face looking for a little exhale.
I have two indoor cats. Both about 10 years old. One was a rescue and has suffered from colitis since he was a kitten. He has had bouts of vomiting and soft / bloody stool for 10 years. I’ve tried a number of special diets and prescription remedies to try to ease his condition all with little or no success. His condition bothered him so much that he would eat very little food and would become weak. Finally after much research I offered him a fresh cannabis leaf (which I grew legally in California as the citizens of this state have had the wisdom to legalize this very effective and non-toxic plant for medical use). Now it’s well known that cats like to eat grass for it’s fiber and I have grown ‘cat grass’ for them in the past but whenever they would eat it, they would throw up so I half expected this sort of event. That is not what happened however. First of all, both cats showed a very persistent attraction to the leaves. They seem to love the taste and they are able to keep it down easily. They show zero change in personality or behavior other than a great happiness and desire to eat the leaves. In fact they learned what a cannabis leaf looks like after only twice encountering it and now they can see it coming and they beg and hop and purr with excitement while I prepare the leaf. After about a week of one or two fresh cannabis leaves a day I noticed the changes that I had hoped I would see. Poiny, the cat with colitis, had better, firmer stools with less and less mucus / blood. His appetite improved and he has put on weight. My other cat, Otto, has seen a desirable effect as well with better overall digestion and stool and a good source of fiber that doesn’t make him vomit.
Now, I wouldn’t have responded to this forum if I didn’t see something amazing. I know these sites are often full of hear-say and half-truths and ignorance and sure some good info too. I know that the moderator of this site will most likely detest my attempt to treat my cats myself. I don’t care what she has to say, I have done the research myself and I know cannabis is one of the most effective non-toxic medicinal herbs the world has ever known.
In a world of prescription happy doctors and vets that will over-medicate you and your pets to death (see Michael Jackson….and also my own uncle), I just thank God there are truly good natural alternatives for a healthy happy lifestyle.
Good Luck
If a cats eats marijuana, likely side effects will be vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea. They may seem like they have the flu. This occurs because their bodies are trying reject what it has injested. Other cats may not show any side efects at all. I cannot say whether death might occur or not, but I have read that it is poisonous not toxic. But why chance it? If the cat gets high from eating or inhaling marijuana, he does not realize where these effects are coming. He also might act silly to you, but is actually freaked out of his mind. You don’t know. They also don’t get addicted and start feining for it. I am a Veterinary student. Work with the INSPCA, live with, and have rehabilitated all different kinds of domestic and wild animals. I also take part in extra curricular activities. However, if you love animals WHY even take the risk. For your own amusment and experimentation. Treat your pets like children. Duh.
I actually told myself I would not get caught up in this drama, but I couldn’t resist. Have a nice day.
I have had my cat for about 12 years, only been smoking about 5 years, but from then on my cat has also smoked with me. It just comes right up to me when i pull my sack out it knows whats up. some animals don’t like it but i know a lot of animals that do, and i don’t care what some official says when i can see proof that it isn’t harmless to animals
*Not harmfull sorry
Catnip is a perennial herb. It is a member of the Mint family Labiatae, it is also a distant relation of marijuana. It is well known for it’s ability to get cat’s high. Anytime a cat overeats, even catnip it is going to throw up. Cats will eat marijuana if it is in the wild and two of my cats eat it and one doesn’t, it is a personal choice if they don’t like it then keep it away from them. My cat runs out of the room every time he hears a lighter, the one that doesn’t eat it..
I didn’t want to jump on this but I just have to. It’s funny because until you have had some kind of significant personal experience with the herb, you have NO idea. Period. I don’t care what you read or if the little rats you fed it to seemed “lethargic”, you have NO idea.
I have touched the stuff once, experimentally, and decided it wasn’t for me. My husband smokes it like a chimney. ALL of our animals, including our 3 dogs, 1 goat, 5 cats, and a bunny, LOVE marijuana. They will congregate around the sofa together the minute he lights up and everyone takes big breaths. …the goat doesn’t come inside, but the rest do.
While I would also love to see just ONE documented death or coma or seizure from marijuana use in humans (the fact is, that since the beginning of recorded history, marijuana has NEVER killed anyone for overdose, and it was used all the way back in ancient Eqypt 3000 years ago as a birthing herb because it simultaneously helps with contractions while reducing the pain), none of our animals have ever gotten sick to any degree off of it. It does not “wig” them out or “freak” them out. They are quite able to put two and two together and figure out that the smoke or eating the leaves creates certain reactions in their body, namely “lethargy” (the herb mellows many people out, though some types will give you energy), and a heightened appetite.
I don’t know where this “vet trainee” gets the whole “loss of appetite” or what kind of crackhead wrote that research article (’cause crack WILL wig you out), but just about anyone can associate the munchies with a smoker. Half the idea behind medical marijuana is appetite increase, emotional crutch, pain reduction, anxiety relief, etc. The whole diarreah, choking, puking, seizures and coma thing….yeah, some cats can’t handle the plant in their digestive system. My brother is fatally allergic to Tylenol, Aspirin, and Motrin. I’m fine taking all three, TOGETHER if I had to for some reason. Point is, different animal, different tolerances. Nothing is good for everyone. On a side note, people might have seizures and coma as well if you injected marijuana into their BRAIN. Or peppermint for that matter. Or Olive Oil. All good things in the WRONG place. I think I’d have a seizure if you just TOLD me you were going to jab a needle in my brain. Yay for animal lovers stabbing rat brains to save pets!
Back to cats. As already mentiond by a more informed poster, catnip is an offshoot of marijuana. Like they say in Toxicology, the poison is in the dose. If you feed an entire plant to a six-week-old kitten, granted there’s enough room in that little tummy, it might get a bit ugly. I would fully expect a horrid puke-fest, some poop rivers, and who knows, even a seizure or two. Two words. System shock. If a person drinks 10 gallons of water in a single go, they die. Their cells drown. Or nine pounds of apples. System shock. If you fill a syringe with marijuana resin and jab it into kitten’s brain and let loose, I would expect seizures and horrible death. NO ONE shoots up marijuana. NO ONE. No one shoots up their CATS with marijuana. And do you have any idea HOW MUCH marijuana a cat would have to smoke or eat to get a whole syringe worth of resin into their brain??? Has anyone looked at the logic of this? It is a MASSIVE dose.
We live in an area where the plant is extremely popular, and even grows wild all over the place. We see wild animals such as deer, rabbits, raccoons, and feral domestic animals happily munching on the stuff all the time! Literally! We’ve NEVER heard of a wild animal found dead of a marijuana overdose. Or a person. Or an animal, as a fact. The lake is notorious for pot smokers and their mellow pets. It’s a small town of a few thousand and we know hundreds of people here. NO ONE has EVER mentioned ANYTHING adverse happening to one of their animals after a good smoke. In fact, our neighbor’s cat recently died of leukemia and he was eating and apparently pain free until he just didn’t wake up one day. I’ve had a whole litter of 3-month-old kittens contract leukemia a few years ago. I’m not sure if the leukemia killed them, or the starvation. Leukemic cats don’t eat. They are in pain. This one was fine, thanks to his daily dose of happiness.
As I’ve said, my husband smokes it several times a day, and has done so for the last….37 years, since he was 15. He is highly intelligent, actually working as an overseas contractor repairing machinery and computers, he served quite some time in the military, and is one of the happiest and positive people I know. And trust me, that is No Thanks to the military. All of our pets, cats included, smoke with him. Our oldest cat just died at 16 years old. He’s had her since she was a kitten. She was born at his friend’s house, in a box, in the “smoking room”, aka “the fog bank”. I’m sure you understand. A very active, healthy, friendly cat, very calm, never had any health prolems and died healthy of old age. Had a litter of kittens herself, at 18 months old, in case anyone wants to bring up the fertility effects. We got her fixed after that. If that is not a living testament, I don’t know what is.
The poison is in the dose. (And hell, in the placement. Who shoots up rats with marijuana? That’s not even an accurate study!)
Bottom line, show me a single cat that has died from a REASONABLE amount of marijuana ingestion or inhalation. Show me anything that has.