ENCINITAS (KGTV)-- An Encinitas man is warning other pet parents of the dangers hidden at dog parks, one almost killing his fur baby Kelly.
They were at Power Lines Dog Park Thursday evening, as usual, and something caught Kelly's sniffer.
"She would not stop searching through there," her owner James McDonald said. She was digging in the bushes, then stopped, craddling her foot.
He thought, being an active dog as she is, she strained herself.
"I picked her up and carried her to the car... When I got her home she couldn't even walk," he said, "So I put her in our bed and just sacrificed the duvet, she can puke all over my duvet that's okay."
He said it was extreme, and violent. He was terrified she would choke on her own vomit, so he compressed her chest each time to ensure she could breathe in air.
He said she was completely limp. An hour of this goes by, then she started coming around, sort of.
"She would come to conscious with fear in her eyes, not knowing where she was, who she was or what was happening?" McDonald said.
James knew she was poisoned but didn't want to take her to the vet.
"I wanted her to die comfortably, I'm sorry," he said choking back tears, "I wanted her to die comfortably in my arms, not in a cage with a needle stuck in her arm."
That night his son found a bit of brownie on her paw, leading them to believe she found and ate a pot brownie.
His sons had an idea of how it got there, "one son said he actually has hidden them in the park, another son said he's found them in the park."
The whole incident drove McDonald to post on the Nextdoor app, to warn neighbors. He swore to never come back to that dog park, and only returned to tell his story of warning.
The VCA said they've seen many more accidental poisonings since the legalization of pot in California. The San Diego Humane Society said pet parents need to lock up drugs in their home.
McDonald said fellow pet lovers should also keep a watchful eye over their fur babies.
