Carl and Betsy Kraushaar wish some people had left their smoking materials at home instead of at the beach because it cost them hundreds in veterinary bills.
The Kraushaars drive to St. Simons four times or so a week and walk the beach with their dog, Dallas, a 7-year-old female Vizsla. They always leave the beach before 9:30 a.m. as required by a county ordinance.
After a trip about the third week in May, they were back home when Betsy Krashaar left to run errands and he went into his office to work.
“I came out about 1 (p.m.) Dallas was in the floor and couldn’t get up,’’ he said.
He helped her up and she walked a few steps and her bladder emptied on the floor.
She walked a couple of steps, collapsed and couldn’t get up.
“I suspected a stroke. I called Betsy to come home,’’ he said.
They got her to Cheek to Cheek, their vet, where they took Dallas inside on a litter and worked on her more than an hour.
“They said this doesn’t look good,’’ he said.
After a battery of tests, her vital signs were good, however, and the conclusion was finally, “We can’t be positive, but we’re pretty sure she ate marijuana.”
Cheek to Cheek suggested that the Kraushaars could take her to an emergency veterinary hospital in Jacksonville where she could be held and monitored overnight in case things turned bad.
After repeating many of the same tests, the vet in Jacksonville said he was about 99 percent sure it was marijuana.
“They said this is very common. They said it was probably not a large amount because she was better in eight hours,’’ Carl Kraushaar said.
Dogs like the smell of marijuana and will eat it in an instant, they said.
The Kraushaars were out about $900 total but very relieved because now Dallas is fine and back to going non-stop on their beach visits.
They have speculated Dallas found weed someone had dropped on the beach or perhaps a small stash hidden in the rocks.
“I was afraid when I took her into the vet, I wouldn’t see her again,’’ he said.
