Fentanyl overdoses hit a shocking group of San Franciscans: dogs

The first time Brandy Martin used the overdose-reversing nostril spray Narcan on her bulldog, Jack, he was simply 4 months old, she mentioned.

Martin, 43, mentioned she introduced Jack to a pal’s condo and the canine licked a bit of the tinfoil that her pal was utilizing to smoke the highly effective artificial opioid fentanyl. Jack’s physique went limp in Martin’s arms, she mentioned, and it took three rounds of Narcan earlier than he grew to become alert and commenced shifting once more.

“I panicked so bad,” mentioned Martin, who added that she avoids fentanyl after dozens of her pals have fatally overdosed. “I don’t think people always think about the dogs, but that stuff is just so toxic and so poisonous.”

Martin’s expertise reversing her canine’s suspected opioid overdose just isn’t distinctive within the Tenderloin, in line with canine house owners in San Francisco’s mecca for open-air drug markets.

As the proliferation of fentanyl kills a whole lot of individuals a yr in San Francisco, some canine house owners say their pets are additionally affected by the disaster. San Francisco final yr recorded 810 deadly unintended overdoses, the deadliest yr on report. And in a metropolis the place canines may outnumber childrenindividuals dwelling in and round San Francisco’s homeless encampments and drug customers say their pets are additionally overdosing on fentanyl.

It’s unclear the extent to which dogs in San Francisco are getting uncovered to fentanyl as a result of the town doesn’t hold numbers on canine deaths or overdoses from fentanyl because it does for people.

Experts extensively agree that Narcan is the usual of care in these circumstances and the chief medical officer of the San Francisco SPCA mentioned Narcan would effectively reverse opioid overdoses in canines.

The San Francisco police and fireplace departments don’t keep any knowledge on dogs receiving Narcan. San Francisco Animal Care & Control mentioned its officers haven’t used overdose-reversing medication on dogs. The San Francisco SPCA additionally has not seen any recent circumstances of fentanyl toxicosis in any animals, in line with chief medical officer Dr. Jena Valdez.

However, a Marin Humane animal providers officer final yr used Narcan to revive a canine that had eaten his proprietor’s prescription opioid. Yuba City and Irvine law enforcement officials reportedly gave naloxone — the generic title for opioid-reversing medication resembling Narcan — to puppies that authorities believed might need been uncovered to fentanyl.

A dose of fentanyl as small as 2 milligrams might be lethal to a human, however according to researchersdogs are sometimes a lot much less delicate to the drug. Still, Dr. Cynthia Otto, director of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s Working Dog Center who research the problem, mentioned “fentanyl can be absorbed across their mucous membranes in their nose, and they can face a life-threatening overdose.”

Signs of fentanyl publicity in animals can vary from drowsiness to unresponsiveness and embrace shallow respiratory, low coronary heart price, vomiting and seizures, in line with Valdez. Naloxone within the type of an injection or nasal spray can successfully reverse these signs inside a few minute, in line with a study by Otto.

Tyler Charlton, who’s previously homeless and a recovering fentanyl addict, mentioned he used Narcan on a pal’s canine final yr after it licked residue off Charlton’s pipe and went stiff on his lap.

Charlton, who lives in a single-room occupancy resort within the Tenderloin, simply grew to become a canine proprietor three weeks in the past and is taking further precautions to keep away from exposing his 13-week-old chocolate lab puppy, Freki, to fentanyl. He carries Freki round in a pet provider and plans to make her put on booties when she will get too large to hold.

“There’s dope everywhere,” he mentioned, including that he’s afraid Freki will get fentanyl on her paws and lick them.

Johanna Liu, president of San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, which operates a veterinary road outreach crew that gives pop-up pet care, mentioned in an announcement that most of the organization’s shoppers have “responsibly responded” to the opioid disaster by “becoming trained in the administration of Narcan.”

Paul Crowell, who collects donations and palms out free pet food to unhoused individuals in San Francisco, credit Narcan and group organizations that hand out free doses of it to unhoused individuals throughout the town with “saving a lot of dogs’ lives out there.”

Crowell mentioned a lot of his shoppers, who’re utilizing medication and dwelling in tents or RVs, carry Narcan and can take motion instantly to try to save their pet, relatively than name authorities and threat getting separated from their animal.

“For a lot of the folks that I work with, that dog is everything and that’s really the only thing that keeps them going,” Crowell mentioned. “It’s their reason to keep living.”

That’s the case for Lisa, who mentioned her Chihuahua, Lover Boy, received into her former roommate’s fentanyl stash late final yr. Lisa, who declined to present her final title and was walking her canine within the Tenderloin, mentioned she was dwelling in Oakland on the time and referred to as 911 to report that her “son” had overdosed on fentanyl, referring to Lover Boy.

When first responders arrived to discover a canine unresponsive on the ground, they initially chastised Lisa for making a false report however then revived Lover Boy by placing naloxone on his gums, Lisa mentioned.

“He’s my child,” she mentioned months later. “Luckily they helped and he was fine.”

Mark Dascenzo mentioned he has administered Narcan to his boxer and pitbull combine, Melly, 5 instances up to now two years.

Dascenzo, a recovering drug addict who lives in a supportive housing unit within the Tenderloin, mentioned he has stopped taking Melly to houses of pals who nonetheless use medication, he refrains from letting most individuals pet her and he tries to forestall her from sniffing or licking the sidewalks round his building.

“I have two daughters that I wasn’t present for, so I make it up with her,” he mentioned, nodding at Melly. “She’s my kid. She’s my rock.”

Reach Maggie Angst: [email protected]