B.C. veterinarian saves puppy with opioid-reversing naloxone
SAANICH, B.C. — A Victoria-area veterinarian who used naloxone to revive a puppy that ate some sort of opioid said she fears word of the successful treatment could put her clinic at risk.
Helen Rae was at the clinic in Saanich, just outside Victoria, on Dec. 16 when the owner of a barely six-month-old puppy brought in the wobbly pet because it had eaten something during a walk in a nearby park.
Over the next hour, the pug-cross puppy became almost comatose and showed symptoms of a narcotic overdose, so Rae decided to administer naloxone.
“We gave her a very, very low dose, because we weren’t really sure that’s what it was, but there wasn’t really anything to lose by trying a very low dose,” she said.