There is no denying the fact that drug abuse is a scourge that many communities all over the world battle with. The economy always takes a tumble when many working people become addicts. Since the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire waged war over opium sales in the 1600s and 1700s, opioids have been the most preferred drugs by addicts. These days, police dogs routinely fall victim to K9 opioid overdose.
This often happens during search missions. Being naturally curious, sniffer dogs like to stick their noses in all sorts of places during routine searches and inadvertently sniff excessive amounts of opioids such as heroin. Without immediate medical attention, a dog that overdoses can die.
Luckily, there are training programs for law enforcement officers that are tailored for such catastrophes. During training, officers get to learn how to respond to overdoses by their K9s on emergency basis. Emergency handling is usually done using a set of tools that every K9 officer must be comfortable to handle at the end of training.
The main antidote used to treat an opioid overdose in a human being is Naloxone. This drug works by reversing the effects of heroin in the blood. It is usually administered in the form of an injection or nasal spray. Luckily, the same antidote works on dogs too.
When a dog overdoses, the drug that will most likely kill it is Fentanyl. This is a drug that has long been abused and is 50 times more potent than heroin. When a dog inadvertently ingests it, it may collapse and die within minutes. With such a short treatment window, the most advisable thing to do for officers is to carry the antidote during field missions.
If you are an officer, there are a few signs that should help you know whether your dog has overdosed. The first noticeable signs are staggering and weakness. The dog may appear to drag its feet and can collapse if no action is taken immediately.
When these symptoms manifest, proceed to check the heart rate. A vast majority of abused drugs slow the heartbeat to a crawl, eventually leading to cardiac arrest. From your emergency response, you should be able to help the canine avoid slipping into a cardiac arrest.
It is also important to note that overdosing often results in severe aggression towards anyone attempting to handle the canine. For this reason, you might want to muzzle it before administering the antidote. As a precautionary measure, ensure you have backup just in case it attempts to overpower you.
Responding to respiratory failure is often the trickiest bit of handling an overdose. Once this phase kicks in, the dog stops breathing. The first thing you should do is administer CPR. However, you should not put your mouth in the snout directly as some drug residue may be left over in it. You do not want to ingest that.
Your treatment kit should have a face mask and CPR tube for this purpose. Once you put the tube in place, give the dog 10 to 12 breaths per minute. Once it gets it consciousness back, monitor it for about 30 minutes. If the condition worsens, administer Naloxone till everything normalizes.
This often happens during search missions. Being naturally curious, sniffer dogs like to stick their noses in all sorts of places during routine searches and inadvertently sniff excessive amounts of opioids such as heroin. Without immediate medical attention, a dog that overdoses can die.
Luckily, there are training programs for law enforcement officers that are tailored for such catastrophes. During training, officers get to learn how to respond to overdoses by their K9s on emergency basis. Emergency handling is usually done using a set of tools that every K9 officer must be comfortable to handle at the end of training.
The main antidote used to treat an opioid overdose in a human being is Naloxone. This drug works by reversing the effects of heroin in the blood. It is usually administered in the form of an injection or nasal spray. Luckily, the same antidote works on dogs too.
When a dog overdoses, the drug that will most likely kill it is Fentanyl. This is a drug that has long been abused and is 50 times more potent than heroin. When a dog inadvertently ingests it, it may collapse and die within minutes. With such a short treatment window, the most advisable thing to do for officers is to carry the antidote during field missions.
If you are an officer, there are a few signs that should help you know whether your dog has overdosed. The first noticeable signs are staggering and weakness. The dog may appear to drag its feet and can collapse if no action is taken immediately.
When these symptoms manifest, proceed to check the heart rate. A vast majority of abused drugs slow the heartbeat to a crawl, eventually leading to cardiac arrest. From your emergency response, you should be able to help the canine avoid slipping into a cardiac arrest.
It is also important to note that overdosing often results in severe aggression towards anyone attempting to handle the canine. For this reason, you might want to muzzle it before administering the antidote. As a precautionary measure, ensure you have backup just in case it attempts to overpower you.
Responding to respiratory failure is often the trickiest bit of handling an overdose. Once this phase kicks in, the dog stops breathing. The first thing you should do is administer CPR. However, you should not put your mouth in the snout directly as some drug residue may be left over in it. You do not want to ingest that.
Your treatment kit should have a face mask and CPR tube for this purpose. Once you put the tube in place, give the dog 10 to 12 breaths per minute. Once it gets it consciousness back, monitor it for about 30 minutes. If the condition worsens, administer Naloxone till everything normalizes.
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