A 4-month-old Andover, Massachusetts, puppy passed out last week after eating a discarded opioid.
Pete Thibault said he was walking his dog recently when she started chewing on something. Moments later, the dog collapsed.
"We got about as far as that tree," Thibault told WFXT, pointing to a tree across the street from his home. "There was an empty pack of cigarettes in it … she picked it up and put it in her mouth."
Thibault grabbed the container, worried she may swallow foil in it and gotten sick.
“We got probably got as far as the other side of the street, where she just collapsed. She was completely unresponsive,” he said.
Thibault called a nearby animal hospital, which had its ER and a vet ready for them as he rushed her over.
“She's had a history of digestive issues, so I thought it was maybe something she ate. Opioids was the last thing on my mind at that time,” he said.
Thibault says the doctor gave Zoey multiple doses of Narcan and told him she had ingested some form of fast-acting opioid.
Thibault and his family are thrilled to have Zoey back in good health, but he says his concerns about opioids are even greater now than before.
“The greater community is a bigger concern, the fact a kid could have picked it up," he said.
Police were alerted to the incident with Zoey and found the empty cigarette container.
Andover police say they get calls about needles at times, but this was highly unusual.
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