If your dog got into marijuana or an edible, stay calm. THC is rarely fatal in dogs, but they are far more sensitive to it than humans, and they need your help riding it out safely. The most important things you can do right now are keep your dog in a safe, quiet space, prevent them from hurting themselves, and call your vet or an emergency animal hospital.
How to Tell Your Dog Is High
The most common sign is a wobbly, uncoordinated walk, almost like your dog is drunk. In a study of 223 dogs with confirmed marijuana exposure, 88% showed this kind of unsteadiness. About 75% also showed heightened sensitivity to touch and sound, startling or flinching at things they’d normally ignore. Your dog may seem deeply lethargic, unable to hold their head up, or alternatively look dazed and confused.
Nearly half of affected dogs lose control of their bladder, dribbling urine without realizing it. About a quarter vomit. Heart rate may be elevated, and some dogs develop a slight fever. A typical case looks like this: a young dog comes back from a walk or the yard and within 30 to 90 minutes starts stumbling, flinching at noises, and leaking urine.
What to Do Right Now
Move your dog to a quiet, dimly lit room away from stairs, furniture edges, and other pets. Because their coordination is impaired, they can easily fall and injure themselves. If they’re sensitive to sound and touch, reduce stimulation as much as possible. Speak softly, move slowly, and avoid picking them up unless necessary.
Do not try to make your dog vomit. Dogs with THC toxicity are often too sedated or neurologically impaired for vomiting to be safe. There’s a real risk of them inhaling vomit into their lungs. If vomiting needs to happen, a vet can do it safely and decide whether it’s appropriate based on how recently the dog ate the product.
Call your veterinarian or a pet poison hotline. Be honest about what your dog ate. Vets are not going to judge you or report you. They just need accurate information to treat your dog properly. If you still have the packaging from the edible, grab it. The two most important things to identify are the THC concentration and whether the product contains chocolate or xylitol (a sugar substitute used in many sugar-free candies and baked goods).
Why Edibles Are More Dangerous Than You’d Think
The THC itself is usually not the biggest threat. The minimum lethal dose of THC in dogs is over 3 grams per kilogram of body weight, which is an enormous amount. A single edible gummy or brownie won’t come close to that. The real danger often comes from the other ingredients.
Xylitol is the most serious concern. It’s commonly found in sugar-free edibles, mints, and chocolate bars. In dogs, xylitol triggers a massive insulin release that can crash blood sugar levels within 10 to 60 minutes. Symptoms include sudden weakness, collapse, staggering, and seizures. Untreated, it can be fatal. If there’s any chance the product contained xylitol, get to an emergency vet immediately, even if your dog seems fine. Dangerous blood sugar drops can be delayed up to 12 to 24 hours.
Chocolate is the other ingredient to watch for. Pot brownies and chocolate edibles combine two toxins at once. Dark chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate, and the amount matters relative to your dog’s size. High-fat butter and oils in homemade edibles can also trigger pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas that may not show up for a day or two.
What the Vet Will Do
Veterinary treatment for THC exposure is mostly supportive. There is no antidote for marijuana in dogs. Instead, the vet focuses on keeping your dog safe and comfortable while the drug works its way out of their system. This typically means IV fluids to help flush the toxin and prevent dehydration, anti-nausea medication if your dog is vomiting, and monitoring of heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure.
If the exposure was very recent (within an hour or so), the vet may induce vomiting or give activated charcoal to reduce how much THC gets absorbed. In more severe cases, particularly when a dog has eaten a concentrated product or a large amount, vets sometimes use a fat-based IV solution that helps bind to THC and pull it out of circulation faster.
One thing worth knowing: standard over-the-counter drug test kits designed for humans are unreliable for detecting THC in dogs. So your vet will likely diagnose based on symptoms and your description of what happened rather than a urine test.
How Long Recovery Takes
Most dogs start improving within 12 to 24 hours, though the timeline depends on how much they consumed and their size. Smaller dogs and those who ate concentrated edibles may take longer. Some dogs seem groggy and “off” for up to 72 hours. During recovery, make sure fresh water is always available. Your dog may not want to eat for a while, and that’s normal.
Keep them confined to a small, safe area until their coordination fully returns. Stairs are a real hazard while they’re still wobbly. If you have other dogs in the house, it’s worth keeping them separated so the recovering dog isn’t startled or jostled.
Signs That Need Emergency Care
Most cases of marijuana exposure resolve on their own with supportive care, but some situations require an immediate trip to the emergency vet:
- Seizures or tremors: These can indicate xylitol poisoning, chocolate toxicity, or an unusually severe THC reaction.
- Extreme sedation: If your dog is completely unresponsive, can’t be roused, or their breathing seems very slow or shallow.
- Collapse or inability to stand: Beyond normal wobbliness, a dog that cannot support any weight needs immediate attention.
- Vomiting that won’t stop: Repeated vomiting increases the risk of aspiration and dehydration.
- Known xylitol or chocolate ingestion: Don’t wait for symptoms. Both of these can cause life-threatening problems on a delay.
Preventing It From Happening Again
Dogs get into marijuana products far more often than most owners expect. Edibles are the biggest culprit because they smell like food. Gummies, brownies, cookies, and candies are irresistible to a dog who finds them on a counter, in a bag, or dropped on the ground during a walk. The most common scenario in clinical data is a young dog who goes outside or to a public place and finds a discarded product.
Store all cannabis products in sealed, dog-proof containers, ideally in a closed cabinet or high shelf. Treat them like you would medication. If you use marijuana outdoors, be aware that dogs on walks can find and swallow discarded joints, roaches, or edible wrappers faster than you can react. A “leave it” command, practiced consistently, is one of the most useful safety tools for preventing accidental ingestion of any kind.