Firefighters Rescue Puppy Who Discovered Fentanyl Patch
(PatriotWise.com) – First responders from the Coldwater Firefighters Local 2555 in Michigan rescued a puppy that dug a fentanyl patch out of the trash and overdosed.
The owners of the puppy named Whip rushed her to the fire station knowing the firefighters had the drug that could save her life. The firefighters administered two doses of Naloxone, or Narcan, to the puppy, reviving it.
Posting on Facebook, Coldwater Firefighters Local 2555 said puppy overdose rescues aren’t the sort of call they normally expect.
Fire Chief Dave Schmaltz told WWMT that the puppy was shaking and drooling when the owners arrived at the station, showing all the signs of a fentanyl overdose. Schmaltz admitted that he didn’t expect the pup to survive. But once they administered the Narcan, the puppy was “bounding around like nothing happened,” Schmaltz said.
The canine overdose was “100 percent accidental,” the fire department said.
The pup’s owners are not drug users. Instead, the fentanyl patch was legally prescribed for chronic pain.
Fentanyl patches are prescribed to opioid-tolerant patients who require daily, round-the-clock long-term pain management, most commonly those suffering from cancer and patients in hospice care. Each patch is worn on the skin and is generally replaced every three days. Whip got hold of a used patch that had been thrown out.
Fentanyl patches can be deadly to children or small animals if they make contact with the skin or are ingested.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned that prescription fentanyl patches can be deadly even after they have been used. Patients using the fentanyl patches are instructed to flush the used patches down the toilet rather than toss them in the trash.
Schmaltz told WWMT that fentanyl patches still have up to 50 percent of the medication on them even after three days of use.
Whip the puppy is being monitored but appears to be recovering well after her accident.
Copyright 2022, PatriotWise.com
