Monday, October 23, 2017

Learn More About K9 Opioid Overdose

By Ruth Gray


Ideally, K9 unit police dogs are trained to spot potent synthetic drugs. Nonetheless, there is a growing and unanticipated threat that the dogs are exposed to. K9 opioid overdose is a serious issue which police officers attached to these units have struggled to handle. For example, fentanyl is one strong painkiller normally mixed with heroin and has caused severe effects to sniffing dogs leading to their visits to animal hospitals.

Police dogs usually spot the location of opioids simply by following the scent sniffed by their noses. They are usually used to pick up such scents from houses, vehicles and various other places. Nonetheless, sever effects can arise when powerful opioids are excessively inhaled. Some of the indications of the likelihood of an overdose from the inhalations generally include the four-legged companions suddenly becoming unable to move. Some dogs will also exhibit a state of being under sedation.

Others will also have their eyes unfocused while also lolling their tongues out of their mouth, vomiting, stumbling and slowed respiratory rates among other various distress symptoms. Animal doctors have shown that these symptoms are actually linked to the overdose of powerful drugs like fentanyl. Fentanyl is amongst the strongest opioids medically used around the United States. The drug has resulted in a number of overdoses as well as deaths of the k-9 unit dogs.

On the other hand, risks are also experienced by the human officers who usually accompany these dogs. The officers are usually discouraged from touching samples of drugs because small amount that are absorbed by the skin or ingested can have severe effects. It is therefore encouraged that officers and their dogs take precautionary measures to avoid any severe effects.

Human officers may always have themselves protected by putting on gloves and respirators. Dogs are nonetheless very vulnerable to such effects for the reason that they possess strong senses of smell and usually are at the forefront in doing the raids. Dogs usually lack the appropriate precautionary gears and can easily absorb the opioids via their pads as well as sniffing the substances out of their jowls.

A common remedy to the symptoms experienced involves the administration of naloxone doses. This is a very effective antidote to opioid overdoses for affected dogs that resume duties within a single day. Naloxone offers a deterrent action to the effects of opioid overdoses and will reverse overdose effects and presents no side effects. The K9 trainers often carry along antidotes to treat situations of the dogs getting affected by overdoses from sniffing.

Additionally, both the human officers and dogs can have naloxone administrations done through injections and nasal sprays. Both the injectable forms and nasal sprays can be ferried along by officers who conduct searches with the dogs during raids. In addition, human naloxone can be administrable to dogs but when prescribed by veterinary officers.

The risks involved in the attempts to uncover illegal drugs remain largely unprecedented. Nevertheless, having a new level of precautions remain essential towards alleviating such threats. Sniffing dogs can now effectively do their jobs and have any situations of overdoses remedied.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment