Dog recovering after being exposed to methamphetamine at Texas thrift store

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — A local business and dog owner thanked the community for the outpouring of love as their pet is recovering after being exposed to methamphetamine and amphetamine.

Julie Young, the owner of America’s Best Thrift and Discount, said her dog Fancy was at the store as normal before a customer noticed something was wrong with Fancy just after 2 p.m. and alerted staff.

“She just kept being so unsettled and stopping and staring and I can’t remember at that time if she was panting, but once we started realizing something really had gotten Fancy stirred up, we started working to figure out what it was. We could not get her settled down at all. Then, she just had this erratic behavior. Panting, panting, stomping her feet, staring, staring,” said Young.

Young added after she and her husband tried to get Fancy calmed down, they called a veterinarian friend and sent a video.

“He felt at that time it was an allergic reaction and he said, ‘Could there have been any poisons?’, ‘no’, so he was 99% sure it was an allergic reaction and he gave us a timeline to expect some changes, so when the first one came and there were no changes, he had us add an additional Benadryl and wanted us to wait an hour and she wasn’t no better at all,” said Young.

After Fancy’s condition did not improve, Young and her husband took her to the Small Animal Emergency Clinic, where she tested positive for the drugs.

“When they told me, I could have thrown up. I could have thrown up, because she’s an innocent baby, you know. She’s such a joy. So I could have thrown up […] the first thing was just in your gut and now, I look at her and it’s like she lost her innocence,” said Young.

Young said they left it in the hands of the trained professionals.

Dr. Kim Nethery, a veterinarian with the Amarillo Small Animal Emergency Clinic said if an animal gets a hold of something like methamphetamine, it can be life-threatening.

“In the case of specifically of amphetamines, those drugs are lipophilic, which means they bind to fats, so we have an IV liquid called intralipid, it’s essentially a liquid fat solution we can give them in IVs and it binds to the circulating amphetamines, and keeps them from interacting with receptors in the body that then cause the simulate effects that they are known for,” said Nethery.

Dr. Nethery said the smaller the animal, the higher the chance that they could’ve ingested a lethal dose.

“We can’t know the exact dose per weight they ingested, we just have to treat according to clinic signs and kind of treat for efficacy, meaning we see improvement in the clinic signs as we start to administer treatment,” said Nethery.

Dr. Nethery said if an animal gets ahold of drugs like methamphetamine, time is of the essence.

“Always the sooner, the better. If they know it has been ingested, absolutely come in immediately. Come into a veterinarian, and have their pet evaluated, and tested for possible ingestion and a physical exam to see what their heart rate is and their neurological exam, and if they don’t know, then anything that is concerning to the owner, better safe than sorry kind of situation. Evaluation by a veterinarian is always recommended as soon as possible,” said Nethery.

Dr. Nethery said people can also call the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661 or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435 if they are concerned their pet might have ingested something.

Young said Fancy today seems cognitively good and they feel certain there is no organ damage to Fancy.

Young said the Amarillo Police Department and Animal Control both said they would not pursue without a positive ID of the person’s face and a positive ID of the poison going into Fancy’s mouth.

Young said they are asking for the community’s help in finding a group of five teenage boys in the store during the time frame that could help answer what might have happened.

Young added that Fancy would no longer be at the store, as Young said she feels they can’t allow Fancy the freedom she’s had within the store.

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