LYMAN, Maine– Narcan is an antidote used to revive people who have overdosed on opioid drugs.
Police in Maine recently used it to save a dog who accidentally ingested oxycodone. It happened when “Addie” got into a purse when no one was looking. She smelled gummy worms and she went for the sweet treat, but also ate 25-oxycodone pills that were prescribed to her owner’s daughter.
“Addie” started to appear lethargic, so her owner, Leslie Reynolds put her in the car en route to an emergency veterinary clinic. She didn’t have to go that far though, Reynolds spotted help along the way.
“But at the intersection before I got there I saw two York Sheriff’s cruisers and I flagged them down,” Reynolds says.
“I thought for all of two or three seconds, yup this is what we have to do. Addie and I became really good friends, real quick. I held her head up talked to her for a little while and I gave her half a dose in her right nostril. We waited a few minutes and I gave her the other half in her left nostril and it seemed to have the desired effect,” said Sgt. Dave Chauvette, with Maine’s York County Sheriff’s Office.
Addie’s case seems to be the first known instance of a dog being revived by Narcan in the state of Maine.
