cats and marijuana

ok, please, please don't flame me for this, I am not a sick sadistic person trying to hurt cats, as a matter of fact I absolutely love my kitty. Now I ask this question here because I could find very little information on the internet, and I am sure there are some very knowledgeable people here who will be able to provide a very informative answer. I have heard many a time people mention that they have or have known of cats who enjoy getting high from marijuana. Now originally, i assumed that since its toxicity in animals (like rats and monkeys tested in labs) and humans is extremely low, that this of course would be something harmless to cats, and whether they enjoy it or not would depend on the cat. then I noticed marijuana pop up on the extremely long list of poisinous plants for dogs and cats. Now i dont know for sure about cats that enjoy it, but i know for a fact that there are many dogs that do. So with this in mind, are they saying its toxic because it is psychoactive, or is it truly physically harmful to cats and dogs? And if so to what extent? And don't woory, I am aware that it is wrong to drug someone or something without them knowing, and i see that as a horrible thing to do, so dont cuss me out for inquiring about this. I just figured that if it was something cats really enjoy and it was harmless,then maybe blowing a little smoke your cat's way may not be that big of a deal, after all, what is catnip?

I am pretty sure it is pretty harmful to cats.

My old roommates girlfriend blew marijuana into their cats face one time - the cat could not move for hours. I was so angry and so was my roommate.

I know of a couple of cats who seemed to enjoy it when their owners blew smoke their way. As far as whether or not it harms them, I pretty much always believed what you did ...that a little really wouldnt hurt.

Kali

To me it's not worth the chance of hurting them. IMO, it just seems a bit selfish to do that to your cat.

I agree with Shell.
Also, just because humans like something like chocolate etc, it doesnt mean its fun for our pets.

I certainly won't flame you, but I will tell you that on every list of plants that are toxic/poisonous to cats, I've seen marijuana listed. One page I have bookmarked says that it can depress the nervous system, cause vomiting, and changes in the heart rate.

If you want your cat to get buzzed, give him or her Catnip, or better yet, Valerian. Both cause most kitties to get loopy.

No ideas on how the smoke affects cats, but if you got it off a poisonous plant list, it means that it's definitely poisonous if the cat EATS the leaves on the plant itself.

Years ago, I remember a friend of my ex-husband and I had a little black kitten and he put this kitten in a paper bag and blew smoke into the poor thing, shut the bag and laughed. I was so angry, but we were at Buzz's house and so I couldn't say anything. He finally let the kitty out of the bag and she wobbled all over the room and tried to meow and couldn't. He just thought it was *funny* and laughed and laughed.

Weeks later we learned she crawled into the dryer unnoticed and because she couldn't meow, no one noticed she was there and she went through the cycle and died a horrible death. Related to the marijuana incidence? I have no idea, but I have my suspicions that had she been allowed to be a normal kitty and breathe clean air, she might have lived longer. If you want to get high, that is your perogative, I would suggest you not get your kitty high along with you.

hissy that's a horrible story

I had a friend that used to blow pot smoke in his cats face all the time and I never noticed anything bad happening to the cat. I think it would be worse if the cat actually ate the pot. But yeah, I wouldnt do it.

Years ago, I had a friend that had a cat that loved it. He couldn't keep him away from it. He like to inhale the smoke, and would crawl right up my friend's face to sniff it. If he could get at it, he would eat it. He was kinda goofy and lazy, but he was goofy and lazy before he ever did that. He lived to a ripe old age of 21, and did this his whole life as far as I know. I am in no way saying you should give your cat weed, or even allow them to do that if they like it, this was just my experience. He would go sit under the kitchen table and watch mice. He never chased one in his life. One ran betwenn his feet, under his belly and he flipped himself over watching it.

Catnip affects the same areas of a cats brain that marijuana affects in yours. Get your cat some catnip and don't take any chances with the pot. It's safe, inexpensive, and you can grow it legally in your back yard if you want to. Is your cat's life worth the chance?

hmmmmmm, well i have had alot of great responses so far, thanks alot everyone. Well first off, I'd like to say that story about the cat that died in the dryer, that really really sucks, poor thing I hope it's death was as quick and painless as possible. Now with marijuana being on the list of dangerous plants, i never stopped to think that it meant eating the plants, and I could see why eating marijuana might be more harmful than inhaling the second hand smoke, perhaps the fresh plant matter contains toxins not present within the smoke, this i would love to know but doubt i will ever truly find out. I understand too what peopel have said, it can be a somewhat selfish thing. peopel think oh man weed is so great, i bet my cat would like it, when quite likely it may be harmful. I admit I have blown some smoke my cats way, and he does respond in a different way (perhaps disliking the smoke, or maybe the psychoactive effects of the cannibinoids), but he does act differently, and I can't tell if he enjoys it or not. So until I hear that marijuana is as safe to cats as it is humans, i think ill let my cat enjoy some known and populaar stuff like catnip, and perhas this valerian stuff ive heard much about.

It is not only toxic, it is illegal (unless the law has been changed?)Thank God, this isn't in the IMO forum so I can say what...Oh, never mind.

Well, whether or not it is illegal really doesn't matter here. What if I told you I lived in Amsterdam? What does illegality have to do with the question? Yours is the first real negative response I've seen so far, which actually kind of surprises me. But by all means, it doesnt matter to me whether or not this is the IMO forum, I would like to know why exactly it irks you, perhaps it could help me find out more information to my original question.

I don't think its about the legality of it, its more about the harm it can do to your cat and it is on the poisonous plants list.

Yes Kellye, but again the cat has to eat either the leaves or the seeds or the pot itself. I am not sure if it is toxic smokewise- probably- but last I looked I don't know of any research involving pot and cats, just pot and rats-

Whether it is toxic or not, I don't understand why anyone who loves their cat would want to do this to them.

If a person wants to get stone, that's fine and dandy, but why force a cat to get stoned? I just don't get it!

Also, there is excellent research showing that second hand cigarette smoke causes cancer in cats. It is possible that the marijuana smoke itself could cause the same problems in cats given the tars that are in smoke.

I agree with the majority here - I wouldn't do it. It's better to be safe than sorry. If you want her to enjoy what you enjoy, give her catnip. You could give her special kitty herbs while you have yours.

Also, I know second-hand smoke is dangerous for cats. I don't know the specific differences between cigarettes and pot but I doubt pot smoke is any better for the cat than cigarette smoke.

Eating any part of marijuana is poisonous to cats. Thats why it is listed in poisonous plants list. Blowing it in cats faces...its a cruel thing to do and I dont see how any one can get humour out of it. Its like blowing smoke in your childs face! Those parents would be sent to jail!!!

Anyway, I do not believe that its poisonous in when it is inhaled. Just causes them a "high". Probably very different from what people get, but nonetheless I dont think they enjoy it. Catnip is a much better choice as someone had already suggested.

Blowing any sort of smoke into a cat's face is going to cause harm. At best, they'll get so far away from the cause and at worst die. There's hundreds of toxins in smoke, I'll even go as far as to say thousands. In Australia, I remember a case where the RSPCA was successful in getting someone convicted of cruelty for subjecting their dog to marijuana smoke. And this was on top of them being charged for possession. And his dog went to a new caring home.

And being a drug, the smoke is not only depriving your cat of oxygen, but also affecting them physiologically and neurologically. Sure, some animals don't react but that doesn't mean that it's alright to do so. Like people, not all animals are the same. And keep this in mind, cats, dogs, birds etc have a different physiological make up to humans so how things affect them vary. Just because you can't see them react physically, like lose co-ordination, vomit, sit still, seem stoned, it doesn't mean that nothing is happenning internally.

And if anyone still wants to argue that smoke doesn't do any harm. Well answer this. Why do animals, (including humans), move away from smoke filled air?

You want to be able to relax your cat responsibly or give them a high is you will responsibly use catnip. I have also included a links where information is provided about catnip and about what is in it that causes cats to react.

Scents

Ask Yahoo - What's in catnip that drives cats crazy?

And if anyone was to blow smoke in either of my cat's faces, they would not receive a warning. They would suffer the full consequences.