‘Meth poisoning killed my pet’: B.C. owner says cat ate discarded drugs

Joey the feline was his owner’s shadow.

“He was a large mama’s boy,” Sidney nonmigratory Michelle Sopczak told Global News.

“He (was) astir 16 pounds. He would hold for maine astatine the doorway erstwhile I got location from enactment oregon wherever. miaowing conscionable similar a dog. He cuddled with maine each the time. He purred instantly erstwhile I would pat him. He had this astonishing large purr and helium snuggled with maine astatine night.”

Sopczak adopted Joey erstwhile helium was 9 months aged and had him arsenic her changeless companion for astir 7 years.

But Joey had to beryllium enactment down past week aft Sopczak said helium ingested methamphetamine near lying astir the neighbourhood.

Last Tuesday, Sopczak said Joey had gone extracurricular successful the evening but the adjacent greeting she noticed thing was wrong.

“He was astatine the gate, the backyard with his rima unfastened and panting and looked stunned,” she said.

“He wouldn’t travel into the house. So my hubby went retired and picked him up and brought him successful and helium was truly distressed, panting and crying and truly delirious. And his pupils were dilated.”

Sopczak said they thought astatine archetypal it mightiness beryllium the accent of being locked retired but aft lone 30 minutes, they rushed him to the vet.

“They did the humor and urine enactment and enactment him connected fluids and past they recovered methamphetamine successful his urine,” she said, adding she was deed with grief and choler astatine what had happened.

“What I saw my feline spell done was beauteous hard to witness,” Sopczak added.

Joey spent 3 days successful the ICU astatine the Central Victoria Veterinary Hospital and his fever did travel down.

“I didn’t get my hopes up excessively precocious astatine that point,” Sopczak said.

“And past erstwhile I got him home, I noticed that helium could hardly usage his backmost legs. And helium was trying to locomotion and his back, it was just, it wasn’t working.”

They took Joey backmost to the infirmary and that’s erstwhile they recovered retired that the methamphetamines had contributed to a humor clot successful his legs and determination was nary circulation.

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“His paws were turning purple,” Sopczak said.

“At that point, we decided he’d been done enough. The prognosis was not good.”

The vet measure stands astatine $3,200 and Sopczak said she started a GoFundMe to effort and assistance with immoderate of those costs. She said she has received a batch of comforting messages from radical arsenic well.

“It decidedly takes the borderline off,” she said.

“You know, it doesn’t truly mend the breached bosom that I feel. But it’s astonishing to cognize however galore radical were affected by this story.”

Sopczak is present putting up signs successful the neighbourhood speechmaking ‘Meth poisoning killed my pet’, informing radical astir what happened to Joey to debar that happening to immoderate different favored oregon child.

“I deliberation that our laws regarding cause usage are lenient and request to change,” she said.

“And we’re being complacent. So I truly privation to petition for a alteration successful our successful our laws allowing open-air cause markets and radical being allowed to bash their drugs for wherever and whenever they want.”