On Thursday afternoon, Victoria Spence was walking Fleur, a 3-year-old, 7kg Norwich terrier, on their usual route through Greys Ave.
Upon returning home, the beloved pooch quickly started acting strangely.
Fleur, a 3-year-old Norwich terrier, fell ill after ingesting what was likely methamphetamine.
“She started pacing and whining and crying and growling. She was really hyperactive and frightened and didn’t seem to know who we were. Like, really tripping balls.”
Fleur quickly deteriorated and Spence rang the vet, who advised her to bring the dog in straight away.
“As soon as they saw her, they said it looked like a human drug reaction, not bacterial or gastric. This was a massive neurological change.”
The vet monitored Fleur and attempted to put her on an IV drip, subsequently sedating her and putting cotton wool over her eyes and ears due to her frantic movements.
Fleur became agitated and did not recognise her owners after ingesting methamphetamine on a walk through central Auckland.
It wasn’t until Fleur was transferred to a specialist vet centre, where a street drugs test was conducted, that it was confirmed she had ingested methamphetamine.
As of Saturday morning, Fleur was still testing positive for methamphetamine and under sedation. The drug was expected to be in her system for 72 hours.
“She’s such an innocent, really sweet little dog, and it’s such an evil thing to happen to such a lovely creature.”
Spence said she wanted to alert other dog owners who walk their pets in the area and to raise awareness of the rising use of methamphetamine in central Auckland.
Victoria Spence and Fleur in happier times.
“I’m really concerned about the fact there’s so much meth in central Auckland. What do young families do with children who are playing? You really want to encourage them to be playing in parks and to be living a normal life, and it just strikes me that I just could never have imagined that something like this could be possible.
“I couldn’t believe it when they told me it was methamphetamine.
“It’s really sad that this sort of thing is happening in what should be a thriving city, suburban community.
“It is really endemic in the community now, and so that flows on to that it could well be dropped, or that it could be bong water, or it could be vomit or whatever. You just now have to assume that it could be contaminated with methamphetamine.”
Fleur is hoped to make a full recovery, Spence said.
“The extreme weirdness of it is what has been really shocking, and the terrible, terrible effects on a loved family pet.”
Ben Tomsett is a Multimedia Journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.
