Savin’ Raven: Responders, vet revive dog with Narcan after overdose

Thursday, February 13, 2020
Just a day after suffering an opioid overdose, Raven gets out for a walk at West Central Veterinary Clinic. The West Central staff brought Raven back from the brink of death by administering naloxone provided by local police departments. Raven also gets some extra attention from West Central staff member Erin Millspaugh and Chief Deputy Matt Demmings, who came back the following day to see how the dog was doing.
Courtesy photo

Raven is a pretty typical dog.

At 38 pounds, Clint and Angie Pitts’ dog is well beyond the size you’d associate with a puppy.

But at a year-and-a-half old, the Brittany Spaniel maintains much of that youthful energy associated with puppies.

Raven is also lucky to be alive. After getting into some prescription drugs recently, Raven was rushed to West Central Veterinary Clinic and revived only through the emergency care of the staff as well as multiple doses of naloxone (Narcan) provided by local police officers.

“They saved our dog’s life because of a great team effort,” Angie Pitts said. “They didn’t have to do that.”

The incident began with Clint cleaning out his truck on Monday, Feb. 3. Among the items inside the truck was a bag of medication.

They had been given the medicines by a relative to dispose of them through the Greencastle Police Department.

However, in the course of cleaning out his truck, Clint had laid them in the front of the vehicle, which is where the playful Raven found them.

“Raven grabbed it. Clint didn’t even know he’d grabbed it,” Angie said. “By the time he noticed that he had gotten into it, there were pills all over the place and the dog was checking out — he was foaming at the mouth and everything.”

The potency of the drug had a strong effect on the dog, as he had not actually chewed on the medication itself, but merely punctured a patch.

“Can you imagine if a kid had gotten into that?” Angie asked.

Doing whatever they could to save their dog, the Pittses immediately loaded the dog into the truck, headed for town and called West Central Veterinary to let them know they were coming and what to expect.

Knowing they had a dog with an opioid overdose on their hands, the staff at West Central reached out to both Putnam County Dispatch and Sheriff Scott Stockton, asking if police carried naloxone for dogs.

While there is no version of the drug specific to canines or any other animals, the nasal spray can be administered to a dog the same as it is for humans.

Based on the two calls, Chief Deputy Matt Demmings of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and Greencastle Police Officer Nick Eastham were both quickly on the scene.

“We definitely want to give the sheriff’s department, Greencastle Police Department and West Central Veterinary Clinic a big shoutout for how great they are,” Angie said.

While the officers brought the medication to the North Jackson Street clinic, it was up to Dr. Brandon Miller and his staff to bring the dog back.

When one dose of naloxone didn’t work, they weren’t sure if they should keep giving the drug.

In the meantime, though, Angie and Clint had also called their nephew, Danny Pitts, a firefighter in Pike Township in Indianapolis who has some experience administering the drug.

“He said, keep giving it, whatever dose you’re giving,” Angie recalled. “What do you have to lose?”

The dog finally started to come around, though he was certainly not out of the woods as the drug worked its way out of his system.

Clint and Angie were effusive in their praise of West Central, especially Miller and Erin Millspaugh.

“They were so good. They stuck around to see how the dog did. Dr. Miller was fantastic. The staff was great,” Angie said. “He had almost round-the-clock care at a non-round-the-clock facility just because of their caring.”

Demmings, who stayed a while to see how the dog was doing, concurred.

“They did a great job at West Central,” Demmings said. “All of the vets in our community are great. We’re lucky.”

Miller stayed late into the night observing the dog, and the staff found him much improved the following morning, finally able to get him on a leash and take him out for a bit of exercise.

Demmings even stopped back by and got the chance to visit the dog who had been in much worse shape the day before.

With Angie unable to visit because of an unrelated surgery, the West Central staff even sent her pictures of her dog, just to let her know he was doing OK.

“It’s so good to know that we have people in our community who are going to go that extra mile,” she said.

In the spirit of going that extra mile, local police plan to take steps to ensure that further dogs are saved, should they find themselves in a similar position to Raven.

Demmings left several boxes of expired naloxone for West Central to use in the future, but Stockton wants to make it a more regular program.

Expired naloxone cannot be used on humans, but there is no problem in administering it to dogs, so PCSD plans to start giving its expired naloxone to West Central, Animal Medical Clinic and Greencastle Veterinary Clinic.

“It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” Stockton said. “Accidents do happen and animals get into everything.”

“It’s hard to control what your pets get into,” Demmings added.

As for Raven, he’s recovered quite well.

“He’s completely normal. His bloodwork came back great,” Angie said. “He’s going to be his normal, healthy, happy self. He’s going to live a normal life.

“If it hadn’t been for the sheriff’s department and Greencastle Police -- or what if West Central hadn’t called them -- Raven would have died last Monday.”

Angie likes the idea of the new program that could help other dogs, and would love for it to be in honor of her dog.

“They need to do that in Raven’s name, like ‘Savin’ Raven’ or something like that,” Angie said.

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  • BRAVO! There are many lessons here. And teamwork is the way we should always be reacting to things so it's great to see it here. It's great to see how "just a dog" got such TLC from so many in so many ways!!!

    -- Posted by landmhurst on Fri, Feb 14, 2020, at 7:48 AM
  • great teamwork!

    -- Posted by small town fan on Fri, Feb 14, 2020, at 8:44 AM
  • Great story! And we all need to make sure all of our meds are safely put away. (Guilty here.)

    -- Posted by jbennett on Fri, Feb 14, 2020, at 12:57 PM
  • 110 percent behind the efforts the police, firefighters, veterinarians and EMTs make to save the life of a beloved pet. It's just not public relations, it's the right thing to do. Very proud of our first responders. Putnam County is a great place to call home.

    -- Posted by Prince of Stardust Hills on Fri, Feb 14, 2020, at 7:55 PM
  • Great job Demmings!!! I also would like to add that Putnam County Recovery Coalition we now do a monthly Narcan Training at the Putnum County Museum on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 6:30,Its Free

    -- Posted by LIFE2019 on Mon, Feb 17, 2020, at 7:24 AM
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