Dogs are finding and eating marijuana on the Massachusetts peninsula of Cape Cod, leaving their owners worried.

“It’s a rare day that we don’t have a ‘pot dog’ hospitalized in the ICU,” Dr. Louisa Rahilly, medical director of Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists told the Cape Cod Times.

Dog owner Linda McCann said that her minipoodle, Brahms, became “so stoned” after eating the substance that he lay in a car park during the morning walk.

“He usually barks at neighbours, greets people and the highlight of his day is getting a treat from the mailman,” said McCann after the incident. “But he didn’t move. His eyes were so dilated.”

Dr Rahilly said dogs are being exposed to marijuana everywhere.

“It’s a drug,” she said. “Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Lock it up and keep it in a place they (dogs) can’t get at it, just like you’d do for a kid.”

Such cases are becoming more common across the US.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported that emergencies stemming from marijuana use stood at 1,800 in 2018, compared to 208 a decade earlier.