Dog blinded after ingesting oxycodone while on a walk at Palisades Park in Santa Monica

Dog blinded after swallowing oxycodone while on a walk

A dog is blind after he ingested oxycodone while he and his owner were on a walk in Santa Monica.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A dog was blinded after his owner says he ingested a dose of oxycodone while the two were out on a walk at Palisades Park last week.

Lori Burns was out with her pup, Chance the Rapper (the dog) on a walk along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica last Sunday, when she says suddenly Chance was breathing heavily and eventually collapsed. Burns took Chance to the emergency vet where she was told he had ingested oxycodone and that he was now blind.

She says the vet told her that incidents like this are more common than people may think, but they typically happen when a dog gets into a prescription cabinet, not just randomly on the sidewalk. The oxycodone was found to be the only foreign substance in the dog's system, and Burns says no one in her family takes the drug, so Chance definitely found it while on their walk, but she doesn't know exactly where. She just says she's thankful she acted quickly.

"If I could give a message to people, it's to know your surroundings and know where to go." Burns said "Because had I not gone to the animal hospital and had I driven home, he would have died.

Chance has had more tests recently, where doctors told Burns that he does have some activity in his retina, so he may not be fully blind.