Pet Rat In Vancouver Overdoses On Heroin, Saved By Narcan

Volunteers at an overdose prevention site in Vancouver, Canada, say they saved the life of a rat named Snuggles after the little rodent overdosed on heroin.

Sarah Blyth, who co-founded the organization behind the prevention site, wrote about the rescue on Twitter. While Snuggles was initially described as a mouse, Blyth tells NPR that the pet is actually a rat.

She posted photos of Snuggles before and after volunteers administered nalaxone, also known as Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

Blyth also said Snuggles now "has a new home."

The CBC, Canada's public broadcaster, had some questions. They spoke with the woman who saved Snuggles' life, Melissa Patton.

She said the pet was brought in on Sunday night by a woman who said it had eaten heroin off a table, the CBC reports:

" 'It had pretty much passed out and wasn't really breathing. We weren't sure what to do, so I gave it some Narcan orally. Because it was so tiny, I didn't want to puncture anything by giving it an injection.' " 'I just put drops on its nose. I know with animals, if you put it on their nose, they brush it off with their paws and lick their paws to clean themselves, so we did that a few times.' ... "Patton, who is a year away from earning a degree in pharmaceutical sciences, also gave the [rat] oxygen and continued to monitor it through the night."

Patton fed Snuggles with a syringe and kept the animal warm against her neck, the broadcaster reports.

Then the woman who brought Snuggles in — who is now seeking treatment for addiction — asked Patton to take care of Snuggles.

"How could I not?" Patton told the CBC.

Blythe, who originally tweeted about the story, told the Vancouver Sun that Snuggles is "very, very cuddly."

She said the staff at the overdose prevention site are "willing to help anybody."

Pets that consume drugs can overdose, just like humans; police officers and veterinarians in the U.S. have saved the lives of multiple pet dogs and cats that accidentally consumed heroin.

Narcan is being made available for use in a growing number of places that are struggling with the opioid epidemic. It's not a cure-all for the crisis, but it saves lives.

In 2014, NPR's Shots blog described how the drug works, and challenges to its implementation: