Is there a popular medicinal herb you can give your dog these days?
Yes! It's called hemp. Dog owners are using it to help their pets with a wide range of ailments – from anxiety to arthritis to cancer.
Are dogs going to pot?
Not exactly. The cannabis dogs are taking is hemp, not marijuana. For a long time, hemp was illegal in the US and other countries because it got lumped in with other forms of hemp. Today, you can buy hemp products in your local grocery store – not just soaps and lotions, but hemp tea, hemp seed oil, hemp seeds and hemp protein. But the hemp that has therapeutic benefits for your dog isn’t the kind lining the supermarket shelves. We’re talking about whole herb of hemp and the extract from it - CBD oil.
How CBD Works
The cannabis plant contains a number of different chemicals, including CBD, phytocannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids. Humans and other mammals have specific cannabinoid receptor sites. These sites are primarily in the brain and central nervous system, and in peripheral organs, especially immune cells. They make up what’s called the endocannabinoid system. Studies show that many cannabinoids have anti-inflammatory effects, and can help with pain, tumors, seizures, muscle spasms, skin conditions, appetite stimulation, aggression, anxiety and neurological disorders.
How CBD Hemp Can Help Your Dog
CBD hemp can help with both chronic and acute disease. Among chronic conditions, it can help with arthritis, compromised immune systems, stress responses, aggression and digestive issues. There are also studies under way into CBD’s effects on Type 1 diabetes, organ diseases and cancer.
Veterinarians are also finding CBD hemp can be useful in treating acute ailments like sprains and strains, torn ligaments, bone breaks and even during post-operative care to reduce swelling, pain and stiffness. If your dog’s taking conventional drugs for any of these conditions, CBD hemp oil may make it possible to use lower doses of the drugs to achieve therapeutic effects. Since conventional medicines do have side effects, this is a useful benefit of CBD.
Does It Work Fast?
As with any herbal medicine, for most ailments you may not see an immediate effect. You’ll need to be patient. Your dog may feel some pain relief in a few hours but other symptoms like inflammation may take a few days to show improvement. First of all, because of the low THC, CBD hemp won’t make your dog high. The most common side effect of CBD is that your dog may get a little drowsy – about the same as if you gave him a Benadryl.
Case Examples
Australian Holistic veterinarian Dr. Edward Bassingthwaighte says he’s been amazed at the success he’s had treating some dogs with cannabis.Here are a couple of cases he told us about.
• One is a senior Staffy who had a fast-growing tumor about 6 cm in diameter in her mammary gland. Chest x-rays showed there might be mestatasis. Dr. Bassingthwaighte treated her with CBD oil and some other herbal medicines. The tumor shrank away to nothing over three months and she’s still going strong six months later, with no recurrence. She’d had multiple tumors surgically removed over the years, but it was the CBD hemp oil that really helped her.
• The other case is a little old Jack Russell with a severe heart murmur and painful arthritis. He received a whole plant extract containing CBD and in this case also some THC, diluted in 10 ml of cold pressed hemp seed oil. After a month of this medicine, he was much happier and more active, wanting to go for long walks, and his heart murmur was much less severe. Dr. Bassingthwaighte says “I simply can’t explain the improved heart murmur. They normally don’t get better.”
Dosing
Every dog is different. We recommend starting with a low dose and working up to the recommended level so that your dog gets the right dose for his individual needs. Start with 1 drop of CBD hemp oils per 10 lbs of your dog’s body weight per day. Give this dose for about a week, then move up to 1-2 drops per 10 lbs of body weight twice per day. As long as there are no side effects, you can increase the dose every 4 to 5 days until you see the therapeutic benefits. Side effects may include disorientation, hyperactivity or excessive sedation. If you note any of these effects, stop treatment and wait for them to go away, then restart at a lower dose. Be sure to observe your dog’s response. The key is to find a dose where you don’t see side effects but you do see results. With continued use, you may need to increase the dose a little over time to achieve the therapeutic results.
