Have you heard of CBD Oil?
I’m pretty sure most people have heard at least a little bit about the CBD oil craze…it’s been a growing industry in the past couple of years here in the USA. Now, what about our dogs? Can CBD oil be given to them too?
The answer is YES! Yes, it sure can…many dog owners are finding it beneficial to their dogs including myself….
Disclaimer: Please do note I am NOT any kind of veterinarian or expert…just a fellow dog owner, or parent as I consider them my furry children, lol. So, please consult your veterinarian first about using cbd oil on your dog, cat, or any other mammal just to be safe…your dog or cat may be having other health issues or already taking a medication that may affect the results of taking CBD oil.
CBD oil works with mammals such as dogs, cats, horses, and yes, us humans!
However, I’m not sure about reptiles, birds, amphibians, etc, but they are vertebrates, so yes, it should work for them as well, since all animals with a backbone have CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors…but, I have no idea about dosing or experience myself with these animals…so, ask your veterinarian first!
Why Give CBD Oil to Your Dog?
CBD oil is helpful for our dogs in a variety of ways. I can’t say it will cure anything, but it certainly helps! At least it has for our four dogs. Yes, I give it to all four of them, from our 10-pound Shih Tzu to our hefty old English bull dog.
In my experience in giving them CBD oil is I’ve noticed so much improvement in their walking and mobility…especially our dog, Jade, a mixed breed Old English Bulldog/Husky/Yellow Lab. She had been having a lot of difficulty in moving around…getting up and walking were obviously difficult for her.
Our veterinarian had already said she’s getting arthritis in her hips and will eventually need to be given pain medication every day…which is why I started looking into CBD oil.
Plus, knowing how much it helps for myself, family, and friends….not to mention many other people I know with these types of issues…such as feeling achy and sore, I figured “why not try it for our Jade?” I couldn’t stand to see her lose her willingness to even move around…she used to love going for walks!
Before trying CBD oil with her, she was starting to get to the point of refusing to want to go out the door…although she looked like she wanted to go out for a walk, but just couldn’t.
It just broke my heart to see her like that…
So CBD oil to the rescue!
After starting her out on CBD oil and giving her a few drops twice a day at first, I noticed a slight improvement…so I gradually increased the amount of drops according to the directions on the bottle and began noticing even more improvement! In about a week of taking CBD oil, she was moving around much better than before, getting up easier and walking much less stiffly.
Each day it seemed she was getting much better…almost like she’s turning younger again, lol! Then about two weeks or so into it, I was totally amazed to see her attempt to run for the first time in ages! She looked sooo happy! Blinking joyful tears from my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as I watched her finally act like her happy old self again…errr, young self I should say!
The same for our other dogs as well…although they weren’t in as bad of shape as Jade, they’re all getting old! So, they weren’t moving around all to spryly either. Now, they’re all moving around much better…they’re almost like puppies again except for the chewing on everything and potty accidents, lol!
A few other things I’ve noticed in all our dogs are they bark a LOT less, they’re more playful again, and their fur is much healthier looking! Before, they’d bark at everyone that came to the door, including me! Now, I’ve noticed they still bark a couple times, but that’s it. They actually stop after a couple barks once someone comes in the door.
They all just seem much calmer and are able to listen to us much better…they actually pay attention and LOOK at us when we’re trying to tell them to sit or lay down…before, they were too busy barking once we arrived at the door. Plus, in the past if we had visitors over, they’d continue barking every time someone even moved, which was a bit irritating…well, very irritating! Now, they just lay down after a few minutes of checking out our guests, although they still bark a bit when they first come through the door, but nothing like it used to be. Thank goodness!
What Does CBD Oil Help Dogs With?
Well, as anything is, it depends…just like people, each dog has differences in their overall health and reactions to anything. It works for some and maybe not so much for others…also it depends on if the correct dosage is being given or not as well…
I’d suggest starting out slowly if you do decide to try CBD oil for your dog, or even yourself. That way it isn’t too much all at once for the body to adjust to.
CBD oil has been found to help our canine friends with many issues…some of them being inflammation, anxiety, appetite, skin and fur problems, to name a few…I’d suggest to do your own research on whatever problems your dog is having and cbd oil. For example, search for dogs with joint pain + cbd oil or does cbd oil help dogs with joint pain.
There are all kinds of research and studies going on with CBD oil right now. I’ll add a few of them here if you’d like a few examples, but these are just a few, feel free to do your own research as well:
Links for research on CBD Oil:
Cannabidiol Treatment for Dogs with Osteoarthritis
Search results for Cbd Oil and dogs
Research on Cannabidiol for Treatment of Seizures in Dogs
What is CBD Oil Good For?
- Inflammation
- Anxiety
- Joint pain
- Seizures
- Loss of appetite
- Digestion
- Skin and coat problems
What Should You Look for When Buying CBD Oil?
So, how do you know if you’re getting a quality CBD oil for your dog?
Unfortunately, although CBD oil is derived from the hemp plant, which is often confused with it’s cousin, marijuana, it is a relatively new product out there on the market…so, although research is now going on with it, there’s very little regulation as to what’s really in the CBD oils that are being sold by some companies.
Quite a few actually have very little CBD in them! Instead they’re full of other oils, such as coconut oil or MCT oil, olive oil, or any other carrier oil, which may have some health benefits, or they may not. However, I believe if you’re ordering a specific product that says it has CBD in it, it should have what it’s saying is in the bottle. Not mainly some other stuff!
Right?
What I’d recommend is to find a brand that has the ingredients listed, as well as third-party lab test results provided on their website. Plus, if you can, find out what other people are saying about it. Look for testimonials on how it works or what their experience was in giving it to their dog.
Another thing I like about the ones I’ve tried is that the companies are based in the USA…the farms they use for their hemp-derived cbd oil is right here in the United States too! Plus, they use a CO2 method of extracting the oil from the hemp plant, which means it doesn’t have a chance to sit around getting moldy…
Something I sure wouldn’t want to take myself or give my dog is a product full of mold or other toxins.
How Much CBD Oil Should You Give to Your Dog?
Finding the proper dosage can be a bit confusing, but the bottle of CBD oil should have directions on it or you can usually find them on the company’s website as well. It all depends on things such as your dog’s weight and how much CBD it takes for it to work with your dog.
I’d recommend starting out at a lower dose than what the bottle says for your dog’s weight and gradually increase it over the weeks if you’re not noticing any improvement. Sometimes it takes awhile for it to start showing any improvement in your dog’s symptoms, but I’d think it safer to start out slow and low.
If you don’t notice any improvement, give it a week at least before increasing it another couple of drops. Once you notice a bit of improvement, but think it’s not much yet, you might want to increase the dosage another drop or two. But, if your dog seems to be doing quite well on the dosage you’re using, then I’d stay at that.
Conclusion
I hope this has helped you learn a bit more about CBD Oil and what it can do for our beloved dogs…there’s still much more to learn about it, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m a believer! I’ve seen what it can do for my dogs and myself.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or would like to share any experience with giving CBD oil to your dog in the comments below…I’ll be happy to answer as best I can.
