5 Ways To Give CBD To Pets
By | February 23, 2024 | Health & Relief
CBD is one of the most popular dietary supplements on today’s market, and for good reason. Not only does it provide relief from chronic pain or seizures but also helps with anxiety and depression while boosting your mood.
If you’ve taken marijuana or CBD before, you’re likely familiar with the vast array of ways cannabis can be consumed. And like us, our lovable pets have a similar luxury.
Naturally, our pets can’t consume CBD by smoking or vaping. So, the vast majority of pet CBD products are innovative twists on traditional CBD oil. This means there are many ways to give it to your pet. Let’s check out the top 5!
Pure CBD Oil
When you’ve never given your pet CBD before, pure CBD oil is the best and easiest CBD item to work with. Mix it in their food, create CBD treats, or simply give it to them directly with the handy dropper. Regardless, you get all the same benefits from CBD oil. From the ease of customizing dosages to its fast-absorbing effects, CBD oil is the most popular form for good reason.
CBD oil is great for multiple pet households, especially ones where the pets come in a bunch of shapes and sizes. That’s right, you can give your dog and cat the same CBD oil. Just make sure it doesn’t contain anything extra that might be toxic to one and you want to be careful when dosing. The biggest difference between CBDs for dogs and cats, and oftentimes the only difference, is that CBDs for dogs are usually more potent to account for their weight.
CBD Treats
No fuss, no muss, CBD treats let you reward your pets with health and wellness.
Unlike with straight CBD oil, you won’t be able to customize your dosages to the same degree unless making them at home as it’s generally not recommended to break a CBD treat into multiple pieces as the CBD extract might not be evenly spread throughout the treat.
However, the vast majority of pets do not need the precision dosages that CBD oil offers, making treats an exceptional CBD item. As well, many pet companies offer soft chew versions for pets with sensitive teeth and ones on the smaller side.
You’ll still want to follow the dosage instructions on the back of the label that will tell you how many treats are appropriate based on your pet’s weight.
CBD Topicals
When applied topically to the skin, CBD can offer additional benefits to surface-level issues such as dry skin or muscle aches that might not be seen when it’s ingested. With topicals, precision dosages based on your pet’s weight are significantly less important, as interaction with the CYP 450 enzyme system (known for metabolizing most drugs) is greatly eliminated.
While CBD’s anti-anxiety and anti-nausea benefits won’t be present with topical applications, CBD’s anti-inflammatory benefits are often highlighted, making them perfect for allergies, irritated skin, and coarse coats destroyed by excessive inflammation.
CBD Supplements
Some of the newest CBD items that are blowing up in popularity among pet owners are supplements like multivitamins and probiotic aids that feature CBD oil as an essential ingredient. For example, Innovetpet, one of the earliest pet CBD companies, now infuses CBD into their three main wellness supplements for dogs.
CBD Capsules
For many pet owners, especially dog owners, CBD capsules are incredibly handy to have on hand when you want to quickly give your dog CBD without worrying about the oil or treats making a mess. Such as when you’re in the car with your pup.
Things To Consider When Giving CBD To Your Pet
Regardless of the CBD item, you choose to give to your pet, you always want to make sure it follows the same guidelines.
Full Spectrum Industrial Hemp
As you may know, hemp is closely related to marijuana, but there is a big difference. One causes a high, while the other doesn’t.
Full spectrum CBD derived from hemp will contain all the same compounds you’ll find in marijuana as they both come from cannabis plants. However, unlike marijuana plants, hemp plants naturally produce low amounts of a compound called THC. THC in abundance causes the high associated with marijuana.
While humans tolerate THC fairly well, our pets don’t because they can’t understand the high they feel. But it doesn’t end there. Dogs, in particular, are extremely sensitive to THC, as they have more CB1 receptors for THC to attach to. This makes the high they experience feel more like extreme alcohol intoxication.
Full spectrum CBD is the way to go for pets. It will have traces of THC but only its therapeutic benefits, so your pet can be happy without feeling anything else than calmness and pain relief! Avoid isolates because they’re hard (if not impossible) to find in stores near you anyway.
Drug Interactions
Like many foods and drugs, CBD is metabolized by the CYP enzyme system. And similar to how grapefruit can cause drug interactions when it’s metabolized by these enzymes, so can CBD.
So, it is advised that you speak with your veterinarian before offering CBD to your pet if they are presently on a medication that has been shown to interact with CBD.
In most cases, especially when using CBD oil or a topical, your pets will be able to continue taking their medication without any issues. It’s likely that your vet may change the medication’s dosage, as CBD can increase the potency of some drugs while lowering others.
Side Effects
In the extreme majority of cases, little to no side effects are seen with CBD, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so popular. Besides the drug-drug interactions, side effects from CBD are fairly mild, with increased thirst and sleepiness being the two most common. If you notice these, your dosage may be a bit too high for your pet.
First, check the back of your CBD product’s label to ensure you’re giving them the recommended amount. If you are seeing side effects, reduce dosages to half to just a quarter of the original amount and slowly work the dosage up over time to find a suitable dose.
The most accurate approach to determine whether CBD is working on our pets is to observe them and their behaviors because they are unable to communicate whether they are feeling better. Keep a watchful check on your pet after providing a dosage of CBD to see if their symptoms appear to be getting better or not. Symptom alleviation can occur in as little as 30 minutes, depending on the illness your pet has, or it might take up to a few weeks of regular use.
Each animal is affected differently by CBD. If your veterinarian advises that you try it, you could try a variety of brands, dosages, or forms before settling on one that is effective for your canine friend. Even if it takes time to discover the correct product, it is worthwhile to watch your pet be their healthiest, happiest selves.