Each year, a different country or a state decides to legalize recreational or medicinal (or both) use of marijuana. It’s a rapidly growing industry, even though there isn’t much formal research on the subject. According to https://thrivenevada.com/, smoking CBD can help you, for example, sleep better and deeper, lower your blood pressure, improve your sex life or give you a relief when you’re feeling too hot. It’s not surprising that people, who found comfort or help in smoking CBD, would like the same for their beloved pets. There are a lot of different veterinary products that you can find and give to animals, especially dogs, but there is no agreement on what it does exactly. Is CBD safe for your pets?
What is CBD?
CBD, or Cannabidiol, can be found in the cannabis plant. It’s psychoactive, but, on the contrary to Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it doesn’t make you high. It helps you keep all your body functions in balance. CBD is used to relieve pain, treat anxiety and seizures, and some say that in the future, it can be helpful during treatment of mental diseases, e.g. schizophrenia symptoms.
That’s why people started to wonder if CBD can affect animals in the same way. For example, if your dog suffers from a painful condition or sleeping difficulty, will it alleviate his pains?
CBD products for animals
Just like in the case of products for humans, there are many different means to give CBD to your pet: edibles to chew, oils that you can put in their food or place under a tongue, creams and balms which are applied directly on the skin. Depending on a product, CBD can affect your pet in various ways, and preliminary research shows that the effects are similar for both animals and humans.
What are the benefits of giving CBD to your pet?
Many researchers still don’t know if marijuana should be recommended to people, and even more of them are hesitant when it comes to pets. However, a lot of pet owners decide on CBD and many of them are supported by the vets. Now they state that there’s no real danger, but it’s important to remember, that there aren’t any formal conclusions and official decisions. What’s more, the majority of studies focused on the effects that CBD has on dogs, so if you’re a cat owner (or any other animal), you should bear that in mind.
CBD seems to help dogs who suffer from osteoarthritis: it improves their comfort and eagerness to be active. Plus, it may be helpful when it comes to the treatment of epileptic dogs. Thanks to cannabis, the number of seizures can be reduced. Why would people decide on CBD when nobody can say with certainty how it works? Mostly because there aren’t any alternatives for treating some ailments or, if there are, they have more visible side effects, like weight gain or apathy.
A number of research on CBD and pets are underway.
Is it safe to give CBD to your pet?
Veterinarians are still not sure if CBD actually kills the pain itself or just make your pet stop caring. According to the WHO report, unprocessed CBD can’t do any harm to animals. However, there was some research that indicated the increase of enzyme alkaline phosphatase in their livers, but the repercussion, if there are any, are unknown – later, the livers seemed to work as they should, but you probably shouldn’t give cannabis to your dog if he already has some liver issues. What’s more, it’s uncertain how CBD interacts with other medications.
What we do know, is that THC can be poisonous for animals, so always make sure what kind of product you’re buying. The legal cannabis industry is pretty fresh and there still aren’t enough regulations – sometimes all the ingredients aren’t listed on the labels.
There aren’t many certain things when it comes to CBD and animals, so it’s difficult to make this decision by yourself, especially when the health of your pet friend is at stake. The bottom line is to always consult with your vet and follow his instructions. It’s exactly how it is with humans – you can use CBD, but do it with caution.
