Especially here in Oregon, medical use of cannabis is all the rage.
Cannabis (marijuana and industrialized hemp) is excellent to help a range of conditions as diverse as management of anxiety, pain control, reduction of inflammation, and slowing tumor growth.
Because it’s hard to get cannabis for medical research, most of these uses have little research to support them, and dosing your fur friends appropriately with marijuana from your neighborhood dispensary is a tricky task. You may have also heard that marijuana is toxic to dogs. This is true, however the solution to both of these problems is in industrialized hemp essential oil. Industrialized hemp contains no THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid associated with the feeling of “getting high”. but otherwise has a full complement of medically useful CBD.
Toxicity Concerns
WARNING: Do not ever give your fur friend, especially dogs, marijuana products containing THC without the close assistance of a veterinary professional. Dogs are very sensitive to THC and can easily become dangerously sedate on small doses.
Even though THC can easily become overwhelming for dogs, CBD does not have the dangerous psychoactive effects and still has the beneficial effects that we think of with medical cannabis use.
Fortunately, industrialized hemp is not a controlled substance, and many companies are now making refined CBD oils from this hemp that are very safe, effective, and relatively easy to get a hold of. This is not hemp seed oil like you can buy in the grocery store, but hemp essential oil or other extract with a high concentration of the medically active compounds.
Unfortunately, with so many products to choose from, it’s hard to know what the best product is going to be.
I’ve been using hemp based CBD formulated for pets with my patients since 2014 and have tried several brands at this point. My favorite product is from a company called WAAYB (One Farm as of 12/1/2019) that focuses on potent, organically grown full spectrum hemp extract. Their CO2 extracted oil is then blended with fractionated coconut oil, which is the most effective carrier of CBD extract.
This has become one of my favorite immediate pain medications for my patients. Generally speaking, especially for dogs, this oil works within a few hours to relieve pain, and it is very safe. For some of my patients who no longer need it daily to control their pain, I recommend keeping a bottle on hand in case of flare ups because of how quickly and effectively it works.
I have seen really amazing things with this product from calming my own anxious cat, significantly reducing the need for steroids in a patient with weakness symptoms from a spinal tumor, and working wonders on a large number of my arthritic patients. You can get it here.
If you want to try cannabis (hemp) products for your furkids, give me a call! I have a lot of experience using these products and can help you decide if this is the best solution, and if it will work well alone or in combination with something else.
As always, if you have questions email me! I love blogging, especially when I know it’s answering my tribe’s questions.
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