Could CBD—a therapeutic, nonpsychoactive component of hemp—help your dog? Increasingly, a whole host of dog lovers are singing the praises of CBD and its remarkable efficacy in treating everything from canine arthritis to anxiety. Jeff & Tiffany West with their dog Lily
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hortly after Kylee Ryan adopted her six-month-old puppy, Rollo, the Blue Heeler/Pit Bull/Lab cross started showing signs that something wasn’t right. “He was an extremely nervous dog,” says Kylee, who lives in Jade City, British Columbia. “He would pee if a male human was around or close to him. He also started having ‘episodes’ where he would rock back and forth and he would try his hardest to sit still. He would try to lay down but you could see he was struggling. The second he entered this state, he became even more skittish. The longest episode lasted four hours and he was dribbling urine the entire time. Later, Kylee would find out that Rollo was having seizures, and was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy, meaning the episodes arise spontaneously or for unknown reasons. “We felt so helpless, as Rollo was obviously very scared when he had seizures,” she says. “He was getting them two to three times a week. We had just rescued this guy and it terrified us to see him this way.” The vet wanted them to try phenobarbital, but “warned us the drug would basically make him a different dog,” Kylee says. “Although his seizures would go away, he would be more lethargic and anxious.” Her Husky, Blu, was already taking cannabidiol, a cannabis compound derived from hemp—unlike THC, it's non-psychoactive, meaning it won't get you or your pet high—to help with his weight loss, vomiting, and poor appetite. She decided to try it with Rollo. Within a week, his seizures were gone, and his anxiety had improved. Kylee is just one of the many pet owners out there turning to cannabidiol, more commonly known as CBD, to treat their dogs’ ailments. The acronym is getting better known, but misinformation is still out there. “Sure, it’s controversial, but unfairly so,” says Dr. Patty Khuly, a companion animal veterinarian at the Sunset Animal Clinic in Miami, Florida and a pet health writer. “It’s only because of marijuana’s reputation as an illicit drug and the fact that this product happens to be derivable from the marijuana family of plants. The reality
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By Tracey Tong is that if this product came from any other plant family, it wouldn’t be controversial at all.” Dogs are highly sensitive to THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, but CBD is derived from hemp and is non-psychoactive. It’s a natural product—its value is in its ability to offer relief from anxiety and seizures for patients like Rollo, as well as treat pain and inflammatory diseases, including arthritis and bowel diseases; depression, stress, poor appetite, tumours and cancers, allergies, and nausea. “The THC gets you high and is toxic to dogs. The CBD does not get you high and is perfectly safe,” says Dr. Khuly, whose blog, drpattykhuly.com, has won accolades from the veterinary community as one of the Ten Best Blogs in Pet Health by Fox News. She’s been voted one of the 25 People to Watch by Pet Product News, has won the Veterinary News Network’s Rising Star Award, and was selected by Veterinary Practice News as one of 13 Veterinarians to Watch in 2013. “In fact, we’ve learned that most of the effects of these plants aren’t related to the high at all. A sense of well-being, relaxation and some anti-inflammatory effects are some of the CBD molecule’s effects on the body. These have nothing to do with the high we associate with marijuana.” Hemp derivatives, including CBD, have been used in dogs for as long as they have in humans, says Dr. Khuly. “Hemp supplements for dogs, but not the purified CBD molecule, have been available for decades. Now that we have a better understanding of how the CBD molecule works on the body, it’s being made available as a single-ingredient product.” And according to Dr. Khuly, CBD oils, tinctures, and treats are here to stay. “For comparison, its efficacy has already been shown to surpass that of our ubiquitous joint supplements (containing glucosamine and chondroitin, among other additives), which means it’s no mere fad,” she says. Grits, a deaf and vision-impaired male terrier mix with severe anxiety and behaviour issues, is another dog who benefits from CBD. The shelter dog was likely headed
PHOTO CREDIT: PAGE 1, TIFFANY WEST PAGE 2, KYLEE RYAN
CBD + your dog
