Arthritis? Nausea? Anxiety? Is your four-legged friend suffering and you are looking for a remedy to make him feel better? 

You may have heard of CBD oil for dogs.

After trying traditional medicines, your pet’s suffering may have led you to look for alternative, perhaps natural, treatments. Very often, in fact, drugs not only prove inadequate to treat a disease but also risk creating additional damage.

Just like humans, animals can also suffer from diseases and be resistant to treatment. And just as CBD is curative for humans, it can also be curative for your dog.

CBD, or cannabidiol, is an active ingredient that is extracted from the cannabis plant to create numerous products, including CBD oil. It is a natural substance that interacts with the body, both that of humans and animals, to influence its response to a given problem.

Thus, CBD for animals has become as popular as CBD for humans due to its beneficial properties that can treat a wide range of ailments and diseases.

Let’s find out together what it is, what conditions it can be used for and how to administer CBD oil for dogs to your pet.

What is CBD oil used for in animals?

We did not exaggerate when we said that CBD has many benefits and can treat many different conditions.

This is possible thanks to its most famous properties:

• Anti-inflammatory: it can calm both localised and whole-body inflammation
• Anti-pain: one of its best known uses because it was the first to be tested on humans and is also effective on animals, CBD can reduce both acute pains resulting from trauma or inflammation and chronic pain
• Anxiolytic: one of the most popular uses of CBD for animals as it can calm the animal and instil a feeling of well-being
• Anticonvulsant: CBD is able to calm convulsions, making them less intense and frequent
• Antiemetic: helps animals during digestion or if they suffer from reflux

CBD oil for dogs is therefore used to treat so many conditions. And do you know what the most important thing is? That it doesn’t just eliminate the symptoms like normal drugs, but eliminates the problem at its root. And now we will see how.  

Is CBD good for dogs?

Many owners approaching CBD for dogs for the first time wonder whether it is good for them or whether it can be harmful in the long run. Let us start by saying that CBD is a natural substance that the vertebrate organism is naturally inclined to assimilate.

How is this possible? Thanks to the endocannabinoid system.

Both humans and animals have it and it is found in the central and peripheral nervous system. It is responsible for regulating the body’s response to external and internal stimuli. The endocannabinoid system produces substances called endocannabinoids that are chemically similar to cannabinoids, hence also to CBD.

When a dog takes CBD, the active ingredient interacts with the CB1 and CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system and regulates the body. What it does is to compensate for low endocannabinoid levels, thereby restoring a state of well-being.

This explains why CBD is good for dogs and animals in general. What is less good, however, are other substances such as THC and terpenes. THC is the psychoactive component of cannabis while terpenes are substances that are nutritious to humans but toxic to animals.

But you need not worry, CBD oil for dogs is designed for animal use and is therefore free of substances that could be harmful.

When to administer CBD oil to dogs?

This question was partly answered by talking about the benefits of CBD oil for dogs. Let’s see together in which situations you should administer it to your four-legged friend:

• Arthritis: this inflammatory condition is not uncommon in dogs, especially in certain breeds, and causes severe pain to the point of being disabling, in which respect CBD can reduce inflammation and relieve pain to improve your dog’s quality of life
• Anxiety: behavioural problems of anxiety and aggression may occur as a result of a traumatic event, abuse or be triggered by other illnesses, CBD has been shown to be very effective as an anxiolytic and is therefore able to treat anxiety by improving mood
• Insomnia: pain and inflammation can lead to insomnia as a side effect, CBD is able to intervene in the different phases to improve sleep quality
• Convulsions: countless studies conducted by scientists have revealed the usefulness of CBD against convulsions, often associated in animals with other problems
• Infections: in the case of an ongoing infection, CBD is able to flush, reduce redness, swelling and pain
• Nausea and vomiting: being an anti-emetic and an antispasmodic, you can resort to CBD when your dog has stomach problems
• Cancer: research has shown that CBD could reduce the growth of cancer cells
• Immune system: your dog does not necessarily have to suffer from some disease, you can use CBD oil simply to strengthen his defences

There are therefore plenty of situations in which you can resort to CBD oil for dogs, both when there is already a disease in progress and when you want to prevent it.

How to administer CBD oil to a dog?

CBD oil for dogs is an extremely versatile product, so you can decide to administer it in different ways depending on the condition and how tame your pet is.

If you have a calm dog, you can try administering the drops sublingually, which means that you have to squirt a few drops directly into the dog’s mouth using the pipette. This method can be slightly invasive, especially if the animal is behaving aggressively due to the pain or discomfort it is experiencing. We recommend that you only do this if you are sure that you will not cause him further trauma.

A much simpler but quite effective method is to add the oil drops to his or her food. This way it will be assimilated through the digestive system, but will still be potent.

Is there a risk of side effects?

Here is the question that everyone, sooner or later, asks about the use of CBD. We have already mentioned that it is natural and that it is not psychoactive, these are already two characteristics that should reassure you.

If we are talking about pure CBD, you can rest assured, it is well tolerated by animals.

However, the same cannot be said of THC and terpenes. The animals’ bodies are unable to assimilate them and this can cause mild side effects including dry mouth, nausea, diarrhoea, tiredness and loss of balance.

If you want to avoid contraindications, remember these simple rules:

• Buy pet products: although they are broad-spectrum, i.e., contain CBD and other cannabinoids, they are free of all substances harmful to animals
• Always follow the dosage instructions for CBD for dogs (as it varies depending on the size of the animal) and, if in doubt, ask your vet
• Do not combine it with other drugs: side effects are very rare but may occur through interaction with other drugs, which means that if your dog is on another treatment, you should seek your vet’s advice first

If you follow these precautions, your dog will only get benefits from CBD oil.

How long does the effect of CBD oil last?

The time it takes for CBD oil for dogs to enter the bloodstream and the duration of the effect depends on a few factors:

• Percentage of active ingredient present in the product (you can find CBD oil with different concentrations);
• Method of administration (affecting potency);
• Dosage;
• Severity of the disorder.

In general, as far as CBD oil is concerned, you can consider a range of 4 to 6 hours for the effect to last. If the drops are administered sublingually, the benefits will be seen sooner and will be more potent than with the oral method.

The duration of the effects is also affected by the sensitivity of the animal. This is why it is always advisable to start with the minimum dosage and then gradually increase it until results are achieved.

Which CBD oil to give the dog?

At this point you have a wide choice of products in front of you. In the world of CBD oil, you can find very different concentrations and formulations.

To recapitulate what we have said so far: choose only products designed for animals and start with a low concentration of active ingredient and then increase if you feel it is necessary. 

In Maria’s CBD Oil shop, you can find the perfect product to start treating your four-legged friend. We have designed a 5% oil, so an entry level, for animal use. This means that there are no THC and terpenes that could be harmful to his health.

Always follow the dosage indications according to your dog’s breed, physical constitution and weight. And also remember that if you are already giving him a medication, you must first seek advice from your vet.

Now all you have to do is discover our CBD products in the pet section.