CBDs and medical marijuana for your pets

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi everyone-

How you can use CBDs and medical marijuana for your pets will be Monday's Empower Hour webinar topic.

We will be joined by CO holistic vet and CBD expert Dr. Angie Krause.

Dr. Angie recently published a great article in a vet journal.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The legalization of cannabis in the United States is expanding every year. Many pet guardians are turning to their veterinarians for counsel about the medicinal benefits and appropriate use of cannabis for their dogs and cats. As the market becomes flooded with products labeled for pets, it has become critical that veterinarians are able to have open and informed discussions with clients about cannabis...

...What conditions is CBD most effective for?

In this author’s (NB-that's Dr. Angie speaking) clinical experience, full spectrum CBD products have been most effective in cases of anxiety, osteoarthritis and seizure disorders in both dogs and cats. For the purposes of these case studies, HempRx Forte was used.

Anxiety

CBD-rich cannabis is the most effective natural method for treating anxiety in both dogs and cats, in this author’s practice.

Start at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg by mouth every 12 hours with food, and increase every three days to the desired effect. Most guardians notice improvement within 12 to 24 hours. In refractory cases, this author has administered CBD with SSRIs. However, there are no studies proving their combined safety.

Osteoarthritis

A recent study at Colorado State University demonstrated that dogs with osteoarthritis had improved pain scores with 2 mg/kg of CBD every 12 hours.7 It’s this author’s clinical experience that CBD improves the mobility and comfort of dogs and cats experiencing pain from osteoarthritis and neurogenic causes. Many traditional pharmaceuticals such as gabapentin, tramadol and amantadine have questionable efficacy and undesirable side effects. While non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are effective, many of the side effects
make their long-term use prohibitive.

Epilepsy

CBD-rich hemp extracts have gained popularity for treating children’s seizure disorders. Due to the lack of THC, these children can enjoy life without the sedative effects of traditional anticonvulsants. Many pet guardians are hesitant to use drugs like potassium bromide and phenobarbital long-term due to their undesirable side effects. Other drugs like levetiracetam have questionable efficacy and dosing schedules that make compliance difficult. CBD may provide a safe and efficacious alternative for some animals. It may also help reduce dosage in conventional pharmaceuticals.

In this author’s experience, many animals with refractory seizures may require doses of up to 2 mg/kg to 4 mg/kg of CBD every 12 hours. CBD is metabolized by the icytochrome P450 system and may therefore alter metabolism of anticonvulsants such as phenobarbital...

...Additional applications for CBD

CBD has proven efficacious (anecdotally) in the following disease processes:

• Chronic upper respiratory infections in cats
• Poor appetite in cats
• Atopy
• Feline asthma
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

The full article can be found in your HMDM research folder indexed under "cbd" and by clicking/tapping here.

In addition, HA! friend "Dr. Pot" (Dr. Rob Silver) www.potforpets.info has this to say about CBDs in another excellent HMDM article:

...With all of this interest in CBD, there is a plethora of products in the marketplace, and given the high dollar stakes involved in this growing industry, there are some product pitfalls you need to know about before finding that perfect product for your dog (NB-or cat).

Its important to read the label to see if the company tells you how much CBD is in the bottle, and how much is in each dose. CBD usually comes as a liquid extract, which is called a “tincture”, and reputable companies will give you full disclosure. They will also tell you what the “carrier oil” is, which typically may be Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) or Hemp Seed oil.

Be wary of products that don’t tell you how potent the formulation is. Some companies have been selling hemp seed oil, which contains extremely small amounts of CBD, so low that it won’t have a clinical effect. These companies are taking advantage of you, and run as fast as you can in the other direction. The term CBD oil is used by some companies, but it doesn’t tell you exactly what is in the product, so be sure to check the label to see what it has in it.

With the Farm Bill passage, the USDA is now offering organic certification of hemp. Hemp is what is called a “bio-accumulator” which means it will remove toxins from the soil and concentrate them in the plant. Thus organic growing methods are very important, as well as CoA analysis for heavy metals and pesticides.

The best way to know exactly what is in your hemp extract is to ask the company for a certificate of analysis (CoA), which is your right as a consumer to do. The CoA will contain laboratory analysis of the product giving amounts of THC and CBD and other bioactive molecules, solvent residues, microbial contamination, pesticide residues, and heavy metals. It’s the most knowledgeable way to determine if a hemp supplement is right for your pet.

The two best extraction techniques involve the use of ethanol as a solvent, or liquid carbon dioxide under pressure. Both will spare terpenes, and both can have the residual solvents removed completely, which can be verified by the CoA. Companies will try to tell you that one is better than the other, but the reality is that both techniques can produce a pure extract that contains almost all of the same compounds that were present in the plant material...

Click/tap here for the full article.

Drs. Christina, Angie and I will see you on Monday.

 

[ckraham]

I look forward to this talk. I used cannabis products both with and without thc for an elderly arthritic dog with anxiety and tumor and it allowed her to live with a great quality of life. The dosing with the thc product was very unclear however (a company recommended by my vet at the time) and my dog had horrific reactions when the dose was too high (static ataxia once and I never tried it again after that) and am curious if there has been veterinary research on using full extract oil in pets. At this point I would not try that again but definitely would like to get the confidence to use regular cbd oil with one of my current dogs

 

[JoannC]

Hi everyone-

How you can use CBDs and medical marijuana for your pets will be Monday's Empower Hour webinar topic.

We will be joined by CO holistic vet and CBD expert Dr. Angie Krause.

Dr. Angie recently published a great article in a vet journal.

Here's an excerpt from the article:



The full article can be found in your HMDM research folder indexed under "cbd" and by clicking/tapping here.

In addition, HA! friend "Dr. Pot" (Dr. Rob Silver) www.potforpets.info has this to say about CBDs in another excellent HMDM article:



Click/tap here for the full article.

Drs. Christina, Angie and I will see you on Monday.

Dr Jeff, I have a question for Dr Angie. As you Teddy has been seen by Cornell specialists in Neurology and internal medicine and both specialties after exhaustive tests of and ultrasound of pancreas, liver and pancreas specific tests for tumors and all other blood work normal with slightly high cortisol level are stumped with why even after feeding every 4 or 5 hrs Teddy has low blood sugars in the 30’s. The neurologist stated he is afraid theinitial cause of his 5 seizures with an hr was due to low blood sugar, but put him on 22 mg of pheno a day. After 9 days the other Dr decreased it to 8 mg a day.

Teddy has not had a seizure since that first one on 4/14 despite his resilient low blood sugars with no clinical signs. On 5/6 I started Teddy on CBD oil. He was 9.98 lbs but now weighs 11 lbs because I am feeding too much. I am using a product called KINGKALMCBD that does full panel analysis but also has lavender oil in the ingredient list?

I did purchase RX Hemp and I see it is 1 get equals half a mg. Is this a better product, and how slowly should i increase the dose. Theneurologist wanted me to give Teddy 5 mg 2x a day. He is not there yet because I wanted to build him up tothatdose and once there is it safe to begin decreasing the phenobarbital? If Dr Angiecould please read in hypoglycemia thread the neurologist summary it would let her know Teddy is neurologically intact, henow plays and even jumps up to get his toy but how long before weaning from phenobarbital when on therapeutically CBD for unresolved hypoglycemia that no one knows why. Thank you.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Cassandra-

Yes!

Dr. Angie will discuss doses and THC content vs. CBDs.

With Rx Hemp I rarely see the ataxia side effects.

JoAnn, regarding weaning pheno and Teddy, what did Dr. Judy say yesterday?

 

[JoannC]

Cassandra-

Yes!

Dr. Angie will discuss doses and THC content vs. CBDs.

With Rx Hemp I rarely see the ataxia side effects.

JoAnn, regarding weaning pheno and Teddy, what did Dr. Judy say yesterday?

Hi Dr Jeff, Dr Judy said to continue with phenobarbital 4 mg in am and 4 at night for right now until 3rd specialists works him up. There is really no further testing that can be done so it’s just to see if this new internal medicine Dr has ever had a case like Teddy’s with resilient hypoglycemia. I have ordered a meter and will take my own BGs soon. If his glucose is that low with no clinical signs then something is really terribly wrong. Just can’t see it yet. I still give belladonna once a day and of course now the CBD. That’s it. His sclera hemmorage in left eye is better I am using arnica 2x a day for that. Just started thatthis week so I hope it help s/p having it for over 2 weeks. The 3 questions are:

Dr Jeff, I have 3 questions

Can CBD affect energy level of cat, to include restlessness and meowing appearing somewhat sluggish. On 4 mg a day Teddy was like this. He did not do this on KingCalm at a lesser dose.

Teddy weighs 5.14 kg. What is a good preventative dose with a cat who has low blood sugar and has had no breakthrough seizures since 4/14 . 4 mg a day makes him restless. Now trying 2 mg a day 1mg 2x a day to see how awake he is. He really is much more alert on the 1 mg today. Any thoughts

Is CBD best to mix in food to reduce stomach upset? Again this is the RX Hemp product.

Thank you!!!!!

 

[Cyd]

Hi everyone-

How you can use CBDs and medical marijuana for your pets will be Monday's Empower Hour webinar topic.

We will be joined by CO holistic vet and CBD expert Dr. Angie Krause.

Dr. Angie recently published a great article in a vet journal.

Here's an excerpt from the article:



The full article can be found in your HMDM research folder indexed under "cbd" and by clicking/tapping here.

In addition, HA! friend "Dr. Pot" (Dr. Rob Silver) www.potforpets.info has this to say about CBDs in another excellent HMDM article:



Click/tap here for the full article.

Drs. Christina, Angie and I will see you on Monday.

Thank you Drs. Jeff, Christina & Angie for these 2 amazing articles that spell out in a clear & easy understand manner what we need to pay attention to when purchasing CBD oil. I'm looking forward to learning how to safely incorporate CBD into my holistic medicine kit.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Cassandra: I used cannabis products both with and without thc for an elderly arthritic dog with anxiety and tumor and it allowed her to live with a great quality of life. The dosing with the thc product was very unclear however (a company recommended by my vet at the time) and my dog had horrific reactions when the dose was too high

My cat with a nasal tumor also had major reactions at a very very low dose. As with every substance, even water, each individual reacts differently.

That is one reason we try, except in severe acute problems, to start with one treatment at a time.

Dr. C

 

[novasimpson]

Hi!! Tater Tot is on a med and remedy for her chronic diarrhea. Her bowel symptoms have improved and she has gained weight! But either part of her path or a side effect of medication has made her barky and have wakenings overnight. She has improved and often sleeps through the night or is up only once a night. However she has remained demanding/barky which has gotten worst the last week or two. The last 3-4 days she has been super barky. She doesn't have separation anxiety and doesnt bark when humans aren't around so not sure if this is anxiety or just demanding (treats, attention). She is happy on walks but if we stop to sit in park she gets impatient and barks to move on.

1. In general, would you consider adding on an additional supplement/drug to conteract a possible side effect from another drug?

2. Do you think adding CBD oil for her ?anxiety (if that is what it is) or would a change in homeopathic dose be more appropriate for TT?

Thank you!!