Last updated on July 3rd, 2020
You may have heard lots of people giving CBD to their dogs and cats but should you really do it? and is it legal to in the UK?
In this guide, we will talk about the things you need to think about before giving your dog or pet CBD. We will also talk about the law around it and what the UK vet’s think. For those short on time, here is a quick summary
The answer to whether you should give your dog CBD is not the most simple. Dogs have a similar endocannabinoid system to us humans and many studies have suggested that CBD can have great benefits for dogs. It can help stress, anxiety, inflammation, arthritis and potentially lots more. However, The VMD made a statement in 2018 that basically stops the sale of CBD for pets in the UK, but that does not make it illegal to give your pet CBD. If you do give your dog CBD then you should only get top-quality CBD and you should always speak to your vet.
How can CBD help my dog?
The truth is there is not a huge amount of studies on CBD and dogs. There are more and more on humans and because dogs have the same endocannabinoid system, it is widely assumed that it can have the same benefits. Some more studies are coming out and more information coming to light but here are a few of the Potential benefits of CBD for your dog:
- Reducing anxiety and depression
- Reducing the seizures suffered by those with epilepsy.
- Relieving pain.
- Reducing the symptoms of arthritis
- Reducing inflammation.
- Reducing the impact of neurodegenerative diseases and protecting the nervous system.
- Reducing nausea and improving appetite.
There is a study that shows a good amount of improvement in symptoms for dogs with arthritis here. This shows a significant decrease in pain and no side effects.
Interestingly there is one study showing the bioavailability of CBD to dogs and in half of the 6 dogs, CBD was not detected in the blood plasma after oral ingestion, in the other dogs between 13 and 19% of the CBD was detected.
It is not clear why this is but it was a very small study and there is much more to be researched. You may be surprised to read the bioavailability of CBD in Humans.
So really the science is not there yet to back up definitively whether CBD is good for dog but it is promising and vets are talking about it.
Why is no CBD advertised for dogs in the UK?
There used to be lots of different CBD oils for dogs advertised in the UK before late 2018 when the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) released an out of the blue press release. The VMD is the regulator for the manufacture, sale, prescription and use of veterinary medicines in the UK.
This press release states that “veterinary products containing Cannabidiol (CBD) are veterinary medicines and should be regulated as such”. What this means is that CBD needs to be regulated like any other medicine for animals as opposed to just being treated like a food supplement like currently in humans.
This means that all products marketed towards animals for CBD had to be removed. There is not much information they gave on why but part of the reason we think they did this is for the same reason we set up Hempanion.
There are a lot of low-quality CBD products on the market and it is not a good idea to give products that have not been tested for quality to your pet for obvious reasons which are why we created Hempanion so you can filter out the bad quality CBD and only get good CBD.
I’ll let you into a little secret though, all the CBD for pets we had and most of what was around was actually no different from the CBD for humans. It was all just the same oil but rebranded for pets, so if you want you can basically still get the same CBD for your pet.
What CBD Oil should I give to my dog?
If you are going to give your dog or pet CBD then we would give some advice. Like we have said there is a lot of poor quality CBD and we would never give our dogs something we would not take ourselves.
Go for the best Quality CBD oil you can find like the ones on Hempanion. It should be Organic, GMO Free and lab tested.
It should also not have any aditives or other added ingredients like flavourings.
It is much of the same things as in our guide for what to look for when buying CBD https://hempanion.com/the-knowledge/need-to-know-to-buy-cbd/for humans.
How much CBD should I give my dog?
There is no one that can give a scientific answer to this and we are not going to try to make one up like other sites but we will give some advice.
Remember dogs are a lot smaller than humans so like anything you give them, they need a lot less so don’t just give what you take yourself. The other thing is like we recommend to humans, always start small with the does and work your way up slowly, start with one drop, then 2 and so on until you notice an effect. Keep a close eye on your dog’s actions and behaviour while doing this and always stop if you have seen any negative side effects. If in doubt, speak to your vet.
The dose will depend on the size of your dog and its reaction to it but most of the studies around seem to be a dose of around 45mg to 90mg of CBD.
What should I do if my dog shows side effects to CBD?
Stop giving your dog CBD if there is any negative side effects shown. It is not worth risking your dogs health if you find any negetive effects of CBD. Always consult your vet.
We hope this helped clear things up a bit and if you have any questions then please do get in touch and we will be happy to help.
