Do you hear your dog whimper when you leave, are they chewing things up they shouldn’t, do you fear thunderstorms, fireworks, and other things that cause loud noises? If so, your dog is likely suffering from bouts of nervousness that may indicate chronic anxiety. While many treatments can help your dog’s anxiety, today, we are talking about how hemp CBD oil may be just the key to treating your dog’s anxiety. As well, we will cover what to look for when selecting the best CBD oil for dogs, whether hemp CBD treats are a good option. Along with tips on using CBD oil for dogs and what are some of the other health benefits of using CBD oils. We know that finding a CBD oil that pushes safety and potency above making a quick buck is more tricky than it should be, but we are determined to help.
If you have a dog, you owe it to them to learn the signs of anxiety in dogs and what you can do to help them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Causes Of Dog Anxiety
2. What Is CBD Oil?
3. How Does CBD Oil Work?
4. CBD Oil For Dogs
5. Does CBD Really Work For Anxiety In Dogs?
6. Does CBD Oil Have Side Effects?
7. Can CBD Oil Kill A Dog?
8. Which CBD Oil Is Best For Dogs?
9. How to Give Your Dog Hemp CBD Oil For Anxiety
10. Should You Give CBD Oil To Dogs For Anxiety?
Causes Of Dog Anxiety
Sometimes it can be hard to look at your pup and wonder why they would feel anxious. Their life seems pretty easy-going, just lying around and getting fed without having to work for 8 hours a day. However, just like us, our dogs get anxious for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is their boredom from lying around all day that gets the best of them. Anxious energy can build up quickly when a dog is cooped up, especially if they are a working or another high-energy dog breed. Often, it’s something that happened to a day when they were young, and it left a lasting effect on them. When puppies are allowed to have constant access to their owners, they can develop separation anxiety. Crate training is a great way to help prevent this.
Other times, it’s us that makes our dogs nervous. For example, when our pups come running to us after hearing a loud noise, we give them special attention, usually by comforting them. But this tells your dog that their reaction was warranted. This works best for puppies, but next time there is a thunderstorm and your dog reactions, just act normal. I love grabbing a toy and acting like it’s time for a normal game of fetch.
As you can see, the path to chronic anxiety often starts when our dogs are quite young. From there, it continues to develop, and it’s often not until they show serious symptoms that we notice. The problem is the anxiety has had a long time to take its grasp on your dog, making it much harder to help an adult dog vs. a puppy.
Barring a medical condition, training is always the ultimate treatment for anxiety. But training takes time, especially when the anxiety condition is out of control. But that’s when we need fast relief the most, and this is why hemp CBD has become all the rage for dogs with anxiety.
What Is CBD Oil?
Cannabidiol or CBD oil is one of many variations of products named after a compound found in the cannabis plant, which includes the hemp and marijuana plant. While named after a single compound, the large majority of hemp-derived dog CBD products are full spectrum. This means they contain all the cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids found in the cannabis plant, not just the cannabinoid, CBD — of which there are over 100 different kinds of them alone.
Besides CBD, the other most recognized cannabinoid found in both hemp and marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. In large quantities, THC is able to create the sensation we call a high that’s associated with the notorious plant. The key phrase here is “large qualities” because while hemp has THC, there isn’t a lot and nowhere close to what appears in marijuana plants.
Where marijuana products are typically 20-99% THC, hemp CBD products are legally required to contain no more than 0.3% THC. This amount can’t even come to causing a high, and for more reasons than one as you’ll learn next. Thus, hemp-derived CBD oil is safe to give to adults, children, and even our dogs, cats, horses, and other mammals.
How Does CBD Oil Work?
Cannabinoids like CBD, along with the terpenes, all work by interacting with the endocannabinoid system. This is a series of regulatory receptors and neurotransmitters that all mammals have, and it’s responsible for maintaining the health and stability of several major regulatory systems, including the nervous and immune systems. By interacting with the endocannabinoid system, CBD oil can help with anxiety, pain, inflammation, energy balance, appetite regulation, epilepsy, and general wellness, to name a few.
There are two main receptors of the endocannabinoid system called CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors. The receptors in The ECS are naturally activated by a group of neurotransmitters called endocannabinoids. THC, our cannabinoid that causes a high, has a strong affinity for activating CB1 receptors, doing it to a greater degree than the natural endocannabinoids can. When enough THC is ingested, too many CB1 receptors are over-activated, causing the high we associate with marijuana.
Besides THC, all the other cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant either appear in such little quantities they can’t cause a high, don’t overstimulate CB1 receptors, or active CB2 receptors. CB2 receptors don’t cause a high if overstimulated due to the regulatory systems they appear in. The individual compounds cannabinoid, CBD, connects to CB1 receptors without over stimulating them, even blocking THC from connecting.
This is why too much CBD decreases the quality of a marijuana product meant to blast you off to the sky. CBD also indirectly activates CB2 receptors by preventing the body from accidentally and prematurely recycling the endocannabinoid before it can do its job.
Real quick, we can start connecting the dots to how cannabinoids like CBD help anxiety. Remember, CBD oil almost always contains all the cannabinoids found, not just CBD.
Fear and nervousness happen when the sympathetic nervous system, which is one of two major branches of the system is overstimulated or over-activated. Because the endocannabinoid system helps stabilize the nervous system, CBD oil can provide a helping hand by activating the receptors themselves. Along with protecting the naturally created endocannabinoids, boosting their levels in the body.
CBD Oil For Dogs
While CBD oils started off for our personal use, so many of us had success with it helping nervousness, pain, appetite, seizures, and other disorders, we soon started giving it to our pets to see if it could help their health. Because all mammals have an endocannabinoid system, dogs can benefit from CBD just as much as humans can — from CBD mitigating pain to CBD supporting calm. From there, CBD has become quite popular for helping both humans, our pets, and especially our dogs, who seem to benefit more from CBD than many others. Many of the common issues our dogs can face are things CBD has been well-documented in helping.
Hip dysplasia is a major killer in mobility, with most medium-size dog breeds and up being especially prone to it. CBD can help mediate both the chronic pain and excessive inflammation that are hallmarks of the hereditary disease.
Cancer is another disease that cripples our senior dog population, but it prevents many dogs from reaching their older years, as well. While CBD oil may have anti-cancerous properties, its real advantage is its ability to reduce many of the harsh side effects of chemotherapy and other common cancer treatments.
Epilepsy is actually quite rare in wild animals, and even cats seem mostly free from it due to none of them carrying the hereditary component. Our dogs, however, are not so lucky, with epilepsy with potentially 6% of the population affected by it. And for some breeds, that number may be significantly higher.
Like us, our dogs aren’t just affected by epilepsy, but by forms that are hard to treat due to their drug-resistant nature. Cannabis’ success in lowering seizure rates in these forms, when all other drugs fail, along with its ability to seemingly lower the severity of all forms of epilepsy is the reason many restrictions on the plant were first removed.
Along with the reasons above, there is one more condition that CBD oil has been touted as a lifesaver for.
Does CBD Really Work For Anxiety In Dogs?
While there are many things CBD oil is touted to help, anxiety is usually the reason most use it for. Both for us and for our dogs, who just seem to be as nervous as us, if not more so. Between studies on CBD and nervousness, along with all the personal reports, CBD oil appears to have the ability to help all forms of anxiety. This includes temporary bouts of stress along with chronic fear and nervousness. This is perfect for our dogs because there are so many reasons they may be scared, resulting in different forms of anxiety, from separation anxiety to aggressive behavior.
