How can CBD help our pets?
Is CBD the Answer for Health and Medical Conditions in Pets?
We all would like our pets to live long and healthy lives. Just the thought of a pet dying can bring many of the toughest of us to tears. There is a reason many of us avoid watching films where the pet dog dies. Our pets are a huge part of our family. In fact, we may love our pets even more than some of our human family members. Just ask yourself, would you rather spend a day walking in the park with your dogs or attending a family luncheon with people you can stand for a maximum of an hour or two? Give me a leash any day!
Current Veterinarian Practices
If you are fortunate enough to have your pet live seven years or more, you may notice how they seem to be affected by their aging. Pain seems to creep up on them and before you know it, they are slow to move around the house and they are not bounding around the yard like they once did. Plus, their cognitive abilities might seem to be slowing down and they tend to sleep more and more.
Aging in animals is much like aging for people. It just affects your pets much quicker. As a person who just recently had to take an emergency trip to the vet for his 12-year-old schnauzer, I was hit in the face with a realization explained to me by the medical professional. Most dogs will eventually develop painful arthritis that will make it difficult to even move around the house let alone the yard.
The veterinarian informed me that many times people assume that this means the animal has to be put down. However, giving your pet a type of animal ibuprofen (and some glucosamine) every day could provide them the pain relief needed and give them more bounce in their step. Still, the prescription medication can be very difficult on their liver over time and is really only helping out with the pain. CBD, on the other hand, could help animals with many health conditions associated with aging.
CBD Could Be the All-Natural Alternative
Just like more humans are turning to CBD for what ails them, more pet owners are providing their four-legged loved ones CBD for their problems, too. And it is easy to see why!
Pain Relief
Would you want to give your animal prescription medication for pain relief that is expensive, has the potential to damage their liver, and requires numerous visits to the vet for bloodwork and refills? If it means helping your pet live a few more years, then all of us would definitely go through all of that if we could. But CBD may be able to provide the same relief without all of the hassles. Plus, knowing that the solution is all-natural can give us peace of mind.
Controls Seizures
Epilepsy is quite common in dogs and results in seizures that will eventually bring down their quality of life severely or even bring on almost instant death. In fact, even dogs that are receiving prescription medications for seizures are not always responding well to it. About 30 percent of dogs will still face uncontrollable seizures and the side effects of the medication can be sad to see.
According to the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, CBD has been shown to decrease seizures in dogs and increase the overall quality of life. More studies are being completed currently on the effects of CBD on uncontrollable epilepsy seizures as well. CBD just may be able to provide hope and save lives in the near future for those animals that were once thought untreatable. It could soon become another tool to handle canine epilepsy.
Anxiety
If you have a pet that suffers from anxiety, it is difficult to explain to others how greatly this affects your animal. Anxiety in pets may occur only in certain circumstances (thunderstorms) or may be a constant battle for them. In any case, it may present itself in heartbreaking trembling, chewing up of items around the house, constant barking, or a variety of other ways. CBD has been proven to ease anxiety in both humans and animals. More and more pet owners are turning to CBD on a daily basis to help with anxiety and it definitely seems to be working.
Canine Cognitive Dysfunction
Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD) is a lot like dementia or Alzheimer’s in humans. And if your dog lives long enough, there is a very good chance they will experience CCD. It is estimated to affect 25 percent of dogs 10 to 12 years old and about 70 percent of dogs if they get to the age of 15. This may result in them becoming confused, getting lost, behavior changes, decreased alertness, and barking and growling at apparently nothing. Luckily, CBD has demonstrated the ability to help with these cognitive conditions in both animals and humans!