Cannabis for dogs

I brought my new rescue in to the local dog food shop for food and treats, She has PTSD and separation anxiety and is on prozac, xanax, and trazedone. Not really helping. The store owner told me that they're getting cannabis pills to help calm dogs in another week.
Works for people so I'm hoping it will work for her. She's the sweetest dog but I've been told she may need to be euthanized because she would be difficult to rehome since she's special need.

Very interested in this topic! Nice thread, thanks!

My dog is getting on in years and is a breed known for arthritis in the back legs.

There is so much conflicting info on whether or not cannabis is good for dogs.

Real life experience postings would be very valuable!

Will let you know how it works.

I've used capsules from Cannapet to reduce and eliminate seizures in my elderly dog. Very effective!

Wouldn't it be hard to know the dosage with an animal? I guess you would want to start out really low then observe your pet's actions. It's so difficult because our best friend can't talk to us. They are so trusting and rely on their owners good judgement.

I don't use cannabis for my pet because he hasn't any health problems. But if I did I would research to see if there is weight guidelines vs particular cannabis you were using whether food or otherwise.

True it is hard to determine proper/effective dosage. We discussed our dog's condition, age and size with Cannapet and they provided capsules that they thought would work well in preventing or reducing the frequency of seizure episodes.

Edit: Cannapet is a hemp based CBD product. I did also try a tincture (no longer produced) made from MMJ and formulated by a vet that was also effective and provided immediate results.

CarolKing said:

Wouldn't it be hard to know the dosage with an animal? I guess you would want to start out really low then observe your pet's actions. It's so difficult because our best friend can't talk to us. They are so trusting and rely on their owners good judgement.

I don't use cannabis for my pet because he hasn't any health problems. But if I did I would research to see if there is weight guidelines vs particular cannabis you were using whether food or otherwise.

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My understanding is that they are capsules manufactured and specifically made to calm dogs. It may be cannapet- I don't know the name yet. I would not give my girl regular cannabis because it can be toxic.

I'll tell you my experiences with cannabis and my dogs. All my dogs used to get very anxious with thunder storms, they would totally freak out. I went to the vet about it and she gave me some pills for anxiety and said to use half a pill on the smaller dog and 1 pill on the larger dogs. What a disaster those pills were it was like they had had 5 shots of vodka and a xanax, they were so wobbly and falling over and crashing into things and it laster for hours and hours. Shortly after that I decided I would half the dosage the vet had told me but that still was really horrible to watch. It was better to let them freak out and run around the house and be scared than to be so wobbly and drunk like.

So I gave the tablets a rest for a while. Then one day a friend was here and had an edible cannabis cookie in her bag that she'd left on a low table in my house, it was wrapped in plastic wrap and inside her semi-open bag. Before we knew it my hound dog with his very sensitive smell had removed it and unwrapped the plastic and eaten the cookie. Soon after we knew what happened and the dog went into being very stoned mode. Real mellow, red droopy eyes, and basically just laying around not moving much but still breathing ok and would respond by opening eyes when hearing his name etc. After a few hours the effects sub sided more and more and eventually he was back to his energetic self.

This experience made me interested in how my dogs would go with small dosses of edible cannabis cookies for their anxiety with storms. So i tried it. I gave them all small portions of a cookie when we had out next major thunder storm and it worked really well. They all mellowed and didnt freak out nearly as much as they would with out.

I've done this many times and they have all been fine. Yes I use very little bits as I know they feel it and are sensitive.

In my opinion the pharmaceutical drugs the vet gave me to give to them were horrible and I threw them out.

Just a side- I saw my therapist today and brought my dog for him to meet. He is a psychiatrist but does more therapy than prescribing.. I told him about the cannabis for dogs and he said that it would be much healthier for her than the prozac, xanax, and trazedone she's on currently. I know many people have a very different experience with psychiatrists and just thought it was nice to have a another perspective.

When each of the last two dogs I had (their lives overlapped) got old and sick I would give them a little vapor (just kinda blown around them, not in the faces or in the ears or anything) that I blew into a bag with my EQ if they were feeling bad due to arthritis or cancer, etc. They seemed to always enjoy it and it seemed to help. That's all I've got to offer on the subject. It's not something I discussed with a vet or anything.