February 13, 2025

We love our pets as much as we love our family members. In short, they’re like a family to us. Whenever our furry friends suffer from an illness or disease, we’ll do anything to take away any anxiety or pain. You’ve probably heard a lot about how CBD has helped many people with a variety of maladies and are wondering if it can help our pets as well. 

Benefits of CBD for Pets

Considering the similarity of endocannabinoid receptors in humans and animals, it makes sense that CBD could treat these conditions as effectively in dogs, cats, and other furry or feathery friends.

In addition, the ailments experienced by humans and animals can be quite similar. CBD has been shown to help with a number of issues we cannot state due to restrictions on making any claims. Please research more of the potential benefits for your pets. 

• Epilepsy
• Fearfulness
• Spasms
• Anxiety
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Pain
• Nausea
• Skin Problems

And there is no shortage of anecdotal reports from pet owners the world over! We've heard so many success stories from pet owners. We currently give Gidget, our French Bulldog, Fido & Friends oil twice a day. We started slowly when we rescued her from a puppy mill auction in Missouri and now she is thriving! 

Should You Try CBD for Your Pet?

CBD may be able to put your pet on the road to recovery for some illnesses or maladies. At the very least, CBD may help relieve some of your pet's symptoms and make life easier for you and your pet overall. Most likely, hemp CBD can help your pet live a far more fulfilling and healthier life than he or she otherwise might experience.  

So if you’re interested in trying CBD for your dog, cat, or even your horse, remember these three rules:

• Talk to your vet first. CBD can affect the metabolism of many important medications (for pets and for humans), so it’s crucial to have a chat with your vet to make sure your pet isn’t in harm’s way.
• Once you get the green light, start slow. There are many tasty CBD pet products that allow you to dose small – 1 mg of CBD per 10 lbs of body weight is the gold standard.
• Stay with your pet for 2-3 hours after giving them CBD - While CBD is incredibly non-toxic, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your pet after introducing something new to their diet. 

The bottom line is that more CBD is not always better. In the case of severe issues like seizures, higher doses appear to be most effective. However, with something like anxiety, a low-to-medium dose will likely serve your pet much more effectively.

What’s the best way to give CBD to pets:

There are a variety of ways – if you are giving them a tincture such as our Fido and Friends Brand, you can put a few drops on their food (using the handy chart on the bottle), in their mouth (if they roll that way) or on their treats. We put a few drops in Gidget’s bowl before we put the food in – she loves the taste and licks it clean.

Will my pet get “high”?

When people think of CBD for pets, they may have the comical image of giving a dog or cat a ‘joint’ to smoke. In the same vein, some of you may know someone that has blown a cloud of marijuana smoke into their dog’s face and laughed about the dog being ‘stoned’ (or you may be guilty of this yourself). Not only is this behavior immature, but marijuana is also toxic to dogs and other animals.

That’s because recreational cannabis contains THC, the compound responsible for the ‘high’ and mind-altering effects users feel from smoking marijuana. Contrary to popular belief (and fear), CBD is not capable of giving you OR your pet a ‘high.

Can you overdose on CBD?

CBD is itself non-toxic, and so the most important thing to keep in mind is that “overdosing” on CBD will not result in fatalities. The most commonly reported side-effects for CBD in animals are sedation and over-active appetites.

Finding the right CBD

Where issues usually arise is in contaminated products – that is, products that have high levels of contaminants like heavy metals, residual solvents, and other byproducts of cheap and hasty CBD extraction. (see our article on best practices for extraction). So don’t be afraid to request current third-party lab test results from CBD product vendors! Reputable companies will happily provide them. If you’ve already bought a CBD product for your pet and have questions about it, feel free to reach out and send us a picture of the bottle – we’d be happy to help you verify it.

We hope this was helpful for you! We can’t wait to hear how CBD helps your pets.

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