Surely you have heard of various benefits of CBD or cannabidiol for humans such as reducing pain, enhancing the skin, managing the symptoms of anxiety/stress or depression, and even could potentially help with combating symptoms of cancer.
What you might not know is that CBD can have positive similar curing effects for your lovely pets. Questions over hemp and its benefits quickly becoming a thing of the past, with the increasing research on cannabis or hemp, the popularity of the CBD is growing.
You might be considering how CBD can help with improving the health and happiness of your pets, especially cats. To help you along the way, here is a detailed article on CBD benefits, side-effects, and dosage for the cats. Let’s start with benefits!
Is CBD Safe for Cats?
The problem is that the CBD market is still relatively new and not well regulated or government tested for safety. In such a condition, consumers should be sure about the products of what they are buying. Although, there’s difficulty in knowing if the product is correctly labeled. With regulated veterinary medications, veterinarians have accurate information regarding proper dosages, potential negative effects, toxicity levels, contra-indications, and length of treatments.
For CBD, it’s a difficult task to know the consistent information as well as whether the product contains CBD oil of genuine quality or not. It’s depending on where the product is bought. The risk comes when there’s no CBD oil contained in the product. Also, it depends on the manufacturing facility, as a consumer can’t be certain about the product or CBD oil is free from contaminants. If CBD is improperly formatted that means if it contains a higher concentration of THC, then it can be very toxic for pets.
What are the Benefits of CBD for Cats?
1. CBD kills Pain & reduces Swelling
CBD is excellent at treating and relieving pain as well as reducing swelling. Pain and swelling are regulated by the vanilloid receptor present in the human and cat’s brain, CBD target the receptor and block it from turning on.
When the neuron becomes inactive, it doesn’t allow the pain and swelling symptoms to pass throughout the body, leading the pain effects to go away gradually. Researchers have found a new natural drug class for treating patients (humans or cats) suffering from severe pain.
2. CBD reduces Anxiety and Stress
When the body experiences unbalanced hormonal in the brain, resulting in Anxiety and Stress. Not only humans but also pets especially cats suffer from stress and anxiety.
Cats have got the same endocannabinoid system which is responsible for regulating mood, appetite, sleep, and more, by using cannabidiol reduces the effect of symptoms of stress. Therefore, CBD helps to balance the hormones and returning back to a normal rate of fluctuation. This way CBD helps to reduce mental disorders.
3. Alleviates Skin Disorders of cats-
CBD oil is helpful in improving the cat’s skin & coat’s health. In humans, it enhances skin by resolving acne and dry skin, and also, these effects can be seen in pets. CBD oil is beneficial for skin disorder, you can take advantage, by rubbing directly on skin or by mixing it with other oil.
This will surely help the cat’s coat to get revived, making it stronger, shinier, and softer. CBD would also help the pet with allergies or other symptoms of skin disorders.
4. Fight with Cancer and its Symptoms
While there haven’t been enough studies to clarify why or how CBD may possibly prevent cancer or reducing its symptoms, but yet, there’s a lot of evidence demonstrating its benefits in this area.
CBD promotes homeostasis in the body. This helps to reduce the growth of spreading cancer cells. Most people who have positively used CBD with therapeutic medications or treatment, it has been noted an improvement during their recovery process. This experiment has been done on rats.
CBD is more helpful for individuals going through chemotherapy, as it not only helps to relieve pain but also it counteracts other side-effects of chemo like vomit or nausea. This way, CBD helps to combat cancer symptoms in cats.
5. Combats Epilepsy & Seizures in Cats
Seizure can be scary and pose potentially dangerous health issues. CBD can be a blessing for pet owners, as it has been found by the researchers that CBD is proven to have a positive impact on individuals or pets suffering from Epilepsy or Seizure.
When the brain faces many electric disruptions, it causes syndromes like Seizures. This abrupts changes to the brain’s activity leads to violent shaking throughout the body. CBD counteracts seizures by alleviating the number of electrical disruptions throughout the brains, every time it is used, also giving a suppressive effect on future seizures. This way CBD helps cats to alleviate the symptoms of Seizures and Epilepsy.
Is There any Side-effect of CBD for Cats?
According to veterinarians’ studies, CBD has proved little or no side-effects in most cats. That means, every cat is different and can tolerate CBD’s effects differently.
It is just before introducing CBD into the cat’s routine, make sure to consult your nearby vet who can help you guide the dose.
Slight Sedation or gastrointestinal upset might be a common side-effect that can occur. Simply, it means when your pet having irregular bowel movements or throwing up. That is the result of CBD intake and a natural reaction of the body when something doesn’t agree within.
Sometimes, it is possible for the cat to appear less energetic, reducing the regular dosage can alleviate the symptoms of lethargy.
Additionally, make sure to give your pet CBD derived from the hemp plant. Products having a high concentration of THC or tetrahydrocannabinol which are found in recreational or medicinal marijuana can possibly harm your cat by causing extremely uncomfortable conditions and eventually lead to sickness.
So it is advised to do not blow any CBD product into your pet’s mouth without reading the label and unless getting accurate information of the product. If not, then it might even make them feel worse. Studies suggest that Hemp-derived CBD is virtually harmless for your lovely cats.
You can also notice some other symptoms or side-effects like vomiting, nausea, change in appetite, or anxiety. But these are rare and very mild.
Also, you need to make sure that oil which you are purchasing should be hemp-based or sourced from hemp plant, as marijuana-based oil can give ill-results.
How to Use CBD Oil for Cats?
When first introducing CBD oil into the cat’s routine, the old adage “less is more” is the proper way to go. Keep in mind, there’s no reason to rush the medication process by giving overdose to your pet.
The best way to give them CBD dose is to ease it into their diet, this way they will be able to reap the benefits without giving their body any negative reactions.
Consulting with your veterinarian is a must before trying to determining the dosage of CBD for your cat. You could get the best advice on how much your pet should take.
NOTE: There’s a general rule of 1mg to 5mg for every 10lbs according to cat weighs. Regardless of the cat’s size, you can also start the dose with 1mg to 5mg which is the lowest percentage of any medicine; afterward, you can increase the dosage steadily.
From Where to Buy the Best Quality CBD Products for Cats?
Before buying a CBD product, you need to check whether a product is sourced from hemp plant or marijuana plant, prefer hemp-based quality products for your cats.
Hempeli, a hemp-based CBD product company in the USA, provides the premium and best quality products with detailed labeling.
The Bottom Line
Of course, when you adopt a kitten with all the love, you may not have to be warned or you may not know about all the problems which can arise throughout the lifetime of your beloved friend. Being a cat owner, you should ensure to stay up-to-date with your kitty’s health, also ensure that your cat is physically and mentally stimulated. Providing an appropriate health-conscious diet should always be your major concern.
It’s obvious when problems arise, with no improvements even after doing more than what you can. Such a condition can possibly make you frustrated. At last, a trip to your vet would be the option and administering prescription medication can help.
However, a simple search on the internet can possibly leave you in a bit of stress after knowing the side-effects of prescribed medicine for your sweet little pet. The potential adverse effects of nearly every medicated drug on the market can bring anxiety to a pet owner such as from blindness to liver failure to even death. At that point, it’s hard to accept the prescribed medications but that is the only option …right? No, it’s not that.
Consider this article to know about all the benefits of CBD that offer your cat the best way to get treated with the trust that your beloved friend would be back to normal soon!