By Duke London
Americans spent over $60 billion on their pets in 2015. By comparison, as a nation, we spent roughly $87 billion on children’s health care in the same timeframe. Clearly, we pay a paw and a leg trying to keep our furry extended family members healthy, fed, and even clothed in some cases.
Knowing how much we like to afford our pets the same quality of life we enjoy, it only makes sense that we’d want the best medicine for them as well. If a human chooses marijuana over opiate painkillers, it’s safe to say they would want the same option for their pet — so long as it was safe.
We posted a poll on our Twitter account to gauge people’s willingness to try cannabis products on their pets. Two hundred respondents gave a resounding approval to THC and CBD for their pets’ medical needs.
Of the 200 people who voted, a whopping 82% claimed they would allow their pet to use marijuana; 104 claimed they would give their pets THC and CBD, while another 60 said they would use CBD on their pets exclusively. Only six people flat-out denounced the idea, while the remaining 30 needed to see more research before considering cannabis as an option.
Unfortunately, there are very few vets who are (publicly) open to using marijuana as a medicine for animals, and even less scientific research on the matter. As the poll shows, the lack of information available to pet owners about medical marijuana is enough cause for hesitation for some.
Many new cannabis product manufacturers are realizing the tremendous opening in the marketplace and pouncing.
Across the globe, pet owners are looking to marijuana to heal a vast array of ailments. From seizures and anxiety to inflammation and pain, marijuana is proving effective as a natural remedy. Though the treatment of animals with cannabis has yet to be regulated, owners of dogs, cats, pigs, horses, and a bevy of other domesticated creatures are seeing tremendous results.
To find out how effective (and prevalent) animal marijuana utilization really is, we spoke with individuals from both sides of the burgeoning sector — manufacturer and consumer.
Marcy Spears is a cannabis veteran and High Times award winner for her pain relieving CBD and THC-infused topical brand Gemstonz. Marcy added “Woof It” dog treats to the Gemstonz lineup when she realized cannabis pet products desperately needed to be developed, and there was an untapped market for them. She now manufactures a line of cannabis treats for dogs and is currently developing a variety of other marijuana products designed for animal use.
Vanna Lavi turned to marijuana for an answer when nothing else would work for her eleven-year-old dog, Thurston. She is beyond happy with the results Thurston has experienced, and Vanna’s sister now uses CBD for her dog as well.
We contacted both to find out why they’ve chosen this “alternative” path for their animals opposed to more traditional, albeit sometimes harmful, pharmaceutical options.
Marijuana.com: Marcy, what does your pet line consist of?
Marcy Spears: Currently, I just have the Woof It dog treats, and those are CBD. We don’t get FDA clinical trials, so I run my own studies. When I formulate a product, I give a bunch of it out for people to test and then give feedback so I can make a better product. I’ve done a 1:1 dog biscuit and a 2:1 drop that are getting phenomenal feedback and results. I’m definitely going to proceed with the commercial packaging of those.
Marijuana.com: Are there any success stories you can share with us?
Marcy: Absolutely.
A clone-growing friend that I share space with at trade shows has a 16-year old Pekingese that had zero quality of life. He has such bad hips from age and no teeth. He’s really old, so he was just laying around; didn’t move, didn’t eat. They were really contemplating putting him down. I formulated a 2:1 drop based on MCT oil, coconut oil, and weed [laughs]. I used CBD and THC, both decarbed and non-decarbed. It has the full gamut of healing properties. After the first dose, the dog trotted across the room when they called him. He got up and ran to her, when before he would need about 20 seconds to get up and stretch his back legs before he would take a step. Now, he’s running up and down the stairs; they have to chase him down the street.
Marijuana.com: Vanna, can you tell us about your dog Thurston?
Vanna: Thurston is an 11-year old MaltiPoo, which is a Maltese and Poodle mix. He never had any health problems, and he never seriously injured himself. Thurston has spine and joint pain, just from getting older. Those aren’t common problems for his breed, and it really kind of happened overnight. He started slowing down and became way less active. He was completely fine, and then over the course of a few days lost his desire to play, eat, or even get out of bed. Commonly, dogs will stop eating when they’re really sick, so that’s when we knew. We took him to a vet twice. On the first visit, the doctor told us that Thurston was losing weight, but that was most likely due to not eating. They tested him for cancer and it came back negative, thankfully. When we went back the second time, the vet put Thurston on a painkiller, plus another pill for nausea caused by the painkiller. So that was two pills, both costing hundreds of dollars monthly. We took the pills home, but ran into a problem getting Thurston to take them because he wasn’t eating. When we finally got him to take the pill, he threw up and ultimately became even less a fan of the pills. The nausea medication wasn’t working, so the painkillers tore his stomach up. Just like when humans take them, pills carry a lot of side effects for animals; the painkillers also pose the risk of serious liver damage, so they’re really only a temporary fix.
Marijuana.com: What do you think the awareness is among pet owners?
Marcy: It’s a mixed bag out there, really. There’s so little knowledge on the topic in general for humans, yet alone pets. When I do events, because of the type of packaging I have, you can’t tell what’s in the bag. What I do to let people know I have them is I framed a picture of my pug and put a little dog bowl next to it filled with treats. That way, it catches people’s eye and lets them know I have dog treats. It’s bringing awareness because I predominantly meet people that didn’t know it was even an option. There’s a small percentage of people that tell me they’ve been making stuff for their dog for years, or they’re at least in the know. The bulk of it is people who were unaware but are so glad to see it. Then they ask me if I have anything for cats [laughs].
Vanna Lavi: A friend that works at Weedmaps mentioned CBD oil to me, so I did a little bit of research on it and ordered some. I figured it couldn’t cause any more harm. There were two to three weeks prior where he wasn’t eating where we tried everything; pizza, cheese sticks, even froyo. This is a dog that will eat anything, and he wouldn’t touch it. He had zero appetite. On top of the loss of appetite, Thurston is also the kind of dog that will chase people around the house and bark his head off, but when he got sick he couldn’t have cared less. We gave him some CBD oil for the first time on a Friday night and by Saturday he was up and walking around already and eating.
Marijuana.com: What happens if Thurston misses a dosing?
Vanna: We give him a dose every 24 hours, but it isn’t as if 11 a.m. approaches and Thurston can’t walk. The oil just helps him overall, and his pain level has gotten a lot better. I think if we were to stop giving it to him for a week it would definitely affect him. The pain is still there, we see him hurting when he does certain activities. The CBD oil is also good for anxiety, which can be helpful with smaller breeds who tend to be high-strung.
The first time I got a bottle was probably about four months ago, and the second month he ran out before I could order another bottle because I didn’t have all the shipping set up. I believe Thurston ended up missing two days, but he was fine. You could tell he was a little off, so I do think he depends on it for his body pain. The only thing that has changed is he doesn’t go up the stairs anymore. He has tried here and there, but you can tell it hurts his back legs. Other than that, he’s up and walking around; he still runs, he still chases people, he still has the same energy and appetite. It is 100% the CBD oil helping him maintain his quality of life.
Marijuana.com: Marcy, have you run into any roadblocks with dogs reacting to the drug differently than humans?
Marcy: Because there has been so little research on cannabis in general, let alone for animals. There’s not a lot to go on, but I went to the Cannabis Expo in San Diego specifically because they were having speakers who were covering cannabis and pets. While I was a little bit disappointed by the take away from it, I realize it’s not their fault because there’s just not that much information out there. What little information and research we do have, shows that dogs have cannabinoid receptors that are extremely “sticky” compared to humans. They get a much louder experience from a small amount of cannabis compared to a human, which could be unsettling for a dog. Imagine getting paranoid after smoking, but it lasts 15 times longer.
Marijuana.com: So if dogs have cannabinoid receptors that are “stickier” than humans, does that mean that CBD has an amplified effect just as THC does?
Marcy: Correct. Lucky them, right? It stands to reason though because their lifespans are so accelerated that they would be able to receive the cannabinoids at a faster rate. It’s fascinating, really. The more we learn, the less we know. Unfortunately right now, most of the research we have is exactly what you’re doing right now; reaching out to people that have done it and seeing what their results are. What I’ve found, for the most part, is that it has an overwhelmingly positive effect. That’s why we continue.
Marijuana.com: Marcy, how are you treating your pets with cannabis?
Marcy: My current Pug is three, and she gets CBD daily. I want to see how her longevity is affected by having CBD in her life. My previous Pug suffered a lot of the typical degenerative hip and back issues with old age and didn’t have CBD in his life, though he was a pot-friendly dog. Every time I lit up or dropped a nug, he was on it. My current pug doesn’t like the smoke because it’s too hard for her to breathe; she has an especially squished in pug face. She loves the CBD, though, and she loves the 2:1 drops. The other day, I actually witnessed the moment that it “hit” her. Sometimes you’ve been smoking a strain for a while, but then one time it hits you extra hard. I could tell that day, whatever it was, it hit her just right. She exploded up and started running around barking at my other dog to get her to play. It was blast off time, funny as hell to watch.
Marijuana.com: Do you put the drops directly in the dog’s mouth, or on their food?
Marcy: I put it on her food because I feed my dogs dry food. My friend with the Pekingese was having the dog lick it right off the dropper.
Vanna: My mom gives it to Thurston straight from the syringe every morning around 11 A.M. and he’s fine now. The formula we use is strictly CBD, so there’s no psychoactive high.
Marijuana.com: Do they seem to like the taste or gravitate towards it when they know you have it out?
Marcy: Yes. In fact, when I don’t give it to my pug, she looks up at me like, “really? I’m not eating this food until you put that stuff on it.”
Marijuana.com: I wonder if they simply enjoy the taste or if they recognize the healing capabilities?
Vanna: I think Thurston hates the taste, but he recognizes the positive effect it has on him.
Marcy: They recognize they feel better. When I skip a day, they’ll hang out by the cabinet looking antsy. I can tell they love the CBD, they recognize the effect. Even the insects can tell the difference. I grow outdoors, and I have grasshoppers that bury their face in my cannabis plants even though I have an entire garden full of other vegetables and plants they could chew on. They recognize the anti-inflammatory properties of the plant. They’re not touching the bell peppers and tomatoes.
Marijuana.com: Vanna, has Thurston’s personality or interactions with family members been different since he started on the cannabis oil?
Vanna: I wouldn’t say he’s more upbeat than he was before he got sick, but he’s back to normal. He’s a lot calmer, but in a positive way. He’s mellowed out when necessary. My niece is home with him all day and she bangs him around. We were worried how the dog would react once my niece started to walk, but they’re two best buds. My niece is only one, and Thurston has been using the oil for four months, so it’s hard to tell the extent to which the oil has had an effect on their interaction. Before we started him on the oil, my niece wasn’t walking and was always in a playpen or car seat so Thurston had no idea what she was up to. He would bark, growl, and scratch because he was just curious as to what she was doing. Coincidentally, she started walking around the time that we started him on CBD oil, so it is hard to tell if their budding friendship is due to Thurston’s lowered anxiety. The oil definitely helps when she smacks him in the head, though. Thurston just takes it, he’s much more calm and chill when on the CBD oil than he was before.
The Veterinary Cancer Society states that cancer is the leading cause of death in 47% of dogs and 32% of cats. Because of the high cost of treatment and low quality of life, many animals afflicted with cancer are euthanized. Marijuana offers a relatively inexpensive alternative with very few, if any, of the side effects.
At this point in time, the ASPCA refuses to recommend medical marijuana for animals citing a lack of reliable data, and veterinarians are prohibited from prescribing it. For their part, the US Food and Drug Administration has said they are still in a fact-finding stage when it comes to marijuana products marketed for pets. Animal owners interested in trying marijuana pet products must often find a way to procure and administer the medicine without the guidance of a veterinary specialist.
Dr. Kiko Bracker, who leads the emergency and critical care teams at Angell Animal Medical Center in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, said, “if there is one silver lining to legalization, it’s that marijuana is not such a dangerous toxin to dogs. To my memory, I’ve seen one or two dogs that were very, very sick from marijuana, near comatose, for a few days, but that’s really the exception, not the rule.”
Currently, there is one major study being conducted by The University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with Dixie Brands, Inc., who own the pet brand Therabis. Dixie’s Therabis brand manufactures “hemp-based products to help your dog with itching, anxiety and joint mobility.” The brand’s spokesperson Joe Hodas admits that the industry is in its infancy, but there is tremendous potential.
“This is a very nascent industry. There isn’t a deep body of clinical work to support it yet. We have field trials. We have happy customers. And we believe we are helping our country’s pets,” Hodas stated to the Boston Globe.
While there is still a tremendous amount of research to be conducted before medical marijuana can garner widespread veterinarian support, many pet owners are taking the risk and going green. Greatly improving the quality of life for our beloved pets is yet another entry we can add to the extensive list of reasons that marijuana prohibition is not only ineffective but detrimental to our progress to a happier and healthier society.
On how Therabis measures the success of the infused pet products until science backs up their claims, Hodas added, “until we have those results back, we will have to stick with wagging tails and slobbery kisses for our feedback.”
