How cannabis can cure your dog

Shock research results have shown dogs suffering a range of ailments could benefit from taking a controversial drug.

Dogs might be man’s best friend but a dog’s best friend could turn out to be cannabis.

New research has found medicinal cannabis can help relieve the stress canines feel when left home alone by their owner or when they travel by car.

With the end of Covid lockdowns and many people returning to the office there are plenty of pandemic puppies in need of help with anxiety.

Looking for a solution, researchers at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute in the UK trialled cannabidiol to see if it would help.

The study, published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, found an oral dose of (4 mgs per kg of body weight) of cannabidiol (CBD) had a significant calming effect on the animals.

In the study involving 20 dogs, some were given cannabidiol, a version of cannabis that does not produce a high, and others were given a dummy treatment.

Researchers measured the blood levels of stress hormone cortisol, ear temperature, heart rate and whether the dog whined, trembled or panting.

Two hours after being given the treatment, the dogs were left home alone or taken on a car trip.

Researchers found multiple measures of the dogs’ stress improved following administration of CBD.

Dogs given medicinal cannabis suffered less stress. Picture: iStock

The dogs treated with CBD were scored as significantly less “sad”, had significantly lower cortisol levels, exhibited less whining and were in a more relaxed emotional state overall than dogs that received a placebo.

“We know pet owners try various approaches – from training to medications and supplements – to help their dogs cope with stressful situations often with mixed results,” said Chief Medical Officer of Mars Veterinary Health Dr Jennifer Welser.

“We’re focused on scientific inquiry that generates knowledge that can inform pet professionals’ and pet owners’ decisions. So, this study is important because it gives us new evidence that CBD at the dose studied can be beneficial for dogs in specific circumstances.”

Dogs were given a dose of the drug once per day over a six-month period to check whether long term use was safe and concluded that it was.

The Waltham Petcare Science Institute is part of dog food giant Mars Petcare which not manufacture or sell products with CBD.

Last year a small Australian study of 31 people by youth mental health service Orygen found cannabidiol (CBD) almost halved (42.6 per cent) the severity of in anxiety severity in humans.

Dr Vicki Kotsirilos, an Australian GP who prescribes medicinal cannabis for her patients, said it didn’t surprise her that the study in dogs found the drug CBD helped reduce stress in dogs.

“We naturally produce endocannabinoids which play an important role in our bodies at times of stress but we need further research to validate those findings and in particular, in humans if they are useful for short term anxiety,” Dr Kotsirilos, who is affiliated with the University of Western Sydney, said.

Vets can’t prescribe medicinal cannabis Picture: iStock

However, she said vets were not authorised to prescribe medicinal cannabis in Australia and she would not recommend using it in dogs until further high quality studies were done.

“I wouldn’t recommend it at this stage. This is a short term trial and these dogs are getting monitored. There are side effects even to CBD. This is just a very small trial. There needs to be more evidence,” she said.

In Australia, cannabidiol has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as a prescription treatment for children with rare forms of epilepsy (Dravet syndrome and Lennox Gastaut syndrome).

The TGA has also approved low-dose CBD-containing products, up to a maximum of 150 mg/day, for use in adults, to be supplied over-the-counter by a pharmacist, without a prescription.

However, to date not a single CBD company has a product approved because there are no clinical studies to back its efficacy.

Dr Kotsirilos said a recent study into whether low dose cannabidiol improved sleep found it did not help.

Originally published as How cannabis can cure your dog