Cbd oil for cats?

[Musiaka]

I was looking into cbd oil for myself and on the website I'm about to order it from, I saw a pet version of it, suitable for cats and dogs. After reading about it, I found out that it can help a variety of ailments, including chronic inflammation, liver function, ibs in cats. Has anyone tried it and seen improvement in those things?

 

[daftcat75]

I just posted about this.
CBD for cancer?

If Musiaka is not having other medications, it might help. It probably won't hurt. But if he has other prescriptions, you should discuss CBD use with your vet, if he is willing (and many are not because CBD is still not approved for veterinary use), or search Google for specific CBD and X interactions where X is the drug name of his medications.

This is not precisely the same because "cannabis" here refers to THC. But THC and CBD are chemically similar and will likely have the same interactions.
Cannabis Interactions - Drugs.com Interactions Checker

 

[fionasmom]

I do own CBD oil (purchased specifically for pets) and have for some time. It was never intended for cancer, so I have no advice there. Because the use of CBD is still more or less a wide open subject, I became worried about drug interactions which might not be understood yet so never really used it, especially with my dog who is on a lot of meds. The dog's vet is in the category of those who are unwilling to discuss it's use but, since she is a miracle worker in every other respect, I don't hold that against her.

Memorial Sloan Kettering has stated that there has been some promising use for it against glioblastomas in humans.

 

[WeHave4]

I got some a few months ago, but haven't used it much, mainly because Alice is taking prednisolone daily (2.5 mg) and, up until today, mirataz and/or mirtazapine as needed. So, I didn't want to confuse things by adding in one more unknown. Some days are better than others, but lately, there have been a lot of bad ones. The vet wants her to stop taking the mirataz and mirtazapine for now. Fine, then this is a good opportunity to see what cbd oil might do. I will give her 3 drops, in the morning, at the same time as her pred. The trick is though, how do you squirt just 3 drops directly into her mouth? I have taken the dropper with oil in it, and squeezed out most of it, then counted the number of drops left, just to give me a visual clue as to the level. I already tried the trick of putting it (one drop) in her food. No way would she eat it. "This food tastes icky".

 

[daftcat75]

I got some a few months ago, but haven't used it much, mainly because Alice is taking prednisolone daily (2.5 mg) and, up until today, mirataz and/or mirtazapine as needed. So, I didn't want to confuse things by adding in one more unknown. Some days are better than others, but lately, there have been a lot of bad ones. The vet wants her to stop taking the mirataz and mirtazapine for now. Fine, then this is a good opportunity to see what cbd oil might do. I will give her 3 drops, in the morning, at the same time as her pred. The trick is though, how do you squirt just 3 drops directly into her mouth? I have taken the dropper with oil in it, and squeezed out most of it, then counted the number of drops left, just to give me a visual clue as to the level. I already tried the trick of putting it (one drop) in her food. No way would she eat it. "This food tastes icky".

There's a risk with CBD and pred together that they both require the same liver enzymes for detoxification. CBD can make pred metabolize more slowly making it last longer. This may not be a good thing. That is a lower pred dose (2.5 mg/day.) Your vet may not be willing or able to discuss CBD because of its lack of FDA approval and its previous legal gray area. The farm bill a few years ago should have fixed the legal question. But some vets may still be nervous about it because there haven't been enough veterinary studies. Still, keep your vet in the loop about the CBD. Also ask your vet if there is any monitoring s/he would like to do (like a 2 month checkup or something) to make certain that the CBD hasn't exacerbated the potential for long-term effects from pred.

All of that out of the way, have you tried mixing the CBD oil with salmon oil? I would drop your three drops onto a plate and use a toothpick to mix in as small amount of salmon oil as you need to get her to lap it up (or at least disguise it within food.) Some cats like saccharomyces boulardii (a yeast-based probiotic.) It has the unique advantage of becoming tacky like dough when wet. You may be able to make "treats" out of the CBD oil, salmon oil, and s. boulardii. Use as little of each oil as necessary so that you don't have to make too big a yeasty bite. Or make multiple bites if you need to (and they prove popular) in order to sop up all the oil. Nutritional yeast has a cheesy flavor that some cats go for. You may be able to do the same here if you strike out with s. boulardii.

 

[WeHave4]

Yeah, I didn't quite dare say anything to him about the cbd. I thought I would just try it, and see what happens. I figure it could take at least a week to see if was helping. As far as mixing it with anything goes, finding something that she actually likes is like a needle in a haystack. I've been down that road before. Not fun. She seems to hate everything cats are "supposed to" love. So far, I haven't chanced upon anything. Prefer to stick with the dropper for now, despite the measurement difficulty.

 

[daftcat75]

You should mention the CBD use with your vet. Even if he doesn't feel comfortable guiding you one way or the other, it's worth the disclosure for safety reasons, e.g. interactions with other prescriptions.

You can also look up the interactions here. Cannabis here traditionally refers to THC. But CBD and THC are very similar molecules that use the same liver enzymes. Thus one would expect they would have the same interactions.
Cannabis Interactions Checker - Drugs.com

 

[WeHave4]

There are no known interactions with prednisolone. I did ask him about cbd oil when he called with the mostly good news on her blood work (glucose a bit high, but could just be due to stress, from the car ride -over 1/2 hour, and office visit). His main concern was that not enough was known about it, and also that the levels of the many chemical compounds in it could vary. I haven't seen anything that suggests it to be possibly dangerous.The doseage is 1 drop per 5 lbs. body weight, up to 4 times daily, but I'm only going to give her the 3 drops (for 16 lbs.) once daily, for 1 week. I keep daily records of her medications, food, etc.