Any information contained herein is my opinion and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with your physician prior to trying any new supplements. Please review our disclaimer.
I discovered CBD and its benefits when reading a book about mushrooms and cannabis. I found the book and the topic interested me particularly as the lady who wrote it discussed the functional mushrooms helping support her dad through cancer. It’s this book and I highly recommend it.
I learned about the cannabis plant and the potential benefits from cannabis and its derivatives. I found the potential for CBD oil to help with pain and promote calmness and so many other things to be very interesting. I started out by buying a CBD pain relief stick and oil for my father to try to help with his neuropathy. (Read the article here for our story on mushrooms and his neuropathy.)
He tried it out a few times and before long he was applying it to sore joints and bumps and bruises for pain. It helped. I then purchased some gummies to try for sleep. I purchased the ones which were for calmness instead of sleep because I did not want the melatonin which is in the ones for sleep. Typically, when I can’t sleep it is because my brain has difficultly calming down and relaxing so I can rest. The gummies are available as THC free too, which is great! The gummies proved to do the trick and I use them occasionally to help for this. I’ve noticed I don’t need them every day or even each week. The balance and calm they help restore far outlasts the recommended dose per day.
After seeing the benefits of CBD for such a variety of ailments and reading more and more about its potential to help animals as well I discussed the idea with my cats’ veterinarian and decided to try some for my two cats.
My older (16 years old) cat has had trouble jumping up on the couch or bed and similar ailments that often accompany age. He has what seems to be arthritis as well. Sometimes when he tried to jump up on the couch, he wouldn’t quite make it and would fall back down. He would also seem to struggle getting down and seemed to try to cushion the impact by sliding as far as he could with his front paws before finally jumping with his back legs to the floor.
My younger cat (he’s 12) has an excess of energy (he’s part Egyptian Mao) and sometimes cannot seem to relax and settle down even after expending energy racing throughout the house for hours. In addition to this there were days he’d become excessively clingy and would constantly want to be held or touching someone as being in sight wasn’t enough even though we are not always home so the absence shouldn’t be stressful.
I wanted to know if CBD oil could help my older cat have easier mobility and my younger one achieve calmness and ease his stress. I researched and found a company that specializes in CBD for pets. I decided to try the treats for cats for ease of use and, as based on my cats’ weights multiple treats were considered a single dose, I could easily control how much was administered to them.
The first day I gave them each one treat (they can have 3-4 each up to 6 times a day – dose is based on weight of cat). Within about 15 minutes my younger cat was walking in a very mellow relaxed way. He was extremely calm while still enjoying watching birds out the window. Over the next several hours when my older cat moved about and hopped up on and down from the couch, he seemed to move more gracefully like it was less of a struggle than normal.
We waited a few days and then gave each cat one treat again. It had the same effect as before. We’ve now been giving them these CBD treats for a couple of months, typically just one about every three days. Both cats seem to be helped by them and when we go to get anything from the shelf where they are kept the cats watch intently. When they hear me take the bag with the treats out, they sit and meow until they get one so they certainly seem to be tasty as well.
If you have a pet that you think could benefit from CBD I’d recommend discussing with your vet so you can give them a try.