First I have to say that I am a very big supporter of CBD, cannabis, and marijuana use for medicinal use (and pot for recreational use) in humans because not only have I seen firsthand how well it works for some people with certain conditions but I've read studies/articles about it as well. My question for you guys though is have you used CBD on your dog/cat because of an ailment they have? If you have, what was it for, how long before you started seeing improvement in your animal, and what was the outcome of the usage? I asked our on-call vet because my regular vet was on vacation for the holiday and her answer was pretty much copy & paste vocally from a liability website "the FDA does not support the use of CBD in animals and I can not recommend this for your dog". So I'm just curious about how your experiences have been with CBD.
I should say that the whole reason I even ask this is because at the beginning of December I rushed my dog in to an emergency vet on a Saturday night because she was having issues where she was walking like she was drunk, falling over, and had tremors and spasms in her body. For those who have any firsthand experience with Parkinson's, the best thing I can describe her as is someone with late stage Parkinson's who is drunk. That vet thought it was exposure to antifreeze and told us basically to either take her to a more specialize emergency vet in town immediately where they would monitor her over night or we could take her there the next day if she didn't get better. Because antifreeze is a virtual death sentence if ingested, I refused to leave my dog at a vet's office where she would be all alone for the last hours of her life and therefore I decided to take her home where she would be loved. The next day she wasn't any better and in fact was worse so I took her to the emergency vet. They said that quite frankly if it was exposure to antifreeze on the day I said she may have been exposed, she would have been dead by now. He felt it was meningoencelphalitis (generic term vets use for meningitis since it affects more than just one area) and started her on 2 antibiotics and a steroid. He recommended an MRI and spinal tap/culture to confirm the cause of the meningitis but said we can treat it with the antibiotics and go from there. Fast forward 3 other trips to the vet and about $1500 later, we have seen little progress in her and are trying to save up the $2500 for the MRI and the trip 3 hours north of us to the vet school to get the MRI done. We're hoping that will be done within the next 2-3 weeks. We're seriously considering the CBD thing as now that her symptoms aren't getting better I think it may be a neurological issue not an infection issue.
So have any of you used CBD on a pet & if so please answer the questions from the first paragraph.
And before judgemental assholes decide to add their own two cents as to how much is being spent on "just a dog", this "just a dog" is considered family to myself and my boyfriend. This "just a dog" is a registered support animal. I would do anything I possibly could to make her better and am exploring all options at this point.