Exploring the Potential and Challenges of Cannabinoids for Pets: Insights from Robert Silver, DVM MS CVA

As interest in cannabinoid-based therapies continues to grow, so too does interest in the effects of cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on pets such as dogs, cats, and horses.

For insights into veterinary uses for cannabinoids and pets, Madeline Colli, Editor of Cannabis Science and Technology, sat down with Robert Silver, DVM MS CVA, author of the book, Medical Marijuana and Your Pet and founder of the Well-Pet Dispensary. In the interview, Dr. Silver covers a variety of topics including dosing and administration of cannabinoids to animals, the effects on different species, potential adverse effects, federal laws, research, and more.

In this sneak peek, we cover potential benefits of minor cannabinoids for pets, the role of terpenes in pet products, and emerging research on cannabis and epilepsy.

Watch the video clip, read the transcript below, and stay tuned for more on cannabis and veterinarian medicine!

Madeline Colli: Is there any new and emerging research on pets and cannabinoids that has caught your eye recently?

Robert Silver:We have had a couple of decent studies in epilepsy. One study used that blend of CBD and CBDA, and at fairly reasonably low dosages of about a milligram per each of those, or twice daily. And they were able to get reasonably good success, better success than the other study that was done at CSU by McGrath, in terms of treating dogs who have what we call “treatment resistant epilepsy,” that's a very similar condition to what Charlotte Figi had, the child that got things started with Charlotte's Web and the whole interest in in CBD for these intractable epileptics. So that was good. And these are really very sad cases, because they could be on three different types of anti-convulsant drugs. They could be walking zombies, because many of these drugs create a sedation, and yet still have seizures. And the drugs are expensive, the dogs are miserable, so if we can find anything that can help with that… And that's good that they were able to do that.

I think that with dogs who are not having treatment resistant epilepsy, anecdotally, from what I have been talking to pet parents about, is that if they've got the seizures only occasionally, we feel that we don't really want to use drugs to treat seizures in a dog, because the drugs are so strong and potentially have their own downsides, unless the dog is having seizures frequently. And frequently would mean like weekly, really, if it's like once a month that's not frequent enough, maybe twice a month you start to get on the on the edge of making that decision. So for those dogs that are infrequent with their seizures and not very severe, and sometimes that's just the beginning, well maybe over time they may progress to be worse. We've seen good response to doses of CBD for these epileptics that are uncomplicated. When I treat an animal, I don't just use the CBD. I would, with an epileptic, I might use an herb, I might use a high dose of fish oil, because fish oil is a natural anti-inflammatory, and good for epilepsy, and had can gain high levels in the brain, so but just talking about cannabinoids, that's kind of what we find.