During quarantine, your pet is doing double duty. He or she provides a constant source of companionship during the workday and after-hours. While this is most likely a responsibility your four-legged friend welcomes, he or she may still be feeling the strain of quarantine in other ways. Your own stress can be contagious — even if you don’t realize it. Beyond that, an upheaval of the daily routine (fewer walks, fewer trips for treats, and even fewer guests) can all adversely affect your pet’s well-being. So, what’s the solution?
There are several ways you can keep your emotional support animal feeling great during the quarantine period. We devote special focus to CBD — an all-natural compound that can benefit your pet’s health in a myriad of ways — but we also cover other steps you can take to make quarantine healthy and fun for your furry friend.
What Is CBD?
CBD is the big focus of this article and for good reason. This all-natural substance is showing tremendous potential as an all-around health-promoting product — and it’s easy to order and use at home. This makes it a great choice for quarantined pet owners and their furry friends.
So, what is CBD? Short for “cannabidiol,” CBD is a special chemical compound known as a cannabinoid. There are well over 100 cannabinoids, with most found exclusively in the cannabis sativa plant. Notable cannabinoids include CBD, THC, CBN, and CBG. CBD is one of the most common among these, and is typically found in high concentrations in hemp, the non-intoxicating cannabis plant. In the United States, “hemp” is classified as cannabis sativa that contains no more than 0.3% THC content on a dry weight basis, per FDA regulations established by the 2018 Farm Bill.
Unlike its famous psychoactive cousin THC, CBD does not induce any psychoactive effects upon ingestion. Instead, its effects come in the form of feeling better every day. To understand how CBD works in the body, it’s first important to know that the body produces cannabinoids (endocannabinoids). Endocannabinoids bind with special receptors in the cells throughout the brain, nervous system, and immune system to power the endocannabinoid system. Most importantly, researchers believe that the endocannabinoid system is involved in a huge range of bodily functions, keeping them balanced and running optimally.
How Can CBD Help Pets?
Circling back to CBD and its benefits, researchers believe that this plant-derived cannabinoid, when ingested, can function similarly to and augment the body’s own endocannabinoids. Once consumed, CBD may help the endocannabinoid system reach and maintain an optimized state of balance, or “homeostasis,” which in turn promotes better functioning in all of the processes regulated by the endocannabinoid system.
The specific benefits of CBD in humans and animals are still being explored, but so far findings have been promising. All mammals, including humans, cats, and dogs, have an endocannabinoid system, which allows them to experience the natural benefits of CBD. For pets, CBD’s positive influence on the endocannabinoid system can promote cardiovascular function, support healthy joints, and encourage neurological health and emotional behavior.
Products with CBD for Your Pet
Besides its apparent natural health benefits, one of the best things about CBD is that it can be used and consumed in a number of different ways. Today’s top manufacturers have formulated a wide range of effective and affordable hemp oil with CBD products for pets, including oils, soft chews, and topicals. Let’s take a closer look at these products to see which ones may be right for your pet.
Providing the benefits of CBD in a convenient liquid form hemp oils and hemp tinctures are usually given during mealtime.
Another popular product for pets is the hemp soft chew with CBD. Formulated in small, pre-portioned serving sizes, hemp soft chews with CBD for cats and dogs are another way to add CBD to a pet’s diet without hassle. Some of today’s top manufacturers also offer these chews in a number of different formulations to target different areas of your pet’s health.
Unlike oils and chews, which are consumed internally, CBD topicals are applied to the surface of your pet’s skin to disseminate their ingredients into the skin and surrounding tissue. Ideal for pets suffering from dry or irritated skin, as well as pets exhibiting symptoms from muscle or joint discomfort from everyday activity, topicals hemp oil with CBD balms are a great way to bring natural relief into your pet’s life without changing his or her diet.
Other Reasons to Choose Products with CBD for Your Pet
The top hemp oil with CBD pet products in the industry today also contain a host of additional ingredients that can support and improve your pet’s health in several ways. These ingredients that are naturally found in hemp oil include essential vitamins and minerals, healthy fatty acids, terpenes, flavonoids, and much, much more. Adding them into your pet can greatly benefit his or her well-being — all while making CBD easy (even tasty) to enjoy.
Quick Tips for Improving Quarantine for Your Pet
We’ve spent most of this article talking about the benefits of CBD for your pet — but this all-natural super-substance is far from the only solution for furry friends in quarantine. Here are some quick tips you can use to make quarantine fun and healthy for you and your pet.
Schedule walks in off-hours. In your community, there are probably a few times during each day when most people are out and about. Although everyone is doing their best to socially-distance, these high-traffic hours can make it hard to walk your pet. To keep everyone safe, we suggest finding a less-crowded time of the day to go for a walk.
Bring the outside in. Just like you, pets can go stir-crazy being cooped inside all day. Help them experience the great outdoors without actually bringing them outside by letting them hang out on your balcony or porch, sit on a leash or in your arms in your front yard, or by simply opening a window inside. If you have a backyard, that should be your first choice.
Give your pet some space. Our third and final tip will likely be one you haven’t thought of: Since you’re quarantined, you’re naturally going to be spending a lot of quality time with your pet. Depending on the specific owner and pet in question, this quality time can get to be too much. While perhaps your closest friend, your pet is not a comfort object. He or she is a living, breathing animal — one that needs some freedom to roam around, stretch out, and do his or her own thing. Grant your pet this freedom, and you both will be the better for it.
Sources
Hemp Production and the 2018 Farm Bill. Testimony of Amy Abernethy, Md, PhD., Principal Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner, U.S. Food & Drug Administration. July 25, 2019.