What Are Some Of Our Favorite Pet Products?

Posted October 18th, 2019

by the GWL Team

Too Many Furry Friends?

Between the three women in the office, we have 7 cats, 5 dogs, 2 guinea pigs, 1 bearded dragon and 1 fish.  There used to be 2 fish, but we had a sad sad day last month at the Palmer house. RIP, Princess. So, I guess you could say we love pets.  We know that mammals all share the same endocannabinoid system, and we hear awesome stories every week about CBD helping those furry family members. Let’s dive into some of our favorites for a pet product review this week:

Brandy

My dog Lilly is a 6 year old labradoodle.  No one has told her, though, so she’s firmly convinced that she’s still a pup – complete with short attention span and all.  When she was actually a puppy, we dealt with severe separation anxiety. She was destructive when we left her home alone, and when we crated her, she would actually injure her face trying to chew her way out of the crate.  Neither of us felt good about that situation and I started her on daily Purfurred Drops for Pets. We saw some improvement within about a week – by the end of week two, she was much less anxious. We gave her the Purfurred drops for pet every day for about 9 months and then I ran out and missed a couple days. (Much like the cobbler’s son having no shoes, I sometimes forget CBD)  I then decided to be intentional about stopping the CBD to see the impact on her anxiety. Quite frankly, there was none. I think that those anxious behaviours were no longer habit, so she didn’t need the daily CBD any more. We still gave her treats during storms or before we hosted events, but that was about it with no behavioral lapse.

Fast forward a few years to this past summer and our family underwent a major change by moving to a new home.  We moved in June, and Lilly initially handled it well. Likely this credit is owed to her human brother and sister who were home on summer break.  When they headed back to school in August, her anxiety and anxious (destructive) behaviors re-emerged with a vengeance and we went back to daily CBD oil.  She’s larger, so I wanted to move away from the Purfurred into a higher strength option. Lilly is just shy of 50 lbs and pretty active, so I split her daily serving in half and give it to her a.m. and p.m. on her food.  She likes the oily base and goes right for it like a treat. We started with an isolate tincture from Select (now Social CBD) in the Peanut Butter flavor. While she really liked the taste and would come running when she saw the bottle, I was giving her a dropper (25 mg) daily and still seeing some breakthrough behaviors.  My next move was to Bluebird. Bluebird Companion Oil is a full-spectrum oil that contains cannabinoids, hemp seed oil, and not a thing more. It’s a 2 oz bottle and I started with ½ dropper a.m. and p.m. for Lilly. That’s only about 16mg daily – less than the Select that I started with, but we know that we tend to need less when using a full-spectrum versus an isolate tincture.  It’s got a strong, earthy scent as well, so I was a little concerned with how well Lilly would take to it. She’s a bit of a diva! In short, she loves it. There has been no hesitation – she still loves that oil base and will eat it right away. We’re not seeing those anxious or destructive behaviors at all – she’s been able to settle comfortably into our new home. Finally. I have had some issues with the bottle sealing with a bit of annoying leakage, but otherwise, this has been a great fit for us. For the record, Cara and her pack of dogs are also huge Bluebird fans.  We may have done “paper-rock-scissors” to decide who got to write about it. I won!

Cara

My pets make me smile and laugh every day no matter what the circumstances.  They mean a lot to me, and because of this, I make sure I take good care of them.  One of the ways I do this is through regular CBD. All of my pets get CBD for varying reasons.  I have tried many different products. I love my Bluebird Companion CBD but Brandy stole it. No worries, though, there are a couple of other go-to pet products at my house as well.

We are pretty regular animal rescuers at my house – which is how we ended up with a total of 7 furry family members. One of these beautiful beasts is new to our pack. Luna is a Great White Pyrenees who came to us a mess from a bad backyard breeding situation.  She has had considerable skin issues and we have been trying just about everything. One of the products I have been using to soothe her itchy skin is our Panacea Canine Restore balm.   I have been applying under her arms and on her belly where she is itchy and inflamed. It has been helping to reduce the inflammation and to aid in her discomfort and scratching. We think her issues are food allergy-related at this point.  While we work to narrow down the source, the Panacea balm and internal CBD are helping to tone it down for her. I know that the Panacea balm is clean enough to eat, so I’m comfortable using it as a tool to soothe that nasty itch for our Luna.

Another popular pick in our house is the Treatibles Pet Chews.  We have another rescue named Rizzo. He is a pit bull mix from an abusive background and he is so anxious.  The poor guy needs puppy Xanax for his neuroses. Because we are committed to natural solutions, he gets CBD pet treats instead.  He takes daily CBD but when we have visitors, Rizzo gets an additional treat. We have found this product to be easy and convenient and he likes them.  We love Treatibles and our home is never without them. Even my picky girl Molly likes them – but only the Blueberry flavor. She prefers Koi Chews. She is a princess!

Hannah: Pet Product Review

I grew up in a house full of fur, but when I moved out on my own I had a very clearly cat shaped hole in my heart. This past summer I adopted a kitten from Quinton’s friend (thanks Amon) and now Juno is the center of my world. When I first heard that we were tasked with reviewing some of our pet products, I was initially concerned about Juno’s age. She is only a little more than 3 months old and I did not want to introduce her to something that could inhibit her development. I did some research and found nothing regarding the inability to process CBD so long as her endocannabinoid system is fully developed. There are definitely less CBD options on the market for cats than dogs.  We do see products marketed for both.  One thing to keep in mind there is that cats are true carnivores and may have difficulty digesting some of the more common base oils used in CBD tinctures, like MCT oil.  While some kitties can handle it just fine, others may have tummy trouble. We recommend sticking to a fish or olive oil base for cat tinctures, just to be on the safe side.  Since my little furry monster is very treat motivated, I opted for the HolistaPet cat treats. I give her half a treat (each treat has 2mgs of CBD) before I leave in the morning.  The differences were minute at first, but after about 10 days there was undeniable change.

One of the first things that I noticed changed was Juno’s sneezing. She used to sneeze a few times a day and as obnoxiously adorable as that is, kitty allergies are no fun. Since taking 1mg of CBD each day she has stopped sneezing almost entirely. I am conflicted with excitement for her lack of allergies and disappointment that I won’t hear a small angel sneezing as she roams around my apartment anymore. However, the main benefit that I, along with my 3 other roommates, saw was Juno’s demeanor. She hasn’t lost her spunk and still chases her tail like her life depends on it, but she just doesn’t seem as on edge all the time. She used to get spooked by the slightest of movement. One time all I did was walk past her while she lounged on the couch and she startled so badly that she fell off the couch. It didn’t matter if it was a cabinet closing, a door swinging, or the blinds being drawn, she would get spooked. Now she seems less anxious about her environment and can freely enjoy lounging and tail chasing like a kitten should. Juno may not suffer from severe anxiety or arthritis, but she does have a better quality of life when taking CBD than when not. I can’t imagine my life without her, so if using scissors to cut up half a cat treat in the morning can make her world better, I will do so for the rest of my days.

Your Turn!

Now that you know all about our furry friends and how we incorporate CBD into their lives, it’s your turn to see what CBD addition you want to add to your critter’s routine. Also, don’t miss out on our spooky trick or Treatibles giveaway with pet purchases next week. Please feel free to email us videos with you and your pets enjoying CBD as much as our furry friends do!