How Long Does It Take for Hemp Extract Oil to Work for Pets?
Pet owners love to spoil their pets. From toys to clothes to treats, consumers love shopping for their animals. And in recent years, they’ve started looking to hemp extract oil as a possible solution for many common pet problems, making hemp extract oil for pets a competitive market.
A simple Google search will yield thousands of products and coupons for hemp pet products. But there’s not much content and information on how hemp extract actually works for pets. As the popularity of hemp extracts continue to surge in the pet care market, it’s time to break down the hows and whys of hemp extract oil for pets.
The Hemp Extract Oil Pet Market
Pets are becoming an increasingly important part of people’s lives, so it’s unsurprising that pet-related sales are growing rapidly.
Research predicts that, in the US, pet store sales will increase from approximately USD $19.5 billion in 2018 to around USD $22.39 billion by 2023. Additionally, the global pet care market is primed to reach USD $202.6 billion by 2025.
Looking at the hemp extract oil pet market, in particular, sales quadrupled from 2017 to 2018, increasing from USD $8 million to a whopping USD $32 million. Hemp extract oil pet sales are anticipated to reach USD $125 million by 2022, making hemp oil products for pets one of the fastest-growing areas in the hemp extract market.
But why the sudden surge in sales? Pet owners clearly have their reasons for buying hemp extract oil for pets, and these reasons are backed by both anecdotal evidence and research.
Why are people giving their pets Hemp Extract?
Similar to humans, hemp extract has a lot of potential to help reduce anxiety in pets, especially situational anxiety.
A recent news story indicates that a woman named Joanne Schaus noticed that her dog would pace and pant during the frequent storms in her city. She tried all the traditional methods to help him, including a thunder shirt, to no avail. However, after researching hemp extract oil, Joanne decided to try it out. After a few weeks, her dog showed significant improvement in his storm-induced anxiety, and sometimes her dog didn’t even notice when a storm was happening. Still, if the weather is particularly violent, her dog gets a little nervous, but she has seen improvement overall, and she’s not the only one.
Another news story suggests that Jeffrey Powers, DVM, had a senior dog, Ella, who was afraid of both thunder and fireworks. The poor dog would immediately run off to find a place to hide. However, giving his dog hemp extract oil helped ease Ella’s anxiety in times that would usually be stressful for her.
These anecdotes are not the only evidence that illustrates how hemp extract is therapeutic for pets. Similarly, easing anxiety is not the only thing hemp extract oil can relieve in animals. Research on the efficacy of hemp extract in animals is still lacking, but there have been a few promising studies on whether it can be helpful for osteoarthritis and epilepsy in dogs.
Research on Hemp Extract Oil for pets
A 2018 study on dogs with osteoarthritis aimed to discover whether hemp extract oil was safe, anti-inflammatory, and had anti-pain properties — overall, the findings showed encouraging results. Researchers found that 80 percent of the dogs experienced a decrease in pain and an increase in mobility because of hemp extract.
However, what’s more interesting is a study on idiopathic epilepsy. The condition affects nearly 6% of pet dogs worldwide, making it the most common neurological condition in canines. A pilot study led by Dr. Stephanie McGrath assessed the short-term usefulness of hemp extract for dogs with epilepsy.
The study was small, using just 16 dogs, and nine of them were given hemp extract oils, while the other seven dogs in the control group were given a placebo. The nine dogs in the test group received hemp extract oil for 12 weeks, and both groups were required to stay on anti-convulsant medication throughout the experiment. When McGrath analyzed the results, she discovered that 89 percent of dogs in the test group had fewer seizures.
While this is all encouraging news for pet owners, it can still be hard for them to get their hemp extract questions answered. Surprisingly, most veterinarians are unable to discuss hemp extract for pets despite the promising research on it.
How Hemp Extract Interacts with Animals’ Endocannabinoid System
Cats and dogs do have an endocannabinoid system, and it is very similar to that of humans. One key difference is that these animals retain more hemp extract through their digestive tract. When the founder of Kat’s Naturals spoke to a veterinarian about this difference, the vet explained that cats and dogs have a longer digestive tract than humans, so there is more time to absorb the hemp extract.
Additionally, animals have different stomachs than humans, with different enzymes. The vet speculates that because of these enzymes, the phytocannabinoids break down faster in animals’ stomachs, leading to greater hemp extract absorption. This process is one reason why edibles might work better for animals than in humans.
However, the vet still believes that administering hemp extract oil for pets sublingually leads to the best overall absorption. While it’s true that pets absorb more hemp extract from edibles than humans, pets still experience greater absorption with sublingual hemp extract.
This insight is good news for pet owners because hemp extract pet treats can often start at USD $50, even though they may not contain much hemp extract at all. Conversely, a pet owner could purchase a 300ml bottle of hemp extract oil for a similar price, which would last a lot longer than treats and be more effective for the animal.
But once pet owners decide between an edible or sublingual product, how long will it take for the remedy to work once they administer it to their animals? This question is another common topic that pet owners can’t readily get the answer to when they buy hemp extract oil for pets.
The Time it Takes for Hemp Extract Oil to Work for Pets
If hemp extract oil is put into a pet’s food, it takes longer for the cannabinoid to take effect than if it’s administered orally or in the ear. Specifically, it takes between 20 and 45 minutes for the oil to work when an animal consumes the hemp extract with food.
On the other hand, if a pet owner puts sublingual oil between their pet’s lips and teeth, underneath their pet’s tongue, or mixes it with something that stays in the oral cavity for a while, it will take about 10 to 15 minutes before the hemp extract begins to take effect. When rubbed into the pet’s ear, that time decreases to five to 10 minutes.
But one thing that pet owners need to consider is how much hemp extract oil they give their animals. The dosage required varies from animal to animal, just like it varies from human to human. The dosage of hemp extract oil depends largely on how well the animal’s endocannabinoid system works. One dog may only need five drops of oil to feel an effect within an appropriate time frame, while another dog might need ten drops to feel anything in that same time frame.
Finding the right dosage for pets will take some trial-and-error. However, once pet owners settle on a dosage, over time, the animal will need less and less hemp extract oil to feel an effect. As with humans, hemp extract oil can build up in an animal’s fat cells, making their bodies dump out the hemp extract and its therapeutic properties along with it. But this does not happen overnight. It takes a while for hemp extract to build up in the body, but after six to eight weeks of consistent use, pet owners should lower their animal’s dose to produce the same effects with less oil.
Hemp Extract for Pets is Promising for Four-Legged Friends
While much of the evidence for the efficacy of hemp extract for pets is anecdotal, there is a growing body of research that suggests it can be a therapeutic remedy for animals.
For pet owners looking to buy hemp extract oil for their pets, it’s crucial to take into account that each animal is different, and what works for one pet might not work the same for another. But despite the personalization that pet owners will need to implement, hemp extract for pets is a promising avenue for pet owners who prefer natural therapeutic products.