I have a rescue dog with severe anxiety. I just don’t know what to do for her. She hides all day. Has anyone successfully used CBD oil (or anything else) to ease anxiety in dogs?
I have a severely anxious dog with major PTSD issues. She is on a high dose of Prozac along with Solliquin and melatonin. We tried gabapentin per the behaviorist but it had no effect. A compression shirt helps sometimes too. We have also paired this with thousands of dollars worth of professional training and two years of patience. She’s never going to be easy but at least we both have a better quality of life now.
I tried CBD oil for about three weeks and saw no huge difference in my dog’s behavior. He is a Shollie, German Shepherd/ Collie cross, and his anxiety has gotten progressively worse in the past year. He would walk around whining and fretting, and had started chewing himself around his sheath, to the point where that area was turning black and starting to get infected.
I took him in for his his annual checkup and vaccinations, and told the vet what he was doing. The vet did like the idea of the CBD oil, but also suggested he add a drug called Reconcile. The drug is supposed to be used in conjunction with behavioral training. I did use Reconcile and the CBD oil together, and did see a difference once adding the Reconcile, so decided to drop the CBD oil. He has done fine on just the Reconcile alone, but I am working to get him off it. We have added a lot of walking to our routine and physical activity.
VetriScience makes a good vitamin/herbal chew that includes Vit. B1- called “Composure”. It does help- give it a week or so to kick in.
Many anxious dogs are B vitamin depleted from so much anxiety, surgery, illness, etc. Just like in our horse sometimes
using Magnesium and/or Vitamin B1 can help.
Also make sure you’re feeding a high quality dog food. Cheap dog foods can sometimes contribute to this.
VetriScience makes a good vitamin/herbal chew that may help. It has Vit. B1 which is known to help w/ anxiety.
It’s called “Composure” and is available on amazon.
Also make sure you’re feeding a high quality dog food. So many cheap foods are so depleted in real vitamins.
A great supplement for B vitamins is Beef Liver. found in your supermarket frozen foods section. Just cook it up and
cut into bite sized pcs. I feed it several times per week since it’s loaded in lots of good vitamins.
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I’ve tried a couple of brands of CBD products for a couple of dogs and never seen any benefit. I know folks who swear by it! But my experience has been otherwise.
I have had luck with Composure or the Vermont Dog Naturals equivalent for “normal” anxiety: travel stress, vet visits, and the like.
For my dog with GAD, none of the over the counter stuff even began to touch him until we found a prescription med regimen that worked for him. Once we had that squared away, he did begin to respond to Composure (rather than needing a rescue Rx med) for special events. But at this point he’s so stable on his baseline meds that we don’t do anything extra. His behaviorist tells me this is not an unusual pattern for the more extreme cases.
NILIF (Nothing in life is free…training/lifestyle)helps dogs with anxiety because it teaches them what to expect, and that they can have some control over certain outcomes. It is not punitive. Just that certain behaviors are permitted, and that they have clear boundaries. It makes them more confident.
fearfuldogs.com is also a good resource.
I took in a feral dog that had been on his own for about 5 yrs with no human contact other than people shooting bottle rockets at him, throwing rocks at him, etc. Took 9 months of leaving food and water beside the road at the same time of day, every day, before i could catch him. He turned out to be a wonderful dog.(my avatar).
Melatonin can help with noise phobia (1 mg per 20 lbs of bodyweight, up to 3 total mg for dogs 60-100 lbs. Giant breeds can get up to 6 mg. ) Give about 20 min before expected event (ie 20 min before dusk for fireworks, or at first sign of storm, or before grooming, etc).
My Boxer is on CBD pellets with the goal of making him eat better. It has been AMAZING for his appetite, but hasn’t changed his anxiety levels at all. He is not nearly as bad as your dog sounds, but it hasn’t made a difference with his reaction to loud noises. I still plan on giving him is RX meds for the 4th holiday.
He absolutely hated the oil, but my other two liked it. 
Zoloft improved my dog’s life. She’ll go off of it in another month or two
My sister has a teenage shelter shih tzu whose anxiety has increased in the 4 years she has had him. He has some health issues - adrenal tumor, possible cushings, spinal stenosis, hip arthritis, is mostly blind in one eye, and mostly deaf now from antibiotics to treat drug resistant ear infections, ulcers/gastritis issues. He is not a good eater at all, and is difficult to pill.
He failed Prozac, Trazdone, amitriptyline, and one or two other drugs for anxiety. He is on meds for pain, prilosec, and ursidiol to keep bacteria from travelling up into his gall bladder causing liver issues. SHe has been giving him CBC oil and it has been helping. I am not sure if it is helping with his pain issues (when something is bothering him, he gets very clingy), or the anxiety itself. I suspect it is making him feel better, so he can relax and sleep.
I tried a chewable CBD treat for my dog who gets anxious in high winds and/or things hitting the roof (I live in a 100 year old forest) and it helped him a great deal because it made him sleepy and so he just napped through it all. Not like snoring deep sleeping, just resting, napping. I think it might help to know how cannabis affects the body and mind with first person experience before having huge expectations in a pet. Lately cannabis is being touted as the miracle cure for everything when really cannabis isn’t really very strong at anything it does. Which is actually the beauty of it.
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I never knew the name, I’m sorry. My trainer gave them to me.
Zylkene may be an option
Ha, ha. I think the whole CBD idea gets way too much hype. From reading your post, it sounds like the dogs are acting exactly the way people I know who smoke too much pot. Spend your money as you want. Not me. I am limited in that department. Check out our horse trainer friends who have ditched horses and gotten into growing marajuana. Big money, thats all it is. Very disapointed in the news and advertising from CO.
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St. John’s Wort.
