The idea of being able to treat your dog’s physical or psychological maladies with CBD oil may sound appealing, but you may have some questions and concerns before you get started. Among those might be the question, “Is it possible for my dog to get addicted to CBD?”
Research Says CBD Is Non-Addictive
Consumer Reports says, “… studies suggest CBD doesn’t pose a risk of addiction and generally causes few side effects.”
Interestingly enough, there is even some research into using CBD as a treatment for addiction to medications such as opioids.
This book also talks about potential anti-addiction properties of CBD, and how animal research shows that CBD may also be able to counteract behaviors associated with heroin addiction.
Even Marijuana Often Isn’t Addicting
It is also well worth pointing out that even full-blown marijuana isn’t usually addictive.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports:
“Marijuana use can lead to the development of problem use, known as a marijuana use disorder, which takes the form of addiction in severe cases. Recent data suggest that 30 percent of those who use marijuana may have some degree of marijuana use disorder.”
This resource does differentiate between addiction and dependency. Does that mean that uniquely concerned about the latter?
There Are No Indications That CBD Use Leads to Dependency
The World Health Organization states:
“In experimental models of abuse liability, CBD appears to have little effect on conditioned place preference or intracranial self-stimulation. In an animal drug discrimination model CBD failed to substitute for THC. In humans, CBD exhibits no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential.”
Further down in the document, there is a reference to a specific animal study on mice:
“Male mice were injected i.p once a day for 14 days with either CBD (0.1, 1, or 3mg/kg) or delta-9-THC (1, 3, or 10mg/kg). Tolerance to the effects of THC was observed, however no tolerance to CBD at any of the dosages was observed. [51] No studies of the physical dependence potential of CBD in animals were identified.”
Mice are not dogs, obviously, but this is a pretty good indication that there are no concerns at this juncture involving CBD and dependency in animals.
That means that if you have to take a break from administering CBD to your dog (if, for example, you forgot to order it), your dog should not experience symptoms of withdrawal.
It Is Important to Keep Your Dog From Ingesting THC
While reading about the study in mice, it probably did stand out to you that THC led to tolerance even though CBD did not.
That is one of the reasons why you need to make sure that you are purchasing CBD for your dog which is not contaminated with THC.
There are other reasons why it is necessary to see to it that your dog is not consuming THC as well.
First of all, what constitutes a pleasant high for a human being can constitute a state of discomfort and anxiety for a dog.
Secondly, if your dog ingests THC, there are actual health hazards which can potentially occur.
As this article describes, possible symptoms include loss of coordination, hypersensitivity, reduced heart rate, incontinence, and lower body temperature.
Perhaps the biggest danger is that THC interferes with your dog’s gag reflex.
That means that if you or another person tries to induce vomiting to get the THC out of your pet’s system, it could result in respiratory failure and death.
The solution to avoiding these dangers? Just make sure that you are buying CBD products for dogs which have been third-party tested and verified to contain no significant amounts of THC.
If you do that, there should be no danger of dependency, addiction, or adverse effects.
Conclusion: CBD Will Not Addict Your Dog or Lead to Dependency
Let’s quickly review what we have learned:
- Current research suggests that CBD is non-addictive, and may even have anti-addictive properties.
- Even marijuana usually doesn’t cause addiction—though your dog cannot use marijuana since it contains THC.
- THC can produce tolerance, but studies show no such effects for CBD.
- Exposure to THC also poses other hazards for your dog.
This leads us to the following conclusions and pointers:
- It is safe for your dog to use CBD. CBD should not produce any form of addiction or dependency in your pet.
- It is not safe for your dog to be exposed to THC.
- Therefore, you need to purchase CBD products formulated for dogs which contain no significant amounts of THC. Do this, and you can give your pet the nourishing support of CBD without the dangers of THC.
Not sure which manufacturers make safe CBD oils for dogs which are free of THC? Visit our recommendations page to read some in-depth reviews of some of our favorite dog CBD companies.