Matthew Staver / The New York Times file photoMarijuana edibles can be especially potent — and potentially dangerous — for pets. If you find that your animal has gotten into a stash, it’s important to bring them to the vet as soon as possible.

If you were in pain, you might consider turning to medical marijuana. But what about cannabis for your pets? In dog-centric Bend, a trend in cannabis may be picking up steam — cannabis treats, capsules and topicals for canines and cats, to help manage pain or behavior.

The difference between medical marijuana for humans and cannabis products for pets? Essentially any cannabis products on the market for animals are hemp, meaning there is no THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis that induces a high. But the products contain other compounds, such as cannabidiol, believed by some people to help in treating cancer and other ailments.

One company, Canna-Pet, which stands for “Cannabinoid Nutrition Adapted for Pets,” offers flavored dog biscuits and capsules for dogs or cats, made from hemp.

Bend Veterinary Clinic sells both the dog biscuits, which come in maple bacon and turkey dinner flavors, and the capsules, according to a veterinarian on staff there, Dr. Marie Stanley. The products aren’t a “first-line” choice by vets there for any pain medication, she said, but the clinic decided to sell them when they saw interest from clients.

“We have had clients who basically have wanted to try to see if it would work for their dogs,” Stanley said when, adding, “I usually recommend more traditional therapies personally.”

Stanley explained the products from Canna-Pet are “neutraceuticals” not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, like a pharmaceutical flea medication might be.

“Unfortunately, because it’s so new for animals, there really aren’t a whole lot of studies,” Stanley said. “The thought is that it could reach the pain receptors, but we don’t have double-blind, controlled studies proving the efficacy of the product.”

On the company’s site, you won’t find any description that the product is meant for pain management. Stanley said the same goes for the product packaging itself.

“If you look on the box it doesn’t even say what it’s used for — and it can’t,” Stanley said, adding that pet owners who want to try the product usually have animals in chronic pain, such as from arthritis or cancer.

“I personally don’t think it’s strong enough for cancer pain,” Stanley said. “Typically, it’s not something that we recommend as a pain reliever.”

At Riverside Animal Hospital in Bend, Dr. Sarah Cummings said that legally, she feels recommending or prescribing the cannabis products for animals falls in a gray area. Riverside Animal Hospital doesn’t offer any cannabis products for pets.

“It definitely comes up,” Cummings said. Her patients ask questions about giving cannabis products to pets, especially for cancer and cases of chronic pain. “Those are situations where people are anxious to make their animals feel better.”

Cummings also said it’s still unclear about whether cannabis treats for pets have shown positive results scientifically.

“Is it beneficial to just give treats with CBD in it? We don’t know,” Cummings said. “You’d hate to sell a treat and have it not do anything for them.”

Not just for pain

But for some pet owners, CBD is seen as useful not just for pain management, but for behavioral use. Donna Grubbs, of Bend, said she’s seen a marked improvement in her 4-year-old dog Bryn, a Bouvier des Flandres, considered a large herding breed. Grubbs said Bryn weighs around 80 pounds, and up until she started taking a daily cannabis capsule about a year ago, could really throw her weight around in a disobedient way.

“She’s a big dog and she was biting me and being very unruly,” Grubbs said.

The behavior problem, Grubbs said, stemmed from a thyroid issue the dog has had since birth.

“My veterinarian and (dog) trainer both recommended Canna-Pet,” Grubbs said. “They had tried putting her on thyroid medicine and it exacerbated all of her issues.”

Grubbs’ dog trainer, Dennis Fehling, owns Friends for Life Dog Training in Redmond. He sometimes uses products like Canna-Pet with his clients’ dogs. Grubb’s veterinarian, Dr. Steve Blauvelt, runs his practice, Four Paws Wellness Center, using both Eastern and Western veterinary medicine techniques.

“I try to be a holistic practitioner so I kind of feel like I’m open and willing to try new ideas,” Blauvelt said.

Blauvelt said only in about the past year has he been recommending animal cannabis products, including Canna-Pet, like Grubbs uses with Bryn, and a cannabis topical: Mary’s Pets CBD gel pen. The topical is meant for transdermal use — areas on the animal’s body where skin is thin and can absorb the product, like inside the ears. He has started one dog using the transdermal topical to help ease its symptoms from a seizure disorder. That product has CBD, no THC.

“Generally speaking, as a veterinarian, I cannot recommend that people use THC-containing products for their pets. So I never suggest a THC-containing product,” Blauvelt said. But he sees potential in products with CBD. For Bryn, Grubbs said, it’s working.

Every morning, Grubbs slips one of the cannabis pills in canned dog food or wraps it in cheese and feeds it to Bryn.

“What I found is it relaxed her, it seemed to make her more calm, it helped with her appetite, which was waning,” Grubbs said, adding she prefers a natural alternative to pharmaceuticals for her dog.

“(My dog trainer) and I joked about me coming home and finding (Bryn) kicking back on the sofa saying ‘Hey mom, where are the chips?’” Grubbs said, laughing. But because there’s not THC present in the product, she’s never actually noticed her dog disoriented.

THC vs. CBD

Animals ingesting or getting a high from marijuana, with THC, is a different story. The high can occur when an animal is in the same room as someone smoking marijuana; it can get high from the secondhand exposure.

“You can definitely tell when an animal is stoned, just like if you look at a human and know what to look for,” Abigail Craig, a bud tender at High Grade Organics in Bend said.

Craig said while she’s aware some of the customers at High Grade Organics could be passing on products meant for people to their pets for pain relief, it’s not something she would recommend.

“If they were made for animals, then maybe,” Craig said. “I try not to lead people anywhere where I don’t have scientific evidence to back it up.”

Craig said she knows some people blow smoke into the animals’ faces or even ears when they are smoking marijuana.

“Some animals really love it, some animals don’t, kind of like people,” she said. As for how to tell if an animal likes getting high? According to Craig, it might react the same way a dog does when its owner pulls out the peanut butter container. “When they see the paraphernalia come out, they might run up and jump on your lap.”

In reality though, when animals accidentally ingest a stash, it’s important to call the vet, according to Cummings at Riverside Animal Hospital. It’s common for dogs to get into edibles, which are often times especially potent for animals, she said.

If the owner brings in the animal very recently after it ate the marijuana, Cummings said veterinary staff may try to have it throw it up. Otherwise, they monitor and treat the animals case by case. Some animals are administered an IV.

Emily Daniels, office manager at the Animal ER Center in Bend, said the center sees animals come in that accidentally ate marijuana “on a very regular basis.”

“We probably see about five or 10 a week,” Daniels said.

Both Cummings and Daniels said that although cases of animals getting into pot haven’t increased since recreational marijuana was legalized in Oregon, owners have become more honest about what their animals ate, and that’s a huge help.

Cummings said it’s always best to be upfront so staffers aren’t running unneeded tests to find what kind of toxin the animal ate.

As for cannabis without THC, one thing several local vets agreed on is that more studies are expected to come out in the next few years, which could move cannabis products for animals further into the mainstream.

“I think even in a couple years, it might have a role,” Cummings said.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325,

kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com