Just like humans; animals such as dogs, cats and horses have a biological and neurological system designed to receive and process cannabinoids
Australians really love their pets. With around 24 million of them spread across 62 per cent of Australian homes we have one of the highest rates of domestic animal ownership in the world.
It’s an expensive relationship. Taking care of them all costs Australians more than $12 billion a year, with vet fees one of the leading expenses. Arthritis, for instance, affects 61per cent of cats over six years old and 20 per cent of dogs over one year old. Half of our older dogs are affected by cancer.
But for all that money, many current pet medications have negative side effects such as nausea, loss of appetite, depression and internal bleeding. Resistance to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other pharmaceutical therapies is also increasing.
Australian pet pharmaceutical company CannPal is working with the CSIRO to develop better ways to safely administer medicinal cannabis to a variety of household pets. The research is developing microencapsulation techniques to make sure the cannabis oils can be delivered to each different animal precisely and safely.
As medical cannabis progressively became legal across more and more states in America it was inevitable that people started to figure, if this is good for me then it must also be good for my pet. Despite a paucity of scientific study, a growing body of anecdotal reports are starting to suggest that medical cannabis confers similar benefits to dogs and cats as it would to their owners.
Just like humans; animals such as dogs, cats and horses have a biological and neurological system designed to receive and process cannabinoids – one of the main classes of chemical compounds in cannabis. The endocannabinoid system is involved in physiological processes such as appetite, pain-sensation, nausea, mood and memory. This makes it a great choice for combating symptoms in pets resulting from diseases such as arthritis and cancer; as well as other joint, skin, and digestive disorders.
To ensure medicinal cannabis achieves the best result it must be optimised for the specific animals’ body and digestive system. A horse, for instance, absorbs medicinal cannabis in an entirely different way to a dog.
Dogs, for example, are much more sensitive to THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, than humans. So extreme caution must be taken when administering broader cannabis compounds to dogs.
To optimize the administration of cannabis-derived medicines to animals, CannPal’s partnership with the CSIRO leverages the Australian federal government agency’s patented MicroMax technology. This process can encapsulate microscopic oil particles in robust films that allow precise control of both dosage and where in the stomach the oil is released. In the past, MicroMax technology has been used to effectively encapsulate and deliver omega-3 fish oils.
This novel process is now being adapted by CannPal to help find the optimum dosage and delivery method for cannabis-derived pet medicines. While some anecdotal reports from the United States suggest only the non-psychoactive compound cannabidiol (CBD) should be used in pets, early research from CannPal reports the company is developing a more specific oral formulation for pets that includes both CBD and THC.
A recent early trial in dogs found the company’s formulation presented excellent safety profiles and no adverse events. A corresponding formulation for cats is currently being developed by the company.
Source – Csiro
Image- Pixabay
