CBD for Dog Seizures – Kira’s Story
Dog seizures are a very scary thing. We love our furry friends so incredibly much, so it’s really hard to see them go through these epileptic episodes, it makes us feel so helpless! But the good news is, CBD for dog seizures is proving to be an effective natural treatment for seizures in dogs! We only heard about this, but we experienced how CBD for dogs had remarkable results with our own sweet lab – Kira.
Kira is the best girl in the world, our sweet black lab mix.
Two years ago (May 2020) she had a seizure next to our bed in the middle of the night. It was awful. I was certain she was dying before my very eyes!
Heart pounding, hands shaking, I spoke softly to her, sang to her, prayed over her, made sure she wasn’t hitting her head on anything, and called the emergency vet. They assured me that ONE seizure wasn’t an emergency and that it was probably a lot worse for us than it was for her, and recommended that we wait until morning and bring her to our regular vet.
Seizures in Dogs is actually quite common
We love our vet because he leans toward the natural and holistic side of things. He did blood work to rule out anything more complicated that could be causing the seizures, which all came back clear, and told us that certain breeds just seem to be more predisposed to seizures (Labs, Border Collies, Boxers, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters, Irish Wolfhounds, and Beagles to be specific!) AND that the average age of onset is between 2 and 5 years old. Kira was 4 ½.
At that time, she had only ever had one seizure, and we discussed the pros and cons and side effects of anti-seizure medicine and how it can be very hard on their livers and kidneys and can change their personalities.
I left the appointment hopeful that she would never have another one! But 5 days later, she had another one.
Seizures in Dogs Symptoms
Her seizures are Grand Mal, or tonic/clonic …meaning she has muscle contractions and runs or “swims” in place, foams at the mouth, and urinates and it lasts about 2 minutes. She then paces restlessly for a few minutes, and then acts as if nothing happened!!
Seizures in Dogs Treatments
I started to do some research into seizures in dogs treatments that were a more natural approach to better managing Kira’s seizures, and kept finding that a lot of people have great results with CBD for dogs!
This was AMAZING news because we had JUST decided to plant an acre of organic hemp on our family’s farm in South Dakota in order to turn it into CBD! Our planting date was set for only a couple of weeks away!
I knew that quality was of the utmost importance and I needed a higher milligram and organic CBD oil!
We bought some through some friends we know and started putting it on her food morning and night and we had great results!
By the time we started her on the CBD, she had had four seizures, each between 5 and ten days apart. Upon starting CBD daily, she immediately went through 21 days seizure free!! Then 35 days! Then 45 days! Her longest stretch was 60 days between seizures! It was a total miracle for our family.
A more effective way to treat seizures in dogs
I found out later that an even more effective way of giving it to her was directly into her mouth itself. And since most of her seizures happen in the middle of the night, putting it directly into her mouth right at bedtime would be even more effective!
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Some other tips for helping dogs with seizures thrive through epilepsy:
- Improve the quality of their food!! Your dry dog food should cost at LEAST $1.50 per pound. Any cheaper than that and they are DEFINITELY adding cheap, toxic, unhealthy fillers and additives.
- Ditch the canned food. You can make high quality wet food to put over your dog’s dry food to add nutrition and eliminate toxicity! We use ground turkey (You could try chicken, beef, lamb or fish!) and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables! I cook this on the stovetop with some grass fed butter, avocado oil or coconut oil for good fats (important for brain health!) and some Turmeric and black pepper ( amazing for inflammation and brain health!) and store it in the fridge for the week. Scoop a little onto their food morning and night!
- Add some fish oils! Fish oil is not only a superfood for your dog’s brain health, it is amazing for their skin, fur, eyes and joint health!! We bought a liquid fish oil for dogs and we pump it onto her food morning and night!
- Pay attention to your dog’s unique triggers! Certain foods, Stress and anxiety, flashing lights and even boredom can be a trigger for your dog’s seizures! Kira seems to do much better with plenty of exercise… we try to walk her twice a day!
