TAILS ARE WAGGING FOR HEMP by Fred Metzger, DVM, MRCVS, Diplomate ABVP
H emp (often referred to as CBD) products are everywhere. You can’t pick up a newspaper or go on social media without being bombarded by news for hemp (often referred to as CBD). How do you pick one for your beloved pet that will be effective at a fair price? The answer is, you find one that has been well tested and endorsed by vets. Sadie* is a 13-year-old German Shep- herd that suffered from debilitating arthritis and a serious decrease in quality of life. Jan*, her owner, was heartbroken at the thought of losing her but felt that euthanasia was the only humane option left. Sadie’s vet, Dr. Joe Wakshlag, of Cornell Univer- sity School of Veterinary Medicine, requested that Sadie participate in a new clinical trial he was leading at Cornell on dogs with osteoarthritis using a new hemp oil produced by ElleVet Sciences. Sadie was enrolled in the trial and placed in the placebo group. It was a double-blind trial, so neither the vet nor Jan knew which group was given hemp oil and which was the placebo, but Sadie did not respond. Jan told Dr. Joe Wakschlag that she couldn’t see her in pain any longer and needed to pull Sadie from the trial. Dr. Wakshlag convinced her to wait until she switched groups.
“The difference was both dramatic and fast.
IN A MATTER OF DAYS, JAN WAS IN DR.WAKSHLAG’S OFFICE CRYING BE- CAUSE SHE WOKE UP TO FIND THAT SADIE HAD CLIMBED THE STAIRS AND SLEPT IN HER ROOM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS.”
Sadie finished the first phase of the trial and was put into the second group with the “real” hemp oil. The difference was both dramatic and fast. In a matter of days, Jan was in Dr.Wakshlag’s office crying because she woke up to find that Sadie had climbed the stairs and slept in her room for the first time in two years. She started playing with the other dogs and interacting with family in a way she hadn’t done in many years.
Two years after the trial, Sadie is still alive with a good quality of life and is still taking a regular dose of ElleVet hemp oil. ElleVet Sciences, based in Portland, Maine, collaborated with Cornell to conduct the first clinical trial in the world on dogs with osteoarthritis us- ing a hemp product, which resulted in the first published paper on the subject matter. The findings were significant. Over 85% of dogs showed
70 • T op N otch T oys , D ecember 2018
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