A Q&A with Wonder Dog Superfoods: Why Cannabidiol
by Christy Caplan
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August 18, 2016 
Bruisy and Sherm on the couch – TOGETHER, which doesn’t happen all the time.
Sherm is killing it!
#sponsored
In celebration of Senior Citizen Day on August 21 or Senior Pets Day, I reviewed a superfood supplement with CBD or Cannabidiol. This is the second product I’ve reviewed with CBD, a non psychoactive, grown from non-GMO agricultural industrial hemp based plants (NOT the marijuana plant). This supplement I researched extensively and it’s not a treat but a supplement with wonderful superfood ingredients. After many discussions with the owner of Wonder Dog Superfoods, I was excited to start this with Shermie.
Why of all three, Shermie? Sherman has anxiety and he’s a senior at nine. I’ve written about what we do to manage his reactive behavior and decrease his overall anxiety. Our holistic vet has given us a number of supplements that work well including: Passion Flower (now in a tincture) and Adrenal Support (think fight or flight) and both work well. CBD is known to combat anxiety.
Superfoods have been trending for years now and we do include a number of superfoods in their daily diet already – as Darwin’s (raw diet – more in this post I wrote awhile back) includes wonderful ingredients. All of the Wonder Dog Superfoods products are nutrient dense and brimming with anti-oxidants. They use organic human grade superfoods like Chia seeds, Amaranth, Flax seed and hand harvested sea vegetables. The wafer form is great for helping keep teeth clean and the powder form makes the ingredients even more bio-available for ailing or elderly dogs.
Wonder Dog Superfoods formulated their products with issues like body health, ease of digestion, anxiety, joint pain and inflammation in mind. I read the testimonials and was impressed. This is also a supplement I’ll be giving to Bruisy in the coming months since he’s a senior and will clearly benefit!
Shelley Sloane, the co-owner, and I had a few conversations over email and I asked her to answer some questions too before I even started giving the supplement to see what benefits (if any) there would be for Sherm and my pack.
First, how Sherm benefits: (I’ve been adding this to his diet twice a day for well over a month)
- Every once in a-while he limps on his right front leg –soft tissue inflammation- this has all but disappeared
- Anxiety around Bruiser: biggest thing – this has noticeably decreased – I call it their prickly behavior as time has passed and they’ve gotten older there are times when Bruiser just rubs him the wrong way… with this supplement on board I’ve seen less of this
*note that some dogs can be allergic to some of these ingredients in supplements like lentils so make sure you read the entire label before adding anything to your dog’s diet and if there is any question you should verify with your vet it’s ok to add these into their diet. Also, I’m not a vet, and any new behavior or medical issue should be checked with your veterinarian.
Now, CBD Specific Questions – and my Q&A with the co-owner.
- Why did you create this product? The beginnings of this product are based in the discomfort of my partner’s elderly rescue Golden Retrievers. She is a certified nutritionist and she put her skills to work with the intention of easing her elder dog’s pain and inflammation. We are proud to say that the results of this can be seen in our client reviews.
- What type of research and studies have you done on CBD? To determine its effectiveness in animals. We have done our own research through use with our own dogs as well as rescue dogs over about a three year period, but these are not peer reviewed results. Luckily there are many peer reviewed studies that back up our own results. They are dry reading, but the curious reader can write to us and we will give some examples.
- What testimonials do you currently have regarding how your Wonder Dog Superfood supplements lesson anxiety in animals? (and treats) I as a certified professional dog trainer have had very good results with my clients dogs suffering from anxiety issues. We have multiple reviews on our site under the review tab as well. I just talked to a fairly new client today with an elder dog and this is her word for word response to me… “It’s good — we just ordered more of your amazing product! Rito is a happy camper. He is almost like his old self again”.
- How do we know that CBD products are safe? Studies and our own research have shown CBD to be very safe for dogs. My own dog is on our CBD/GLM powder because he has some anxiety but mainly he has arthritis in all four limbs. You would never guess it watching him play with a Husky one third his age.
“I have worked with dogs of every walk of life since about the mid to late seventies. I am loath to suggest vet visits for medications for emotional issues unless I see absolutely no other choice. My choice is to use counter conditioning and other techniques in order to ease anxiety, etc. I learned about CBD a while back but had not applied it to my training tools until I met my partner. The reason why is because up until I met her, I never saw an ingredient base that I could believe in. This superfood base is exactly what I wanted to see and I was eager to work with her as soon as I reviewed the product. I knew that this product would bring another dimension into the health, welfare and happiness of dogs and help to give owners piece of mind. If you read our reviews, you will get a very clear picture of why I, as a long time dog trainer that works with dogs who may have emotional and or physical issues behind their behavior problems, love these products and decided to become part of this company.”
I’m for one a huge fan of this brand and both senior dogs will continue this supplement! It’s also made in the US – and consists of organic, human grade ingredients.
Resources:
- Visit their site!
*We cannot claim that it helps due to FDA regulations, we can however tell you that studies show positive results with use of CBD products and we can suggest that you take a look at our reviews.
Disclaimer: We received supplements from Wonder Dog Superfoods as part of their blogger program in exchange for an honest review. I only share information about products that I believe in and already fit into our doggie lifestyle and routine. They did not compensate me for this post.
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This sounds like a great product, full of important natural ingredients. I always try to give my animals holistic products and supplements. I do the same for myself, and I take a superfood mix myself. Thanks for the wonderful interview. I’ll check into their site and check it out.
Thank you so much! We do too – this supplement seems to really help Sherm and I’m going to start Bruiser on it this month too. We’re also testing and reviewing a probiotic this month. The superfood ingredients are something I should have added a long time ago!
We’ve been hearing more and more about CBD products, and actually just signed on to do a post for one company. Looking forward to learning more!
Oh awesome! I look forward to reading your review – excellent!
This is fascinating. Thanks so much for taking the time to share such a thorough overview of benefits for dogs and targeted questions of the folks behind the product. Aside from food based allergies, are there any other potential adverse effects that have been shown to exist for products that include these ingredients?
Thanks so much: I had so many questions for them certainly and also took the supplement to our holistic vet to review and chatted about CBD with her too. I would always say use these at the minimum dose at first – to ensure there isn’t any reaction. So we started at a lesser amount of the supplement and then increased it. As far as adverse effects to CBD, none that I’m aware of. Although now with all these new products on the market, I’m sure we’ll hear more in the coming months. I interviewed a local retail owner here about CBD products for a regional trade and she said she’s only seeing benefits with her customers. She told me that a treat with higher CBD mg did result in what she thought was “drowsiness” with her own dog.
We have been in research and development for over three years and have had no adverse reactions. My own dog is on it for arthritis in all four limbs due to having a hard start in life. He is one that normally has a sensitive stomach, etc., and he is flourishing on it.
I did not know I could give passion flower … that could be useful on really long trips. cool!
Yes! Our holistic vet prescribes Passion Flower capsules to Sherm for anxiety and they work. You must look into it for travel.
Thanks for the review. I’ve heard about CBD and considered giving it to my dogs, but never researched it further. I definitely think they would benefit from it.
I know Sherm benefits for sure and there are many other benefits for senior dogs with joint issues as well. There are a lot of great products on the market now to research and try.
CBD really is an amazing substance, I use it myself for my pain. No psycho active ingredients so no high and it really does help. My dog has arthritis in all four limbs and is doing fantastic on it.
Sounds like an interesting product. I am glad that it is helping Shermie feel better.
My mom’s dog is 10, so she is also on some supplements. Finding the right products can really make a big difference!
I agree with you: It’s all about finding the right products that work and that can take some research and experimentation for sure. We’ve been using this supplement for the summer and the results weren’t immediate but after a few weeks it was evident Sherm was benefiting.
I keep hearing/seeing CBD mentioned with regard to dog treats, but this is the first article I’ve really paid attention to. I didn’t realize the CBD hemp plant wasn’t also the stuff in Cheech and Chong. 😉 But seriously, I’m on the verge of dumping traditional veterinary medicine with my foster dog’s allergy issues (lots of inflammation with this dog) and consulting a holistic vet. We don’t have many reputable ones in Richmond, VA, but I know of a couple. There’s a major dog treat company locally, too, that’s just come out with a line of CBD treats. Interesting stuff, for sure.
Our local retailer has a LOT of brands and these range from treats to supplements to tinctures. She’s hearing great thing from her customers that also have dogs that don’t sleep well. No doobies for the dogs though to your point! I bet this would help with the inflammation for your newest munchkin for sure. I LOVE our holistic vet and we see both our traditional vet and holistic vet regularly and they work together!
The difference between our treats and others is two things. first, the base the CBD is infused into is human grade superfoods so it is extremely healthy for your dog. The next thing is, we tell you how much CBD you are giving your dog. CBD is mixed with a carrier oil, the package may tell you the mg including the carrier oil but generally speaking, I have not seen one that gives the the mg of the CBD itself. Our CBD is also CO2 extracted so no solvents. All CBD is not created equal.
Fascinating post! I have never heard of this. I will definitely give this a try with Henry. Thank you.
Absolutely! Holler with questions!
Hi! Can you speak to your experiences with dogs that have used this product for anxiety and specifically which product – there are a number of them on the website. My rescue – a 1 1/2 year old golden retriever, which I have had for 7 months now, is very reactive to other dogs. Working with a trainer and he is improving and I have tried another brand of CBD but really haven’t seen any difference with our without the CBD, even when doubling the dose, not even drowsiness. Interested in the differences in this product and other brands if you have tried others but most specifically if you have had good results with dog reactive dogs. Thank you!
Hi! Thanks so much for your comment about this – I’m also going to ask the brand to provide a POV too. I think every dog is really unique when it comes to their reactivity. Sherm is reactive on leash but older and very manageable. His anxiety hasn’t gotten worse over the years but stayed about the same. Only in the last year has he been “prickly” with our oldest dog Bruisy. Sherm is on a number of anxiety herbs in addition to this CBD supplement. It has worked for sure but note that I have him on multiple things: Passion Flower, Adrenal Support for fight or flight and the CBD supplement. When his anxiety is really bad I have a tincture made up by our holistic vet with Skull Cap. So it take a village and his on leash reactivity is what it is. We manage it. So that behavior hasn’t changed only the anxiety around Brui. I’ll take it. I’m using the powder supplement – Tobie’s Nutrient Boost Powder. You should try it –especially if you haven’t seen any improvement based on what you have been using even after doubling the dose. So the long answer is it helps with anxiety in our household not on leash reactivity…
As a behavioral dog trainer, I use this quite a lot with my anxious dogs. I have had very good success with it, coupled with counter conditioning. Many CBD products do not tell you the amount of CBD they are using. They generally give you the amount of CBD and carrier oil combined. This may be why you are not seeing any results.
I do not know a lot about food for dog, just buy them in the supermarket. But to be honest I think dog owner must have good knowledge about them.
It’s important to know what is in the food you are feeding your dog. Many foods, especially the cheaper ones use some disagreeable ingredients. I won’t go into it but if you research, you will find enough to be rather scary.
Thanks for sharing this post! I try to look for some new brands for my dogs and now I know this product. I love the natural ingredients which are very good for health. I think I should buy some of this soon.
Thank you for the informative review. Base on your information, Wonder dog super food seems like a great and reliable product for dogs. I’ll definitely get this product for my dogs.