As their joint cartilage deteriorates, it becomes harder and harder to walk. The inflammation caused by arthritis is incredibly painful for dogs, and can lead to a debilitating life. However, early research has shown that CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties could actually help tremendously.

As CBD is an over the counter supplement, it’s not only easy to obtain but also much less toxic than many other solutions…even some that are prescribed by a veterinarian. To help you understand what type of CBD for dogs you should consider.

What We Look For In Quality

When creating this list, we took into consideration why people were giving their dog CBD oil for arthritis, as well as what stood out about the top products in the industry. This wasn’t just about designing items that hosted CBD, but other ingredients to help enhance the treatment process as well. Furthermore, we also put under scrutiny the sourcing, manufacturing, and customer experience. Here’s what we came up with:

Although a different plant than marijuana, hemp is grown similarly. For this reason, we not only look at sources of CBD who have been in the cannabis growing industry in general but also those who have maintained sustainable farming practices. This includes following regulation as well as ensuring there’s no pesticides or excess chemicals used. As the hemp eventually ends up in your dog’s body, sourcing from those who take an all natural approach is vital to both your pet’s health and CBD experience.

Extract Types

When buying CBD oil, there are three primary types of extracts:

Full-Spectrum

Full-Spectrum oils are the least processed of the three and contain the most complete range of cannabinoids (and other plant products). Although they contain THC, it’s often less than the 0.3% federal guideline. As full spectrum oils contain the other plant products, they give off what’s called an “entourage effect”, where users report an enhanced experience compared to other extracts. Many believe this to be similar for their dogs, where they also get a heightened effect.

Broad-Spectrum

Broad spectrum oils provide a happy medium. Processed slightly more than full spectrum, they still contain many of the original cannabinoids from the plant, however, often seeks to remove all THC.

Isolate

Finally, isolate is the purest form of CBD, having gone through the process of removing all the other cannabinoids. This leaves behind only the CBD, which while not containing the other components of the plant (and thus not hosting the entourage effect), it does leave what you’d expect only out of CBD. Some dog owners love this since it’s easier to start out with.

Potency

A CBD’s potency is measured in milligrams (mg). This usually is the standard for dosing a product per its volume, which includes not only oils but edibles and other items as well.

Potency is important to measure because it also gives you the most accurate eyeball test on if a CBD is worth your money or not. For your dog with arthritis, potency plays a much more significant role when it comes to their breed and size, which will determine how much you should give to them.

Lab Results

Lab results are commonplace in the CBD industry, often as an update every few months. These are almost always found on their website, which verifies how much CBD is in the container as well as if their product is worth taking. Any company that doesn’t provide lab results probably isn’t worth your time.

Overall Effectiveness

Trying the product and assessing if it’s effective is a must. This includes looking at the consistency and if the CBD oil actually encourages relief of inflammation.

Ingredients Quality

Beyond just measuring quality in hemp source, the ingredients list is also a main indicator. In particular, the ingredients should either enhance the CBD experience or be stripped down of only the natural necessities. Any excess filler or materials that act as preservative is something to be weary of, especially with how it doesn’t give you an honest assessment of how the CBD will be.

Brand Reputation/Customer Reviews

A brand’s reputation in the CBD industry is everything. Not only do we interact with these companies ourselves, but we also scour the internet for answers on how their customer service is. By going through Reddit, Twitter, and other online forums, we’re able to decipher who really cares about their customers versus who is faking the funk. Finally, we also cross-reference with other industry experts on their opinion of a company as well.

Price Value

The overall value of the CBD oil you buy will likely be determined by the sourcing, extract type, extra ingredients, and size. All of this together will ultimately be the equation for figuring out pricing value, where a good starting point is the price per MG. From there, look into the extra ingredients as well as quality of the product.

Just because something is expensive doesn’t make it the best in its class as much as something that’s cheap is a throwaway. The focus is on ensuring quality value, which while takes research, is worth the time and effort.