Trying transdermal cococnut oil extract on cats (ears)

hathor

New Member
Since cats have higher sensitivities than dogs, and since some medications for pets now include transdermal preparations for applying to the thin skin of the ears, I thought I would try using some fully decarbed (hopefully going into CBN conversion) diluted coconut oil on my cats' ears. This seems like a safe way to try administering it. I have already been giving them a dab of plain coconut oil with their food now and then.

Cat 1 is almost 20, mostly blind, has degenerative arthritis in her rear knees and forepaws and poor appetite from hyperthyroidism and kidney decline. She stopped being able to jump up on the couch to ask for attention about three months ago.

Cat 2 is about 12, and has painful oral problems from inflammation (autoimmune) that make it hard for her to eat enough. She has not responded well to other therapies and I'm trying to help her (and us) avoid a painful and expensive surgery that isn't even guaranteed to help her. She has always been an anxious cat and the chronic pain has not helped. She's gotten aggressive and antisocial/clingy by turns since this started almost a year ago. Cat 2 also ate a small clone back when she was a kitten and didn't have any allergic effects from it.

Cat 3 is 16, obese (endocrine problems) with skin irritations, cataracts and a bad shoulder. He has started getting restless and vocalizing a lot. He also can't get around well between the pain and what seems to be muscle weakness. It might sound like we wouldn't want more appetite for him but actually he doesn't eat very much. I would like him to be more calm and comfortable in general, and in another thread someone mentioned that cannabis helped their dog's cataracts, so if that happens too, wonderful! He also has rare asthma attacks, but he walks right up against my plants downstairs without any issues, so I wasn't worried about trying this on him.

I made some oil for us recently out of an auto called Gnomo, which seems to have a good balance of thc and cbd. I partially decarbed it to use for cooking, and it worked well based on the brownies I made. Took a tiny bit of that, melted it with more coconut oil to dilute it and heated it to additionally convert it. I don't know exactly how much it might have started converting thc to cbn but that was my objective, to at least make that happen a little. At worst, it is fully decarbed at peak thc. I might heat it a little more tomorrow especially if the cats seem too spacey after initial treatment.

Rubbed some on all 3 cats' ears tonight, although Cat 2 licked a tiny bit off my fingers first so she may have gotten a bit more. She got hers about 2 hours later than the older cats.

Cats 1 and 3, usually restless and vocal, have been mellow this evening. Cat 1 ate well when I nudged her with the cat bowl to let her know it was feeding time, and then went back to her nap. Her heartbeat was strong and not too fast, as it has been lately. Breathing was normal. Cat 3 seems fine, was able to jump up on the chair to get his evening treats without wobbling or falling. His breathing is fine, could not tell about his heartbeat.

Cat 2 is resting comfortably, normal heartbeat, breathing deeper than she has been. Shallow, faster breaths are one of the symptoms of pain. She is turning over in her sleep like a normal cat, not just knocked out like when we've had to give her Rx pain meds from the vet.

Will report back on effects and subsequent treatments. It could just be that everyone is coincidentally feeling relaxed this evening and I'm reading into it. But at first blush I think this might be a good, gentle way to administer.
 
Everyone was just fine this morning, perhaps better collectively than usual if you count the reduction in underfootness, excess vocalizing, etc. The wet food left out overnight was mostly finished, more so than it has been (cats 1 and 2, the poor appetite girls, are the only ones who eat that).

I heated the oil a bit furtherto convert it more (then let it cool) before applying this morning, and also gave each a very small bit orally with food. Tonight I just gave them each an oral dose folded up in something called Kitty Kaviar, which is freeze dried very thinly shaved fish. I dab some onto a ribbony clump of the fish and fold it over. All three ate it without complaint. This may be preferable to mixing it into a full serving of food which does not necessarily allow you to control how much they get. Cat 1 ate only half of hers this morning, while Cat 2 surprised me by finishing her bowl (heheh) which explains her spaceout later. The treat method should make it easier to ensure consistent dosage when giving it orally. I scrape the doses out with a flat toothpick if that gives you an idea of the size. Maybe I'll try to take pictures.

Cat 1 (ancient, arthritic, thyroid/kidney) had a moderately lazy day, which is just fine at age ~20. She did not have trouble getting to the box (one of my concerns with possible disorientation). She ate fairly well. She was only a little restless/underfooty but calmed down more after getting some thyroid drops. No observable digestive issues. Seemed to be walking perhaps a little better, not quite as shaky. Just as quick to purr as usual, so no negative social effects.

Cat 2 (inflammatory mouth) ate much better than usual today. She seemed a little spaced out for a while after her cannaoil breakfast, but was better later. No vomiting, slight lower GI disturbance which is not unusual for her. She did not seem to have mouth pain after eating or yawning today, which is a big plus. Behavior was largely normal except for the aforementioned temporary spaceout. Because I would like for her to get the cannoil directly onto her oral tissues, I may withhold the ear application for her and just give hers orally so as not to give her too much.


Cat 3 (obese yowly shoulder problem) was able to jump up onto chairs better today and didn't seem to be struggling quite as much on the stairs. He also didn't fuss about his water so much (he is obsessed and insists on getting cups of water put on the floor for him despite having a fancy and regularly cleaned filtered fountain available, which he also drinks from). He ate and drank pretty normally today. He was quick to purr when I came near him but wasn't grabby and underfooty.

I did not really intend to move so quickly to oral administration. I should have held off on that mostly because I wanted to see how much could be accomplished just applying it to the ears, but I confess I got encouraged to try for faster results. If any don't respond well to ingestion I will go back to the ear method since it seemed to be well tolerated overnight. And I know from my own experience that when you've got chronic health issues it takes a little while to get the canna well into your system.

Will continue reporting. Feeling hopeful.
 
Day three, and all seems to be well. Another day of two oral administrations about 12 hours apart.

Cat 1 (ancient, arthritic, thyroid/kidney) slept comfortably, again ate a little better than she had been but she did seem a little more sedated than the other two and did not venture out much. I pulled her out from her hidey hole to cuddle for a while and she seemed fine, interacting normally and purring, did not seem disoriented. It's hard to say if she's resting excessively or if it just seems like that because she is so often restless from the hyperT. She may also be entering a healing stage if the anti inflammatory effects are kicking in and needs to sleep more to let that happen. May knock her back to one oral and one ear application starting tomorrow just to make sure she's not getting overmedicated, as her vision impairment would make that a more serious problem.

Cat 2 (inflammatory mouth) was restful today as well, but she seemed very comfortable and I saw her drink water which she hasn't been doing much since her mouth started bothering her. She fights if I try to actually look inside her mouth, but I don't have to get too close to be able to say that it *smells* a hell of a lot better than it did two days ago, now in the normal range of bad cat breath. She may be picking up on her grooming as well. She was normally social.

Cat 3 (obese yowly shoulder problem) continued to show the most evidence of pain relief. He did some things I haven't seen him do in a while--climbed up to sit on a window table, napped on his old favorite chair in the living room, and also jumped up to sit with me on the couch for a while. For a few months now he has been prone to hiding in the basement and only coming out to eat and complain. Today he was more social without being vocal or underfoot and seemed quite content.

Heart rate and breathing seem good on all three, meant to add this yesterday.
 
Rather than post daily I am going to continue with twice daily administrations and report back weekly unless something happens that warrants notice. Everyone seems to be enjoying gradual improvement and no noticeable side effects. I was concerned about Cat 1 resting so much and then realized this is how much a ~20 year old cat should be resting, her thyroid issues just haven't been letting her. Cats 2 and 3 have annual visits coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I'll definitely report on those.

I'm going to try to describe specifics as much as I can in case some vet professionals end up reading this. I will also at some point post a more complete profile on each cat including its diagnosed/suspected health problems and specific responses to the weed, also in case vets are reading.

I'm starting to feel relieved and hope to have three relatively healthy happy cats again before too long. I know what this stuff does to help me when I am able to take it (I never smoke it, I always use an oil extraction). Kind of wish this had occurred to me before. Thsi is the only board I know of with a cannabis for pets section so I'm glad I found it.
 
Have been continuing with twice daily oral dosages and all continues to go well.

Cat 1 (ancient, arthritic, thyroid/kidney) seems to be pulling out of the chronic pain well. She is not able to jump up on furniture again (I had hoped she might, but age is age) she is walking better and is clearly more comfortable. She is eating better and her stomach is less upset, so I have been able to start getting a better handle on treating the hyperthyroid. She can now tolerate very small doses of the rx methimazole (half the recommended dose) which is not enough to calm all the symptoms without digestive upset, and she gets a pinch of some homeopathic stuff that calms her down as well. With older cats, hyperT and kidney decline often go together and the hyperT actually props up the kidneys by artificially pumping extra blood to them, so treating the hyperT is a fine line. I listen to her heart a lot to make sure the hyperT is not blowing up. Overall she seems happier, more comfortable and gets ecstatic, not just spazzy, when receiving attention, tolerates grooming better, etc.

Cat 2 (inflammatory mouth) has continued to show improvement and most notably, shows relapse when she misses a dose, exhibiting pain/crankiness/refusal to eat. I've increased her dose a bit. She is eating better and seems to be putting on weight. Being in less pain she is also more tolerant of getting treatments. I've been able to get a combination of colloidal silver and organic sulfur (a purifying combination) into her more often and it seems to be promoting healing. She also seems generally happier and more playful again.

Cat 3 (obese yowly shoulder problem) continues jumping better and limping less. His coat has improved and like the other two he seems generally more comfortable and happy, more social and returning to some old behaviors he had abandoned. Since he will only eat dry food I still have to give him his dose on a treat, which is inconvenient. He won't eat it if I just put a dot on top of his food.

Some of the improvements these cats have shown can also be attributed to the coconut oil, which I have not been as consistent in giving them before now. They would alternate between licking it off the side of the bowl and avoiding it, and so I didn't bother with it too often. But many of these effects are clearly from the cannabinoids. With cats 1 and 2 I am mostly melting it in their dishes first and then stirring the food around to incorporate it. If they don't like the food for some reason I'll do a treat dosage.

The strain I am giving them (Gnomo) is not really ideal, lower CBD to THC ratio, but it does seem to be helping nevertheless. Soon I will have some Afghan Kush Ryder which has more CBD (although not low THC) and I will switch them to that. When I do, I will start small with the dosage again to see how they tolerate it. My guess is that it will only get better.

I wish Dixie or some other company would sell one of their legal, low/no-psychoactive strains in a product suitable for pets (an alcohol-free glycerin tincture without other additions, or even a straight coconut oil like I'm doing now). I have to grow to have any cannabis for the humans in the household, and usually autos due to space and time constraints, so we don't have it very often (growing is risky and stressful here). Especially now that I'm hearing shipments are getting cracked down on, it's even less feasible for me to try and do a low/no-psychoactive medical grow anytime soon (not even sure if there are any such strains quite small enough to be manageable in my circumstances but until the risk is lower I'm not going to bother).

Regarding transdermal administration on the ears, I still think this is probably a useful method if the concentration is higher, of course taking into consideration that cats may still ingest it as they bathe. I don't think this is a problem with the prescription transdermals you can buy to administer traditional meds, since they probably don't taste very good even if they are made to be safe to ingest. Of course, you wouldn't be slathering large amounts of highly concentrated coconut oil on their ears anyway. The nice thing about this is that it may be the best way to start helping cats (or dogs) who are in such bad shape they're barely able to eat, much less take an oral dose of oil.

Cat 2 actually has ear problems (common with autoimmune issues) so I've actually been using the oil to clean her ears, and they are producing less junk. She certainly handles it better than the other ear cleaners I've used on her and they seem to be looking better too.

One way to conveniently administer this stuff is in a small feeding syringe; suck it up into the syringe while the oil is still liquid and store in a cool dry place, but don't refrigerate or it will be too hard to dispense. Stored room temperature it will come out like toothpaste and will be easy to measure out as well. I tried getting salmon oil into my cats by mixing it with coconut and dispensing like this but they just don't like the taste of the stuff, but if you had a cat that does like it you could get both cannabinoids and omega3 into them very well like this.
 
Haven't posted an update in a while, sorry.

Have continued administering dilute coconut oil, dispensing it from a large feeding syringe since I can eyeball it well that way and mixing it with food so that there are small solid bits rather than melting it in the bowl as I had been. For cat 2 (more shortly) I have been applying people-strength coconut oil to her ears when she is not feeding well. We are still using the Gnomo oil, but I am about to put a pot of Afghan Kush Ryder on tonight, which has higher CBD.

Cat 1 (ancient, arthritic, thyroid/kidney) continues with lowered pain and is walking better than before the cannaoil treatments. She eats overall better than she had been. It didn't take long to see that she still doesn't tolerate methimazole well, but is instead tolerating a thyroid remedy I got for her from PetWellbeing, which she had not been before. This plus the cannaoil seems to be managing her hyperT and arthritis symptoms well. As she has been cuddlier and in a better mood, I am now able to trim her nails myself when they need it, and her skin is better, with less irritation and less gunk building up in her eyes. This is a good regular food additive for her.

Cat 2 (inflammatory mouth) was doing much better for a while but then had another downturn, with increased mouth pain and odor and the attendant crankiness and low energy that goes with the pain and poor eating. When she is not eating well I use the full-strength cannaoil on her ears, which at least seems to make her more comfortable. Although I had hoped with this treatment to reduce her inflammation enough to make the proposed costly and medieval-sounding dental surgery (by a visiting dental vet we've never met before, which makes me doubly worried) unnecessary, it seems we may have to consider this after all. Maybe the AKR will make a bigger difference.

Cat 3 (obese yowly shoulder problem) is officially on a diet, but handling it well. He goes back for a weigh-in and mini-checkup in a month. He is not getting cannaoil daily but seems to be fine so long as he gets an oil-filled Kitty Kaviar treat about every other day. Jumping better, better coat, friendly, less yowly, continuing to resume forgotten behaviors like jumping into my sweater drawer when it's opened and hanging out in it purring. He can't quite get up onto our bed by himself as it is on risers, but now asks to be lifted up onto it at bedtime, staying with us through much of the night like he used to.

Getting the crock set up for the AKR now. More in a week or two.
 
OP...I've had quite a few vets inquire as of late for cancer related topics on horses and dogs, just not a cat. However, they have receptors for the cannabinoids. Also they where treated topically for tumors. However, recently they have also administered it orally and now are seeing many, many more improvements. We came up with a blend of high CBD strain (pain and inflammation) mixed with a 50/50 sativa/indica then made into a concentrate. Not just for cancer compadre, their finding out, but, much improved health all around. If wanting to learn more...check out Rick Simpsons/RSO oil thread on how to dose correctly using cannabis concentrated oil. There are some post from Animal lovers such as myself. I had them start off with very very small doses and slowly work their way up to the amount required for the heal and make the animal comfortable and not so skittish. THEY LOVE IT ... just have to really be cautious so they don't find the meds.

T/C
 
Thanks, Motoco. Where I live, the only weed we can get is what I grow, and I don't do it often because I don't like the risk. The AKR is the first strain I've grown with a known high percentage of CBD, so I hope the results are more like what you've described. I have grain alcohol and will make some QWET soon, similar to RSO, right? For us, I've mostly made coconut and MCT oil extractions with good results, and since coconut is good for cats I figured I'd just make it more dilute for them. Maybe cat2 needs a higher dose... anyway, will post on the results!
 
Just a quick update. The Afghan Kush Ryder (which has more CBD than the first stuff I tried) seems to be preferred by the kits. However all of them seem to do better with it if they don't get it too regularly, so I've dialed it back from a little every day to giving it a couple of times per week depending on cat behavior. The one that seems to appreciate it the most is cat 1, who gets arthritis relief from it. Cat 2 gets it on her ears sometimes and in her food sometimes. I have been using the undiluted, fully decarbed human-strength coconut oil (liquid form) instead of diluting it and just using tiny amounts. This seems more agreeable for them flavor-wise and is certainly more effective when applied transdermally in the higher concentration.

Cat 3 seemed to appreciate it more early on, where it helped him get mobile again from his bad shoulder. I put him on a diet and it seems to be working, he'll go back in for a checkup later this week. I was sort of in the same place a few years ago, where I was just in too much pain to move but when I could get high I wanted to dance or go for a walk. I wasn't quite as corpulent as cat 3 but once I started moving and some weight came off, it kept getting easier even without the canna.

As for not giving it as often, I realized that if I take it too many days in a row, it doesn't feel as good, whereas if I just use it on weekends it's fun and pain-relieving pretty much every time.

I think it's safe to say after experimentation thus far that transdermal ear application is a good method for cats. It is not a heal all, but is a good pallaitive and seems to help reduce inflammation to a helpful degree. And as with humans, results and reactions vary.
 
Hi, i have read most of your posts, very interesting. I am very interested as to what dosage you are giving? I currently have a cat that is not only suffering from an old injury - she get very stiff and limping, not really able to jump etc, but she also has a small lump on her side and on her paw.

My vets want to biopsy it, but i refuse, as the cancer will only spread!!

I want to get this gone before it actually risks her life, also, i dont know what on the inside, if this is what i see on the outside.

Any help, dosages, and what you have tried would be most helpful

God bless
H
 
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