Natural Alternatives to supporting your pets' allergies: Why is it important to choose the right CBD for your pet?

Allergens are common in animals, so let's talk about how we formulate at LIX, why we formulate the way we do, and why it's essential for our allergy-challenged pets.

Many 'spectrum' tinctures, from cannabis and hemp to other plant tinctures, contain terpenes and other plant matter. The most common terpene allergies are from limonene, linalool, pinene, caryophyllene, and myrcene; these are common across a few botanical species, especially cannabis/hemp, and as these compounds oxidize, they can cause allergies. In humans, these allergies can be annoying, but it's often the precursor to a slew of other systemic problems in dogs and cats. 

Suppose we have a dog on an allergy medication, like Apoquel, because they experience huge skin flare-ups and inflammation caused by seasonal or daily environmental allergies. The skin biome is bidirectional and communicates with the body's immune cells to influence behavior and keep the body healthy. It is also responsible for responding to and regulating immune responses. 

Why is this important? A flare-up or consistent flare-ups from allergy symptoms cause significant stress, affecting the immune system and cortisol levels, causing mental and emotional havoc when animals constantly feel like their skin is crawling or on fire. Can you imagine?! 

What allergy-challenged pets need is consistent support and products free from common allergens. You all know we formulate specifically to be flavorless and odorless, but did you know we also pull allergens from our products to be friendly and accommodating to our animal friends experiencing the effects of allergies or who have compromised immune systems that cause skin flare-ups? That's right; our products are formulated to support and genuinely aid in reducing inflammation, whereas other CBD products may be doing just the opposite.  

Why do we formulate to remove allergens?

Let's dive a little deeper into why a full-spectrum or other plant tinctures are causing these allergy flare-ups… 

Dogs have a super fragile skin barrier, a more alkaline skin biome, a more homogenized distribution of receptors, and a less thick epidermis with about 3-5 cells thickness (a human epidermis is about 12-15 cells thick) that turns over about every 18-20 days. There are other significant differences, including canine hair growing in bundles and missing the little fat plug (follicular lipid plug) around the follicle that humans have. So, when a dog scratches or gets that 'bugs crawling on me' feeling, the destruction to the epidermis and dermis is quick, introducing bacteria that can be quite hard to heal. Adding oil (tincture) or a treat with plant matter, like a full-spectrum product, will kick up the inflammatory response, making the dog even more miserable and potentially exacerbating pyodermas for those animals inclined. This is exactly why we focus on formulating precisely to remove allergens and enhance the cannabinoid profile.

We have chosen this path through heavy study and collaboration, which is why we issue this guidance. These are meaningful discussions we need to pay attention to. We ARE scientists and wellness experts, but we are not veterinarians, and we respect the guidance and opportunity to collaborate with behaviorists, PhDs, and DVMs. It's always a team approach to animal wellness. It's always more than one easy solution, but it is important to have all the information to make an educated decision for our pets.  

We've been around animals for a long while. In raising our dog and cat family members and running a Pit Bull rescue for over ten years, we gained a lot of experience in evaluating and handling conditions in animals, from allergies to PTSD. We have a lot of vets as members of our pet wellness teams across our company. Additionally, we've received massive education in plant science and animal wellness to formulate the best products for our animals.  

We've got you covered.  

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