CBD Dosage Calculator For Cats

As CBD continues to rise in popularity among cat owners seeking alternative treatment solutions to some of cats' hardest problems, it’s increasingly important to understand proper CBD dosage for cats. 

While CBD is non-lethal in cats, there are some adverse side effects to overdosing your cat that you should be wary of.

As a general rule of thumb, you should be aiming to administer 1mg of CBD per 10 lbs as a starting point. This can move as high as 5mg, but only in extreme cases would you need so much CBD for your cat. 

How Much CBD Does My Cat Need

How much CBD your cat needs will depend on a few factors, namely their weight and the condition you are trying to treat. CBD is a useful and natural remedy for common behavioral issues in cats such as anxiety and aggression. It can also be used for more ailments such as kidney disease, cats who have seizures, and even cats with cancer. 

If you can imagine, the dosage of CBD needed for a cat with cancer comes with a whole plethora of sub-questions and different answers. Simply put, it’s too complex for us to confidently distill into a few paragraphs, so we won’t do so. 

While dealing with more common behavioral issues, the dosage is a bit more clear. Cats with mild anxiety or aggression can be given the lower spectrum of the dosage. If their cases are more severe, you can move them up closer to the medium spectrum and see how well that fairs for them. The high dose should be reserved for rare situations where the cat is in immediate pain, or having seizures, or anything else that seems to be extreme. 

So a common scenario for a cat owner would be to try administering CBD to their cat to help with their anxiety around their dog. If you have a normal cat, they are probably around the 10 lb mark. Start off by giving them a 1mg dose of CBD to see how they respond to it. You can push this up to 2mg in the first week if you don't see any behavior change. You could even push this up to 3mg within the first month if you still aren’t seeing the results. 

Related: How Long Does CBD Take To Work On Cats?

But keep in mind that going beyond the 3mg mark may be providing your cat with a high dose of CBD. 

Side Effects of CBD in Cats

The term “side-effects” may not be entirely appropriate in this case. The goal is to provide your cat with a proper dose at a standard interval. When you’ve exceeded that dose, you may begin to notice some side effects in your cat. 

The most common side effects of CBD you will see in cats are a dry mouth, diarrhea, low blood pressure, and drowsiness. 

Dry Mouth

The most common side effect of administering too much CBD at one time is a dry mouth in your cat. If you notice your cat rushing to their water bowl a bit too often, this would be your best sign your dosage is too high. 

Diarrhea

While unfortunate, diarrhea is a common side effect from nearly any change to a cats diet. They have notoriously sensitive stomachs, and CBD could cause diarrhea or vomiting. It’s important to note that the cause may not be CBD, but another ingredient in the CBD which is why it’s so important to purchase high quality and natural CBD. 

Low Blood Pressure

The common way to understand that your cat has a lowered blood pressure from CBD is dizziness. If you see your cat struggling to maintain their balance it could be due to a sudden drop in their blood pressure as a result of CBD usage. 

Drowsiness

Probably the most desired side effect of CBD is drowsiness. But too much drowsiness can be a sign that you’re giving them too high of a dosage of CBD. It’s important to understand your cats regular sleeping habits to determine if there is a change. 

Can A Cat Overdose On CBD?

As long as the CBD oil is purely CBD (with no THC added) it is not possible for a cat to overdose and die from CBD. In the event that you have a mix of THC, your cat can experience THC toxicity, which can cause comas at severely high doses. 

In most cases, there is absolutely nothing to worry about other than the need to go out and purchase more CBD treats for your cat. 

We have had this experience once, where Yaki and Yavapai found a small stash of CBD treats for Pima and ripped the plastic bag open and had a little feast. They were a little extra relaxed that day, but nothing else ever happened. What we learned: use mason jars to store treats so they can’t rip the bags open.