Pet Store Unleashes Cannabis

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Pet Store Unleashes Cannabis
Dogs Have Day: Janene Zakrajsek at Beverly Hills pet store Pussy & Pooch.

At Pussy & Pooch’s Beverly Hills pet store, animals can dine on raw gourmet meals at the Pawbar, get groomed at the Bathhouse or be treated to acupuncture in the Wellness Spa.

And now, Fido can add a little cannabis to that regimen.

Pussy & Pooch’s four area stores started selling Treatibles last month. They are bone-shaped biscuits infused with hemp-derived cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive compound found in cannabis.

“There’s no THC in this; it’s not going to get any animals high,” said Marjorie Fischer, brand manager for Auntie Dolores, an Oakland artisanal edibles company that makes Treatibles. “It is balancing and calming and creates vitality in an animal’s body.”

Fischer said customers have reported using the treats for a variety of pet anxiety issues such as separation nerves, fear of noises or going to the vet.

Pussy & Pooch co-founder Janene Zakrajsek said carrying the treats was a no-brainer after she heard about them from a couple of veterinarians.

“Pussy & Pooch is quite progressive as a company in terms of the innovative product lines we carry and how health and wellness forward we are,” she said.

The snack is not cheap at $24 for a 3.25-ounce bag. And the product raises questions for some. Dr. Tony Buffington, a professor emeritus of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University who has a background in nutrition, said he’d want to see evidence from controlled clinical trials in veterinary literature on such a product before judging its effectiveness. He added that a snack like this could have a placebo effect on the pet owner that gets transferred to the animal.

“What you’re trying to sell me is hope,” Buffington said.

Fischer said a clinical trial will be conducted next year.

Meanwhile, the store had been testing the treats for a few weeks with owners’ and staffs’ animals and in-house trainers on a basic matter: making sure animals liked the taste. The line officially launched at Zakrajsek’s shops last week with Treatibles reps on hand to train staff and talk with customers for the stores’ annual What’s in Their Bowl? health and nutrition event.

But the treat unofficially had been sold before then – a good time with July 4 fireworks making dogs nervous.

“A lot of rescue dogs have anxiety or are moody and could really benefit from something like this,” Zakrajsek said.

– Marni Usheroff

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