Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

These comments are in response to last weeks post CBD Oil – Miracle Cure For Birds Or Just The New Snake Oil

 

From Taryn Palo

 

Regarding CBD oil.

 

My avian vet sells it. 

 

He’s taken care of my Umbrella cockatoo for 23 years now so I pretty much trust him. 

 

And I read your articles and concerns. 

 

I think one of the problems here is that there is a huge disparity in the types being sold. 

 

You basically don’t know what you are buying. 

 

So here is my experience. 

 

I started researching various brands before I tried it. 

 

And I talked to my nephew who is a grower. 

 

He recommended Medterra. 

 

Now I am NOT a representative for them. 

 

But then my acupuncturist recommended it, my cat vet recommended it, my MIL took it, and avian Dr recommended it. 

 

And I researched the company. 

 

The ONLY hemp grown and monitored in the USA. 

 

The COA they have monitors facilities and growing practices and purity. 

 

It has helped my arthritis, fibromyalgia (NO flares in 6 months) and anxiety.

 

My cat – who the vet had proscribed Prozac for aggression to other cats and other issues, is doing better. 

 

And Koko, my umbrella cockatoo has less screaming and biting (she goes after my husband, not me). 

 

She gets 1 drop a day. 

 

It’s not brown. 

 

It’s clean in a light oil base. 

 

While you say the FDA has not evaluated it, it has been used for hundreds of years. 

 

In fact, when I worked with growers many years ago we saw birds and other wildlife in our fields. 

 

They obviously knew then what others are just coming to realize now. 

 

The plant has many healthy uses and properties. 

 

So waiting for the FDA, to my mind, is just waiting for the government and big pharma figure out how to exploit it for the highest dollar they can. 

 

This is just my humble opinion.

 

I understand you want to see scientific research. 

 

But there have been lots of drugs approved based on this so-called research only to turn around and kill people later. 

 

So I guess I have to go on the unscientific research of people and animals who have used it successfully for hundreds of years.

 

Hi Taryn

I will post your comment as well as this one

​

​”Hi Mitch and Catherine,

Thanks for that excellent article and point of view on CBD Oil.

 

Yes I have several FB bird friends using it successfully however my avian vet agrees with you.

Her concern is as yours, long term effects.

 

I have a happy very healthy Hannah and my vet says to ignore her mild hormonal chest feather picking 🙂

 

Have a GREY’T week!

Best,

Joanie and Hannah”

​

​​So Taryn – that brings us:

​

​To say that “The ONLY hemp grown and monitored in the USA.” unfortunately is a total crock and makes all the other facts Medterra lists unreliable and suspect – Nothing they say is regulated nor monitored.

​

​”Vote Hemp, the nation’s foremost hemp advocacy group, detailed in their 2017 U.S. Hemp Crop Report that 23,343 acres of hemp were cultivated last year across the nation. In 2018, that sum swelled to 77,000 acres. With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill into law, you can be sure that number will continue to expand in 2019.”

​

​Read more 

​

​So either Medterra is processing 77,000 acres (120 square miles or every plant in the US) or you may want to drill down and ask them for some proof of that statement.

​

​The issue for me is no long term testing on birds who metabolize at a rate much higher than any mammal.

​

​Regarding Koko, are you benchmarking biting and screaming using a decibel meter for vocalizations, counting bite attacks and near misses?

​

​Not trying to be cute here but you used the following statement as an endorsement of pot use by birds who will eat almost any seed. 

​

​”In fact when I worked with growers many years ago we saw birds and other wildlife in our fields.”

​

​I’ll tell you birds just like not only seeds but getting high too.

 

 

 

​Birds are scavengers in the wild and will eat anything they can.

​

​”And as any scientist will tell you, clinical proof— a randomized, controlled trial— is the gold standard for establishing a drug’s usefulness and safety. So a lot of dollars— not to mention medical faith— are being spent on potentially useless treatments.”

​

​Lastly, there are 40 species of Cat, 2 species of horse and 1 species of dog – to say CBD works wonders on 11,000 species of birds is well, like “how does your vet know this with certainty?

From Julie Barcal

I had to comment about CBD oil even tho I have zero experience with it.

It is being touted as a type of cure all for humans and pets.

I am suspicious of anything that is supposed to be a cure all for just about any kind of problem. More research please.

Until then I won’t touch it and neither will any of my animals.

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments.

​​MitchR

Hi Mitch,

I’ve been doing research for my latest content piece and your website attracted my attention.

Greetings Laurice,

Your zygodactyl footnote