4 Ways to Make CBD Dog Treats

You’ve heard how CBD could benefit your dog and you’ve decided to use dog treats with CBD oil instead of feeding your dog CBD oil directly.

But maybe you’re having difficulty finding CBD dog treats where you live, or your dog doesn’t like the taste of the ones you’ve bought, so you’ve decided to make your own.

If you’re looking for a homemade CBD dog treat recipe, you’ve come to the right place.

UPDATED: March 24, 2023

First, the Disclaimers

Typically, my disclaimers are a few sentences but there is a lot to address here so I’ve created a separate section for them.

Making your own CBD treats vs buying them

It’s safest to by pre-made CBD dog treats from a company. Good ones have put a lot of work and testing into making sure exactly how much CBD each treat contains.

While most dogs won’t have an issue with more CBD than recommended on the package (some actually need it to be effective), or less (although it might be less effective), go with the pre-made treats if you want to be well on the safe side.

If you think you know what you’re doing after reading this, or are pretty comfortable with the risk, then go ahead and give making your own a try.

About the legality and safety of CBD

To be clear, the only CBD product you should ever give your dog is one derived from industrial hemp.

Industrial hemp has little to no THC and CBD products produced from industrial hemp are legal in any state.

However, depending on the crop, an oil can still contain trace amounts of THC.

That’s why it’s important to purchase a product made specifically to give to dogs and verify it has been tested by an independent lab to contain only an insignificant trace amount of THC.

I am not a veterinarian or nutritionist

I’m not a veterinarian or dog nutritionist.

It important to consult with your vet before giving your dog a new supplement (although, be warned – less-than-progressive vets may disregard CBD as a viable treatment in general).

Now, moving on….

Where Can I Get Legal and Safe CBD Oil for My Dog?

Note: some of the links below are affiliate links. This means when you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own and I only recommend things we think are really great.

There are many ways to find CBD oil for your dog.

If you live in a state where marijuana is legal – like Washington or Colorado – you may be able to find it at your local specialty pet food store.

If you don’t live in a cannabis-friendly state, you may have to order it online.

My favorite, reliable online source of CBD oil and treats is Pet Releaf.

Read my Pet Releaf Review for more.

How Much CBD Should I Put in the Homemade CBD Dog Treats?

How much CBD a particular dog needs will vary. It varies based on weight and the condition being treated.

For example, a small dog probably won’t need as much as a big dog and you may need to give them more to treat anxiety or to help control seizures than you would for general wellness.

Read This: A Thorough Explanation of How Much CBD You Should Give Your Dog

The bottom line is you have to find what works for your dog and situation.

For the homemade treats, I suggest giving your dog the CBD oil directly first to determine how much they need in each dose.

Start with the lowest recommended amount and work your way up from there.

Once the desired result in achieved, you will know how many drops of oil, or how many mg of CBD, to put in each treat.

Alternately, if you have multiple dogs with different tolerances, you can put the amount for the dog that needs less in each treat and then just give the dog that needs a bigger dose more treats.

The good news is, several studies on CBD have shown it has little to no side effects, even in high doses so you are very unlikely to harm your dog if you accidentally put too much in a treat.

In cases where side effects from too much did occur, the most common one was drowziness.  On very rare occasions, side effects have included excessive itchiness or mild vomiting.

If your dog starts having any of these symptoms after ingesting CBD, stop giving it to them and they should return to normal. If you are concerned, be sure to take your dog to the vet.

How to Make CBD Dog Treats

There are four ways to make your own CBD dog treats at home.

The first two are easy, the third one takes a bit more effort and care, but the last one – baking your own CBD dog treats – can be tricky.

It’s tricky because too much heat can cause the CBDs in the oil evaporate so there is little or no beneficial ingredients in the treat.

It’s best to stay away from making baked CBD dog treats unless you are experienced cooking with marijuana.

Let’s look at the ways that don’t involve heat so you don’t have to worry about evaporation.

1) Add CBD Oil to Ready-made Dog Treats

One super simple way to make your own CBD dog treats is to put drops of the oil on your dog’s treats.

I’ve done this and I can tell you it doesn’t necessarily work on any ol’ treat. The trick is to get the oil to soak in.

In order for this to happen, you need to pick “porous” dog treats. Dog treats that look granular or that have little holes in them work best.

One of my favorite treats for this is BIXBI BarkPops (they’re like dog Cheetos for dogs).

Make your own dog treats by putting CBD oil on ready-made ones

Just place the number of drops of CBD oil your dog needs on the treat, let it soak in for a minute and let your dog enjoy. That’s it!

2) Add CBD Oil to Frozen Dog Treats

This is also a simple way to make CBD dog treats and they are especially great in the summer if your pup needs to cool off.

However, you may need to do a little math.

Most frozen dog treats are prepared in batches.

That means you will have to multiply the number of treats the recipe will make by the number of CBD oil drops your pet needs and add that to the recipe.

Adding CBD oil to frozen treats works best if you first add the oil to the “thicker” ingredients (like peanut butter, yogurt, etc) and then add in the liquid.

If you mix it in well, and each treat is approximately the same size, you should get an even dosage of CBD per treat.

Alternately, you can make a frozen treat mix, place individual portions in an ice cube or candy-making tray, add the appropriate amount of oil to each “cube”, and then mix it in.

Do remember that adding the oil will change the freezing temperature of the mix so you might need to leave them in longer and/or the finished product may be kind of soft-frozen.

Try one of these frozen dog treat recipes:

Make your own CBD dog treat by putting hemp oil in this Dog Ice Cream

If you don’t want to use your own ice cube trays to make these treats, check out this silicone paw print ice cube tray or this fun Marijuana Pot Leaf Silicone Mold.

3) Homemade No-Bake CBD Dog Treats

Your next option if you don’t want to put CBD oil on a pre-made treat, or give your pup a cold, frozen treat is to make no-bake dog treats.

You’ll want to pick a treat recipe that calls for some kind of oil so you can replace all or part of that with CBD oil.

No-bake dog treats are softer than baked dog treats so, while these are a great option around home, they can crumble if you are travelling or hiking.

To help prevent this, put them in a hard-sided container to protect them.

Here are some recipes to try if you want to go this route:

4) Bake Your Own CBD Dog Treats

Like I said, this is where it gets tricky.

Making baked CBD treats for your dog is definitely for people with prior experience making marijuana edibles for people or those willing to take a bit of a chance.

Once you have some hemp CBD oil, you can make your own dog treats
Photo Credit: Depositphotos/Ezergil

The lower the temperature you bake the treats at, the less chance any of the CBD will evaporate. 

Generally, CBD is completely degraded at temperatures in excess of 392 degrees F, although it starts to break down long before that.

The consensus online seems to be the baking temperature should be 350 degrees or below.

You can either choose recipes that don’t require baking at a higher temperature or lower the recommended baking temperature for most recipes and just extend time in the oven accordingly.

This method is also tricky because it’s hard to make sure each treat has the correct dose of CBD.

Using logic, it seems pretty safe to make a dog treat recipe, decide beforehand how many treats the batch will make, add the appropriate amount of CBD oil for that number of treats, and make sure you mix the oil in well to get the right dose in each treat.

However, that is no “scientific” guarantee.

There is some risk involved that each treat will not contain the amount of CBD you intended. 

Note: remember, giving a little too much CBD is likely not harmful but you could end up with treats that don’t have a full dose in them so aren’t as effective.

Also note you don’t want to make the treat recipe and THEN add the CBD oil or the mix will contain too much oil/moisture and is unlikely to turn out as planned.

In general, the amount of oil a recipe calls for can be fully or partially replaced with an equal volume of CBD oil.

Therefore, it’s best to choose a recipe that already lists some kind of oil in the ingredients list.

Here are some tasty-looking examples that use low baking temperatures and that contain oil in the recipe:

What’s the Easiest Way to Make Your Own CBD Dog Treats?

Besides the effort it takes to make the treats, there are other considerations like the ease of making sure the final treat contains the proper dose of CBD, testing to make sure the final product has the right consistency and making sure you don’t lose any of the CBD in the process.

In my opinion, this is the list of methods in order of easiest to hardest:

  1. Add CBD Oil to Ready-made Dog Treats
  2. Homemade No-Bake CBD Dog Treats
  3. Add CBD Oil to Frozen Dog Treats
  4. Bake Your Own CBD Dog Treats

Final Thoughts

In this article, I presented the 4 ways you can make your own CBD dog treats.

Which recipe or method you choose depends on your skills in the kitchen and your confidence that you will end up with an accurate CBD doge for your dog.

The dosage will be most accurate with the first 3 options for making CBD dog treats at home.

It’s the baked treats that will be the biggest challenge.

Remember that the biggest risk is that you will end up with dog treats that don’t have enough CBD in them for your dog.

Brands that bake high-quality CBD dog treats, like Pet Releaf, send their finished product to a laboratory to test the amount of CBD in each of their treats.

It’s extremely unlikely that you will have the same luxury.

However, if you know that your dog acts or behaves a certain way on a particular dose, and they do not exhibit those signs after giving them your homemade CBD treats, it may be a sign that you need to add more CBD next time or bake them at a lower temperature.

Experiment, have fun, and good luck!

Using Hemp CBD oil, there are several ways you can make your own dog treats at home

About the Author

Hi, I’m Jessica. I’ve been studying the Dachshund breed since 2007, owned 3 of my own, and shared in the lives of thousands of others through their owner’s stories. When I’m not sharing what I know on this blog, you can find me hiking, camping, and traveling with my adventurous wiener dogs.

22 Comments

  1. How to sensibly buy LEGAL and best quality cbd products for my dog? I’ve heard how CBD dog treats could benefit your dog; reduce seizures, anxiety, pain etc.

  2. Hey Jessica, this is a great idea and overview. I have been sharing our story with CBD and the benefits we have noticed in our dogs, but a lot of questions I get from friends is regarding dosage and intake methods. I believe CBD oil is the best way for absorption, however many people have stated that it’s not so easy to get their pup to comply. So I never really thought about making your own treats in the methods you describe here. I’ve recommended just buying pre-made treats, but this is certainly a great option, especially if people buy oil and administering it is not going so well. Thanks!

  3. It sure got my attention when you said that one of the advantages of using hemp for dogs was the idea that it carries no side effects whatsoever even when they were given in high dosages. I have been thinking of giving this kind of treatment for my pet because he has been so lethargic and anxious lately, but I am not that confident. Seeing this article made me realize that its safe. Now all I need is to ask the vet if I chose the right decision. Thank you!

  4. I am using CBD in my dogs’ treat for a long time. They are really great and useful for my pets. I think every dog owners should use CBD for their pets.

    1. Hey do you make your own treats with CBD oil ? If so can you please help me , with a good recipe please please !

  5. I really believe this is a wonder supplement for the dogs .
    Personally I have used it for a senior dog that was overweight and having hip issues.
    She has lost the weight and she moves like she was young again.
    As well as a pup with skin problems went to vet several occasions and nothing but drugs with no results, starting using CBD cream directly to skin and cookies and it has been clear for almost 6 months.
    To buy pre-made cookies can be expensive for the amount that I use .
    Thank you for the recipe’s they work great and keep my cost down.

  6. I am wondering if I could just drop a few drops of CBD tincture in a pill pocket for my dog. Has anyone tried this? Do they get the full effect if its not put under their tongue?

    1. Hi Debbie. I’ve actually thought about doing this but haven’t tried it. It seems to me that it could work if you were only putting 1-3 drops in there.

  7. I appreciate what you shared about looking at ways to make CBD dog treats that don’t involve heat. I don’t trust my cooking abilities, so I think I’ll contact a company to supply me with CBD dog biscuits. I think CBD products have several medicinal purposes, so I think it’s a good idea to purchase some for any dog with any form of ailment.

  8. Do you have any experience with dehydrated CBD dog treats? The temp doesn’t go over 160 degrees but, I do it for 30 hours.

  9. Making your own CBD dog treats. When baking them do you add the CBD oil? Or when they are finished do you add the CBD oil?

    1. You add the CBD to the mix before you “make” them, whether making is freezing or baking. But if you bake them, be sure to read the instructions carefully. You have to do it at a low temperature so it doesn’t degrade the strength of the CBD.

  10. Can you put the CBD oil on enough pre made cookies to last a week? Will the CBD evaporate or will the strength weaken?
    Thanks

    1. Hi Linda. CBD oil is’ well, CBD suspended in oil, and the oil will prevent evaporation as long as it’s kept in a cool, dry place. There is a slight chance it could degrade when exposed to air and light (oxidation process) but I doubt that will be noticeable within a week. For guarantee of the highest strength though, I suggest applying the CBD oil shortly before administering the treat.

  11. Do you know how long CBD on a pre-made treat is good for? My dogs refuse all CBD treats but they like the bacon flavored oil so I’m wondering if I can put the oil on some cookies and store them for a few days. Any thoughts?

    1. Hi Erica. I can’t say for sure how long the CBD oil would be “good” for out of the container. However, the CBD is suspended in oil so, unless there is heat applied, it should not become volatile and evaporate within a few days. My biggest concern would be for the carrier oil to go rancid to oxidation, but that process typically takes weeks.

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