Animal lovers out there may be familiar with this unfortunate scenario: your dog or cat is getting older, they're in some pain, and nearing the end. Now some pet owners may be turning to medical marijuana as an unorthodox remedy for their ill and aging animals.

Nevada lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would allow pet owners to give their animals marijuana with a veterinarian's approval. And there are already some medical cannabis products made in California and Washington that are being marketed for pets. 

But are they effective? And safe?

Dr. Karl Jandrey, Associate Professor of Clinical Surgical & Radiological Sciences the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, joined Take Two to answer some of our questions.

The FDA has issued warnings to some companies for claims they've made about their cannabis products for pets. Has the FDA tested any of these products?

I don't believe they have. That's probably why they have the warning. The FDA is sort of looking for efficacy studies to meet the claims, as opposed to safety studies that just say it's not going to be dangerous. So I think it's the efficacy thing that they're warning that they may be overstepping their boundaries just a little bit by making those claims.

The claims are that these products help pets with cancer, arthritis, and asthma. Has there been any research on medical marijuana for pets?

There's really not much in the literature at all for animals in the public. You know, there might be... pre-clinical studies in rats, rabbits, mice to sort of prove principle but to my knowledge there's nothing actually published for our companion animals.

Have you ever had to deal with this in your practice as a veterinarian?

We deal with chronic pain all the time, so yes. And we have had clients who have brought up the conversation. We're not afraid to talk about it. We do know that there are cannabinoids that are marketed for humans that have been used anecdotally in pets. And many of my colleagues at times have chosen to use those, especially for some of those chronic patients, but those are of unknown efficacy. It's something to try, but we certainly as veterinarians have a huge pharmacy of drugs and therapies that could be used to try to alleviate this pain and chronic suffering in these patients.

If a dog accidentally ingests marijuana, what's the effect? 

What we see in dogs usually when they become intoxicated, which happens quite a lot in the emergency room where I work... They have very dilated pupils, they stumble around as if they're drunk, they dribble urine very very commonly, and their heart rates drop very very low. Those are the classic signs we see in the emergency room.

What would be your advice if someone came to you and said 'My dog is in pain, he's having seizures'... Would medical marijuana help? Would you offer that as a possibility?

I personally wouldn't offer it as a first-line therapy due to the efficacy studies. We do have a large amount of pharmacy products, narcotics, narcotic-like drugs, and some integrative therapies like acupuncture that might actually help to relieve some of the suffering. So I would start with my traditional approach, mainly because there is a lack of studies to prove that this is a better option.

How about the cannabis and hemp products that the FDA has said don't have proven benefits for animals and maybe sometimes don't contain much cannabis at all. If they're just herbal supplements, could they be safe to try?

Well like most herbal supplements, the dosage of the chemical is probably unknown to low. And most of them have background levels that probably would not achieve the desired result of pain relief or relief of suffering. So they may be helpful, but to the extent that we're putting all our hope in them, I think that that is a bit short sighted.

With this increased level of interest in medical marijuana for pets, do you think there will be more studies in the future to figure out if it works?

I certainly hope there's a lot of studies that will come out of this and I hope there's a lot of support from the public to help fund those studies. It would be great to do, and I think there's a lot of value to pursue, for sure.