Does Dog CBD Oil Go Bad? Tips to Maximize Shelf Life
Looking at a long-forgotten bottle of CBD oil in your kitchen and wondering if it's still good to give to your dog? You might just be in luck. Read on to learn how to tell if your oil is expired and how to maximize its shelf life.
Key Takeaways
- When stored correctly, CBD oil has a shelf life of two years or more.
- That variation is due to several factors, including air exposure, heat, and exposure to direct sunlight.
- You should store CBD oil in its original container, in a cool, dark place.
- The potency of your CBD oil will likely decrease over time, even if stored in ideal conditions.
- It's generally best to only buy as much CBD oil as your furry friend needs, and you can subscribe to receive new bottles when you need them.
See Related: 9 Signs That Your Dog Has Seasonal Allergies
Does Dog CBD Oil Expire?
CBD oil can last a long time. That's good, because it can take a while to get through a bottle of the stuff.
For example, consider this CBD oil with 1000mg of CBD. If you, like many Americans, own a retriever, it might take you two months of daily use to get through the entire bottle!¹
And if you're the proud pet parent of one of the smaller breeds competing for the top spot in America's most popular dog rankings, that single bottle of CBD oil could last you years.²
But can CBD oil even last that long? The shelf life of CBD varies depending on a few factors. Fortunately, most of them are in your control.
What's In CBD Products
CBD products, including CBD oil, almost always contain other ingredients. CBD oil, for example, is commonly mixed with a carrier oil. Other products might also contain various flavorings.
Those additional ingredients can have their own shelf lives.
MCT oil, for example, is generally considered the best carrier oil. It's what we use in our hemp extract. When unopened, MCT oil can stay good for years.³
CBD Oil's Shelf Life
The same is true of CBD oil. In one study, cannabinoid extracts were found to remain stable for up to two years when stored correctly.⁴
In another, more recent study, CBD oil remained good for a year, even in sub-optimal storage conditions.⁵
How to Read Expiration Dates
Generally, experts agree that the shelf life of CBD oil is one to two years. In some cases, the expiration date on your CBD oil refers to the carrier oil (or other ingredients), which is likely to expire before the CBD oil itself.
However, expiration dates can also refer to the efficacy of your CBD oil.
Over time, the CBD in your CBD oil can decrease or convert into other molecules. In one study, the amount of CBD in a closed vial of CBD oil declined by 40% over the course of a year. When the vial was left open and exposed to hot temperatures, the amount of CBD declined to nearly nothing well before the year was up! ⁵
What does this mean? Well, it doesn't necessarily mean the CBD oil is expired in the same way that food oil might expire. That is, the oil hasn't necessarily gone bad.
But you aren't giving your pet CBD oil for fun. You're likely using it for one of its many potential health benefits. As such, you want to make sure you're giving your pet the correct dose.
You can imagine the problem, then, if you give your pet CBD oil that has degraded. To use the example from above, imagine your oil has degraded by 40%. That effectively means there is 60% of the CBD content in the same volume of CBD oil as when you bought the oil.
In short, your oil has gone bad — in the sense that it's nowhere near as effective as it was initially. Or, if you store your oil incorrectly, it could become somewhat useless, at least in the sense that it contains hardly any CBD at all.
Signs You Have Expired CBD Oil
There are three main signs that your CBD oil has expired.
- Smell: CBD oil usually smells pleasant and earthy, unless other scents have been added. When it expires, CBD oil often smells skunky and decidedly unpleasant.
- Appearance: If your oil has become thick and murky, it might have gone bad. That's different from becoming cloudy, which happens at cold temperatures. If you're unsure, leave your oil at room temperature for a while and see if it clears up.
- Taste: Absent any flavorings, CBD oil is usually described as tasting earthy. Nutty, grassy, and floral are other words used to describe CBD oil's taste. Whatever adjective you want to use, good CBD oil should be palatable, if not delicious. If your CBD oil tastes bad, off, or rancid, then it's probably expired. In that sense, it's just like any other expired oil.
How to Maximize Your CBD Oil's Shelf Life
Smelly, murky, and rancid oil is far from ideal. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple methods to avoid having your CBD oil expire before you finish using it.
Get High-Quality CBD Oil
This might sound obvious, but it's worth saying. All kinds of decisions made during the manufacturing process can affect the shelf life of your CBD oil.
High-quality plants, for example, grown in good conditions, lead to CBD oil that stays good for longer.
Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide extraction method results in full-spectrum CBD oil and broad-spectrum CBD oil with higher CBD levels than oils extracted with other, cheaper methods. It also produces a more stable CBD oil that will therefore last longer on your shelf.
Keep the Original Packaging
One of the main enemies of CBD oil is sunlight. It causes the CBD in your oil to degrade. One study found that light was the most important single factor in the loss of cannabinoids in solution.⁴ Other studies have similarly found that light increases the speed at which CBD oil degrades.⁶
CBD and CBDa oils usually come in dark glass bottles. Ours, for example, are a dark blue color. That's not just for looks (though we think they look great).
The color of the glass helps protect the oil inside from light. So, make sure to keep your oil in its original bottle!
Bonus: What to Do When Your Dog Is Restless At Night
Store Your Oil Properly
Similarly, our bottles are carefully crafted to protect your oil from another of its enemies: air. Oxygen, to be specific, causes CBD to degrade, just like light does.
For example, in one study, two vials of CBD oil were left at the same temperature. But one vial was left open, while the other was kept closed. The CBD in the open vial degraded faster and more completely than the closed vial.⁵
Make sure you close your bottle of CBD oil completely, and do so as soon as you're done using it. That should minimize contact between your precious oil and oxygen.
Avoid the Heat
The third enemy of CBD oil is temperature. Heat causes the CBD to, you guessed it, degrade.
In one study, CBD was left at two different temperatures: 25ºC and 40ºC. The CBD left at 25ºC stayed mostly intact for three months. After that, it degraded a little, but after a year, it was mostly still intact.
But the CBD left at 40ºC was completely degraded after a year!⁵
Avoid keeping your CBD oil anywhere that might get hot. That includes in the car, your bag, or near any source of heat like a stove, radiator, or air vent.
Check All the Ingredients
As we mentioned above, other ingredients can expire long before the CBD oil itself.
High-quality CBD oil usually only contains CBD oil and a carrier oil. Our products use limited ingredients to ensure purity, efficacy, and quality. For example, we mainly use two ingredients: full-spectrum organic CBD oil, and organic MCT oil from coconuts. That's it!
Get the Right Size
Regardless of proper storage, your CBD oil will eventually expire. Remember, the typical shelf life is a year or two, and that's under ideal conditions.
Therefore, we recommend only buying as much as you need, rather than stocking up. We offer three sizes of hemp extract to help you get the perfect amount.
Conclusion
When properly stored, high-quality CBD oil can last for a year or two. In general, keep your CBD oil in its original packaging and store it in a cool, dark place. And if you’re looking to shake things up a bit, feel free to try out hemp dog chew or other calming supplements instead!
Keep Reading: Does Your Cat Miss You When You Leave The House?
Sources
- Most Popular Dog Breeds of 2024 Golden Retriever Dog Breed Information
- U.S. News 360 Reviews Report Highlights the Most Popular Dog Breeds in America Chihuahua Dog Breed Information
- Certificate of Analysis Sheet Organic MCT Oil Fractionated Coconut Oil (Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride)
- The stability of cannabis and its preparations on storage - PubMed
- Stability Study of Cannabidiol in the Form of Solid Powder and Sunflower Oil Solution
- Long-term Storage and Cannabis Oil Stability Quantification of the content of cannabidiol in commercially available e-liquids and studies on their thermal and photo-stability
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Earth Buddy is an environmentally conscious and family-owned company dedicated to providing natural solutions for pets. From our CBD oils to our colostrum supplements, our products are designed to promote calmness and encourage relaxation for our furry friends. To learn more and stay connected, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest.
