The story of the dog Yara, who stopped having seizures after treatment with Cannabis oil

According to her veterinarian, the little dog had up to 12 seizures on the worst days; however, after 9 months using THC-rich oil, the animal did not have seizures again

11/02/2026 06h21

"Hi, professor, good afternoon. Sorry to bother you here on WhatsApp, but it's urgent. My dog is having a seizure. This happened out of nowhere. And it was very frequent last night. Honestly, I think she had about ten. I spent most of the time with her calming her down and taking care so she wouldn't get hurt".

This was the message that Júlia Souza, the owner of the mixed-breed dog Yara, just over a year old, sent on March 19 to the veterinarian Erik Amazonas, who teaches at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). The girl thought her dog was going to die.

Erik recalls, in an interview with Sechat, that when he went to attend to Yara at the student's house, in the middle of the consultation, the little dog had a very strong new crisis.

"I went with the oil at a dose that I call 'I don't care', until she stopped. It was a very high dose! At that point, I went back to talk to the owner, when she had a second crisis. That's when I gave her a sedative dose".

According to the veterinarian, Yara had up to 12 seizures on the worst days. However, more than 9 months after this treatment, the animal stopped having seizures.

"Now she travels with the owner, goes to squares, parks, things she didn't do because she was confined at home", Amazonas says.

However, during the treatment, Júlia ran out of Cannabis oil and had to medicate the dog with black label drugs. First, she used Rivotril (diazepam). However, the dog became "hallucinated", in the owner's words. Then, she administered Gardenal (phenobarbital). The second medication managed to control the seizures. However, the dog was groggy and still had some spasms.

Quite different from the effect of Cannabis oil, which as shown in the images below, returned Yara to the behavior of a normal and playful one-year-old dog.

"She is sleeping like never before. No seizures. Today she got up, ate, walked around the house, and went back to sleep", Júlia reported.

According to Erik Amazonas, unlike in humans, in the animals he observed, THC did not cause adverse effects during treatment with oils rich in this cannabinoid:

"In veterinary medicine, what I have seen is that we have had better experiences with oils rich in THC than in CBD. What has worked best for me in several animals is an oil that has a 50x1 ratio of THC to CBD. In the specific case of Yara, who is using 2.5 mg/ml of THC, I have no reports of side effects".