Daily Dose: Treating Dogs Naturally

By: Sharon Letts

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures Is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That’s the essence of inhumanity.” 

— George Bernard Shaw (Irish Playwright, 1856-1950) 

 

When you have the knowledge of plant-based remedies, specifically cannabis, it becomes a calling to help others, including their fur babies. 

In my travels I’ve helped friends and cared for dogs in house-sits, by helping the owners to medicate and/or use cannabis and other plants for their dogs, as prevention against disease and illness.

Dogs are biologically the same as humans, and they get the same maladies as we do. Obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, heart disease, and cancer are as common in dogs as they are to humans. 

As with humans, health starts with our diets in building a strong immune system – and plants address the immune system like no other preventative pharmaceutical or vaccine they can come up with. Period. (See Building the Immune System with Plants) https://www.vegascannabismag.com/patient-stories/daily-dose-building-the-immune-system-with-plants-a-pandemic-primer/ )

We definitely are what we eat, and domestic dogs, for the most part, have been relegated to eating the same highly processed, empty foods day in and day out. At best, it’s a boring diet. Worst case scenario, it may add to their demise.

I’m also not keen on kibble, likening it to doggy junk food, no matter what the ingredients. For chewing (important for teeth and gum health), dogs can eat raw bones. Raw soup bones are a favorite. But they can devour an entire leg and thigh with bone in no time.

Also, important to note, dogs are carnivores and they eat vegetarians, consuming the entire stomach, adding greens and grains to their diets. They do not stop to debone or cook their prey, they eat the meat raw, along with the bones. 

You are What You Eat

The Veterinary Oncology & Hematology Center states cancer accounts for nearly 50 percent of all disease-related deaths each year, with our furry friends suffering as much as we do from toxins in our environment and empty foods. 

As detailed in an article from Natural News processed pet foods contain “meat meal,” cooked down at temperatures between 220 and 270 degrees, allegedly sterilizing the contaminated meat used from a stated plethora of “road kill,” euthanized animals from zoos and animal shelters, and meat classified as “4-D,” or “dead, diseased, disabled and dying.”

Ann Martin penned in her book Food Pets Die For that more than five-million tons of processed slaughterhouse leftovers are used for animal feed in the United States each year, with some 200 tons of animals presenting to pet food manufacturers per month in Los Angeles alone – with the sodium phenobarbital residue used from euthanasia still in the mix. 

Residue from this concoction containing fecal material is dried and pulverized into a brown powder then used as an additive to pet foods and livestock feed – with farmers referring to it as “protein concentrates.”

For the Love of Dogs

Recently I rescued two dogs from a puppy mill. Both were so weak and malnourished, they had to be carried into my home. One was near death with an infection caused by an attack by another dog. Both had mange and severe fur loss, damage from long-term sun exposure. 

I had cared for enough of my friend’s dogs to know about the importance of making real food for them. I also have enough knowledge of plant-based remedies and cannabis to know how to help them heal.

The one with the infection was given olive oil infused with cannabis, a small dose (1 ml every three to four hours initially) to get her used to the activated THC. But she was so sick and weak, there was never any indication she was being negatively affected by the compound, only seeming relief for the pain and discomfort she must have suffered.

I used topical cannabis infused salve on the wounds and on both for mange, made with chamomile, guanabana, coconut and shea butter (basic salve recipe on my website). All plants are superfoods, with a wide range of compounds, for a wide range of help for ailments.

The mange cleared up within days, with the fur growing back healthy. Within a week the swelling and infection was on its way out. 

It’s been nearly two months since they came to me, and both are doing amazingly well. The infection is still healing, but she’s out of the woods and improving daily. 

Author’s note: I was confident in treating this severe wound and infection with cannabis and other beneficial plants, as just last Fall I treated my own severe wound in the same way. (See my essay on wound care after a horse riding accident: https://www.vegascannabismag.com/education/daily-dose-serious-wound-care-with-a-cannabis-protocol/ )

Aside from the power of cannabis and other super plants for infection and healing, the healthy diet alone was a major factor in turning them around and improving their coats. The following is my own recipe, with a list of additional ingredients I add and why:

Sharon’s Homemade Dog Food

1 pound raw, ground meat

2 cups raw oats

2 cups raw, chopped veggies (or canned/fresh frozen)

1 cup infused oil (see oil infusion recipe, as follows)

2 raw eggs

Mix all, store in refrigerator, freeze or use immediately. Serving size depends on the size of dog.

Options: I add chia seeds (heart health), papaya w/seeds (digestive health/parasite control), turmeric (superfood, antioxidant/anti-inflammatory).

Infused Oil

One-liter oil (olive, grapeseed, sunflower…)

¼ cup ground cannabis

¼ cup guanabana leaf

¼ cup chamomile (calming for anxious dogs)

I use my Magical Butter machine, but you can put all in a crock-pot and simmer on low for a couple of hours until color changes. 

Notes on Dosing

 Oil will be psychoactive. Dosing depends on the size of the dog. Start low, go slow. 

A negative effect from too much THC will be shaking. This is not affecting the cardiological system, or heart; THC affects the central nervous system. 

Typically, the dog needs to sleep it off. 

Giving a chamomile coconut concentrate will take the edge off, and that is why I include it in my animal recipes – it reduces the effect of the THC (see my website under Apothecary for more information on chamomile). Typically, dogs get used to the THC quickly and the dose can be increased slightly on a daily basis for desired effects.

Aside from adding it to the dog food, you can also dose the dog with the oil, as I did, using a pipette or dropper.

Older dogs with chronic pain respond well to this oil infusion. If they are limping, they are in pain. This is something many dog owners ignore, especially if the dog is still appearing to be active. They can’t tell us how bad they feel, but after dosing their step typically lightens. If given at night, they will sleep better and wake up less stiff from inflammation and pain.