Are you curious about the benefits of cannabis for pets? I’m going to share with you a very personal story about my own personal dog, Leo. He’s about 14 years old and about seven or eight years ago Leo was attacked by a larger dog. The other dog got away from his owner and bit Leo. Leo suffered a broken jaw and required two surgeries to fix it. Leo seemed like he was doing fine but about six months or so after his surgery, Leo started having seizures. My assumption was that he may have had some brain trauma that we weren’t really aware of at the time. As the long-standing inflammation related to that trauma set in, it started causing seizures.
I tried several prescription medications but none of them really had a big impact. I finally decided to try Leo on a cannabis preparation (if you’re not familiar, cannabis is what people commonly refer to as marijuana). Almost immediately, his seizures decreased in frequency. He went from having multiple seizures per week to having one or two per month. The improvement was profound and there was no doubt about the difference that it made. It never affected his quality of life in a negative way; he’s just as happy a dog as he’s ever been.
Benefits of Cannabis for Pets
There are literally mountains of scientific evidence to prove the medical benefits of cannabis for pets ranging from gastrointestinal issues to seizures to cancer to pain control; the list goes on and on and on. Unfortunately, that is not yet embraced by the wider medical community. As a doctor that uses both Western and herbal medicine, I can confidently say that cannabis is without a doubt the strongest and potentially most effective herbal medicine that I have ever experienced.
Cannabis works with a neuro transmitting system within our own bodies and within those of our pets called the endocannabinoid system (ECS). With the use of cannabis, we are able to access and utilize a system of neurotransmitters within the body that already exists! There are evolutionarily there to begin with, much the same way that our bodies have opiate receptors for pain. It is it’s really just an amazing example of sort of a co-evolution of plants and animals in so much as that plants like cannabis can have these really profound medical effects.
Many states in our country now have medical cannabis laws and physicians as well as veterinarians are turning to medical cannabis to treat diseases where Western medicine has been completely ineffective. There is obviously a whole scope of political and ethical issues that surround the use of marijuana and the use of cannabis both medically and recreationally. Regardless of what your personal experiences or personal feelings are if you approach with an open mind, I think you’ll be very, very impressed with the potential benefits that your pet may be able to receive from cannabis.