Your Pet on Pot: CBD Oil Can Help Canine Friends Combat Cancer

Just as cannabis supports patients with cancer, it can also support our canine friends suffering from it. CBD oil alone might not cure cancer in dogs entirely, but supplemented as part of treatment, it can offer a great deal of support and pain relief. 

Unfortunately, nobody has been spared from tumultuous diseases such as cancer. Not humans. Not animals. When it comes to our canine friends, studies suggest that around 40% of deaths in dogs 10 years of age or older are due to cancer. Which makes cancer the leading cause of death among older dogs.

The disease also accounts for about 20% of deaths in younger puppies up to the age of 5. Cannabis oil for dogs with cancer has been no novelty among some CBD manufacturers. As a supplement, it's billed to help the disease treatment in dogs, and there has been scientific evidence that supports this. But to be clear on the matter, cannabis oil alone will not heal dogs from cancer nor any other animal roaming the planet on four or two feet.

Four Ways Cannabis Oil Can Help Dogs with Cancer

The benefits cannabis oil can offer to cancer-suffering furry friends are similar to how they help us, humans. Vets will usually recommend natural supplements containing cannabidiol (CBD) to accompany regular treatments like chemotherapy or tumor surgery to fight the disease. Cannabis oil can work for dogs with cancer when it’s part of an elaborated vet-approved plan to address the condition. Below are the four most common ways when vets prescribe cannabis oil as part of treatment plans.

1. Cannabis oil to enhance radiation therapy effects

Cannabinoids have been scientifically demonstrated to have anti-tumor properties useful in several types of human cancers, including brain and spine tumors, lung cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer.  However, it’s almost delusional to think cannabis, in the form of CBD or any other form, can help shrink tumors on its own. CBD does its job when combined with other anti-tumor drugs and treatment options. 

The effects of such therapies very much depend not only on the type of cancer but also the stage it has progressed. Based on this information, vets will determine how and when your canine friend should receive cannabis oil. 

And how do we know dogs with cancer will respond to CBD? It has to do with their endocannabinoid system. Yes, dogs have one as well. The canine endocannabinoid system closely interacts with cancer development. Sections of the central and peripheral nervous system's complex signaling process intertwine with cancer activity, but also actively respond to CBD administering.

2. Helping with nausea and appetite

Nausea and lack of appetite often result as side effects of cancer chemo treatments. Chemo treatments for dogs use significantly lower doses than those for humans, but the appetite loss and nausea that may follow are pretty much identical. Cannabinoids are known to help improve nausea and lack of appetite in cancer patients.

Oncologists are more prone than ever to rely on cannabis-based medicine to address such health complications. Moreover, scientists now have more insights into how the endocannabinoid system plays a role in gut health. The gut, sometimes dubbed as "the second brain" in living organisms, is packed with endocannabinoid receptors and chemicals. When nourished with cannabis, the gut becomes better armed to combat any disbalances and disorders related to its system.

3. Boosting the immune system

The endocannabinoid system also involves the immune system. The two are known to be so much interlinked that some researchers refer to it as the "immunocannabinoid system." A lot of cancers are linked to disbalances in the immune systems. Some types of cancers even double as autoimmune diseases where healthy cells begin attacking themselves, launching something like a self-destruction process. Acknowledging the link between the endocannabinoid and immune systems, it comes instinctively to use CBD as part of the healing process and supporting the body towards protecting its healthy tissue.

Other animals can benefit from cannabis oil as well. CBD-stirring oil and tinctures have been billed as perfect nourishment for various carnivorous pets.

4. Pain relief and inflammation

Pain and inflammation are often the underlying symptoms of various diseases, including cancer. On the other hand, pain and inflammation also account for two of the most commonly cited reasons for the use of cannabis globally. Depending on the cancer stage, pain and inflammation will be present in the canine to a lesser or greater degree, and managing those manifestations is nearly always taken care of by vets.

CBD oil is becoming the go-to solution for pain and inflammation treatment in cancer cases because it lacks many of the side effects that other drugs generate. Other medications may compromise the immune system needed in the fight against cancer or lead to other health issues such as inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, organ failure, and in worst cases death. To this end, CBD oil poses a much safer option.

Cannabis oil as food supplement

Even though today's science has invaluable insights into how cannabis helps cancer, much of it remains uncharted territory. Future medical research is needed to help scientists optimize the use of cannabis in treating cancer, with that also helping vets optimize cannabis oil treatments for dogs with cancer.

Beyond cancer, CBD-stirring oil and tinctures can act as the perfect nourishment for not only dogs but other pets whose main diet is meat. Cannabis-infused food supplements can treat isolated symptoms of nausea, lack of appetite, or pain in animals. Bird food containing cannabis has further been shown to help avian friends who've stopped singing sing again. But to be on the safe side, always give cannabis supplements to pets in low doses, way lower than amounts for humans, and observe how they react to the new wellbeing ingredient in their diet.