Anti-Inflammatory for Dogs
After a lifetime of excited tail wagging & loyal companionship with your dog, you come home from work one day and your buddy is no longer at the front door to greet you.
Regrettably, dogs age much faster than humans and before you know it pain and inflammation through the years have taken a toll on your dog’s body.
Inflammation is the body’s response to irritation, infection, and injury. Short term inflammation protects the body, while chronic inflammation can lead to long term pain and damage, resulting in a multitude of canine health issues, including arthritis.
Anti-inflammatory medications for dogs are available to help fight pain and reduce chronic inflammation. However, these drugs are not always safe for every dog and their extended use can lead to complications and undesirable side effects.
Anti-Inflammatories For Dogs – Controlling the Root Cause of K9 Disease
Although inflammation is normal part of the body’s defense mechanism and plays a significant role in the healing process, experts believe inflammation may contribute to a wide range of chronic, progressive diseases including heart disease, metabolic syndrome disorders like Type2 Diabetes and canine osteoarthritis.
Dogs with these conditions often have higher levels of ‘inflammatory markers’ in their bodies.
During an inflammatory response when the body detects an intruder, it launches a biological response to try to remove it. The attacker could be a foreign body, such as a splinter or thorn, a chemical skin irritant, or a pathogen (pathogens include bacteria, viruses, and other organisms, which cause infections).
This means that a localized inflammation doesn’t only start when, for instance, a wound has already been infected by bacteria, but has already started when the body is trying to fight against the harmful irritant.
But sometimes, the body mistakenly perceives its own cells or tissues as harmful. This reaction can lead to autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune skin diseases are relatively rare in dogs.
Some of the more common forms of autoimmune skin disease in dogs are Pemphigus Complex, which includes Discoid and Systemic Lupus.
What’s important to note is that the majority of complex diseases and canine disorders begin with inflammation. So close monitoring and keeping inflammation in check is the best measure to prevent symptoms from progressing into more serious health challenges.
What Happens During Inflammation?
When an inflammation occurs in your dog’s body, many different immune system cells may be involved. They release various substances, known as ‘inflammatory mediators’. These include the hormones bradykinin and histamine.
These two hormones cause the small blood vessels in the tissue to become wider (dilate), allowing more blood to reach the injured tissue. These inflammatory mediators make it easier for immune system cells to pass out of the small blood vessels, so that more of them can be carried to the injured tissue where they help with the healing process.
The increased blood flow causes the inflamed areas to turn red and feel hot. The increase in immune system cells causes more blood flow to enter the inflamed tissue, which is why it often swells up. Over time and with the assistance of anti-inflammatory, the swelling goes down when this fluid is transported back out of the surrounding tissue.
What’s more, both of these hormones irritate nerves and cause pain signals to be sent to the brain. This serves has a protective function–if the inflammation hurts, your dog will tend to protect the affected part of the body.
Signs Of Canine Inflammation
There are five symptoms that may be signs of your dog has acute inflammation:
- Redness
- Heat
- Swelling
- Pain
- Loss of Function
Examples of a ‘loss of function’ include not being able to move an inflamed joint properly through a full range-of-motion or having a dog with more difficulty breathing when they have inflammation in the lungs (eg bronchitis). Note, while dogs do not get asthma (they don’t have reactive airways like cats, horses, and people), dogs do get bronchitis.
Inflammations don’t always cause all five symptoms. Some inflammations occur “silently” and don’t cause any visible symptoms but are progressing into a worsening state of health none the less!
Natural Anti Inflammatory for Dogs
Controlling inflammation is key to long term health and wellbeing of your dog. While some natural supplements may help fight inflammation, not all supplements work for every type of inflammation.
So, what is the best anti-inflammatory for dogs with acute care needs like accidental sprains & strains or lifelong therapies for dogs with arthritis, hip dysplasia or other Degenerative Joint Diseases?
What Is the Best Natural Inflammatory?
While the standard approach by your vet may be to prescribe NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to treat your dog’s inflammation, these medications come with significant side effects.
When taking NSAIDs like Rimadyl, your dog may experience the following negative side effects: vomiting and/or diarrhea, decreased appetite and lethargy.
If your dog is susceptible to these side effects, a natural treatment might be better for them. This is particularly true if they experience inflammation in their digestive tract, as NSAIDs can cause serious issues including ulcers and perforation.
The best natural inflammatory for dogs may be CBD from hemp.
Although not a treatment for the cause of your dog’s condition, CBD therapy is a great way to manage your dog’s pain and reduce inflammation and help them relax.
CBD Oil for Dogs with Inflammatory Conditions
Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main pharmacologically active Phyto cannabinoids of Cannabis sativa L plant. CBD is non-psychoactive but exerts a number of beneficial pharmacological effects, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Preclinical and clinical studies have contributed to our understanding of the therapeutic potential of CBD for many canine diseases, including diseases associated with chronic inflammation.
Cannabidiol has been found to target and reduce oxidative stress on organs and offers promise as an anti-inflammatory agent.
According to medical literature, CBD oil affects many canine biological pathways through the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and functions to optimize cellular interactions involved in the repair and restoration of whole-body systems that maintain normal canine homeostasis.
These effects can be at the cellular level or in the gene-expression for developing certain allergies or ‘sensitivities’.
CBD has been shown to decrease the production and release of inflammatory cytokines that can cause allergies, hypersensitivities and autoimmunity disorders. CBD oil as a treatment for Allergic Dermatitis seems to work by modulating this cellular inflammatory response.
The majority of age-related illness in dogs can be attributed to inflammation. CBD has also been shown to decrease the impact of inflammation on oxidative stress involved with premature aging and cognitive degeneration.
Studies show CBD inhibits the production of inflammatory macrophages and decreases chronic inflammation in canine hip dysplasia, arthritis & auto-immune disorders.
Natural Inflammatory Herbs – Benefits of Full Spectrum Hemp Oil
While Cannabinoids are well known to have anti-inflammatory effects in mammalians; however, the Cannabis plant also contains other compounds such as terpenoids, whose biological effects have not yet been thoroughly characterized but may have profound influence on certain K9 inflammatory conditions.
In contrast to CBD that exerts prolonged immunosuppression and might be used in chronic inflammation (arthritis, etc.), the terpenoids contained in full spectrum hemp extracts demonstrate only a transient immunosuppression quality and might thus be used to relieve acute inflammation for dogs with skin allergic reactions (dermatitis) or physical injuries.
Terpenes work together with cannabinoids and other plant compounds through the “entourage effect.” This symbiotic interplay of many different naturally occurring molecules in various ratios in different cannabis cultivars has been attributed to the improvement of therapeutic qualities.
Simply stated, the “whole-plant” is greater than the sum of the parts. As a result of research on the entourage effect, many in the scientific community now believe that “whole-plant” and “whole-plant medicine” is superior to highly refined cannabis extracts or isolate-based product formulas.
Anti-Inflammatory Dog Medicine
Science tells us that inflammation plays a critical role in the development and progression of common canine diseases such as arthritis and cancer.
Natural, plant-based CBD is a promising anti-inflammatory medicine that can help comfort dogs with chronic, painful and sometimes difficult to treat joint pain and chronic inflammation.
When taken as a full spectrum hemp extract, CBD can help your dog’s body fight pain and inflammation without the long-term negative side effects of NSAID medications and may even prevent some of the complications of chronic inflammatory conditions that impact the Quality of Life of our furry home companions.
Curtis has been passionate about the health and welfare of animals since his first dog rescue.
After studying Sports Medicine & Biology at the University of Oregon, Curtis went on to excel in a career of Clinical Nutrition, later owning a health care supplement company serving private-practice physicians.
Known for his expansive knowledge of natural health and alternative medicine, Curtis believes that natural plant-based therapies can be applied to veterinary animal care which led him to study the science of Cannabinoid Medicine. His expertise in Functional Medicine led him to formulate a unique hemp-based canine care product, Canine Support Formula, fulfilling a dream to combine natural pet-care strategies with the new therapeutic potential of medical cannabis.
In reverence for his own dog, Parker, Curtis has dedicated his company–K9 Medibles–to improving the health and longevity of all dogs.
To learn more about Curtis and how K9 Medibles can help your dog, click HERE.