Cannabis and animals

Can Cannabis cure Animals?

The first thing we must realize when thinking of our beloved fur kids or any animals is that all living creatures including the jelly fish has an Endocannabinoid system (EC System), all creatures except for certain types of insects; and this means that animals like humans are supposed to consume Cannabinoids from the Cannabis plant in order to sustain optimum health. Animals are therefore affected in the same physical and physiological ways as humans. For this reason you may be guaranteed of the future of Cannabis medicine for animals. Scientists have always been studying Cannabis medicine using animals as their subjects and to this day no animal has ever died or overdosed from whole herbal plant medicine. 

How does Cannabis affect animals?

In my years of healing humans and animals, ii can honestly say that the medicine works exactly the same way on animals as humans. It does present that since animals are generally smaller than humans, Cannabis is likely to be much more potent to them. This means that animals require much smaller doses because we have noted that the healing effects of Cannabis medicine in animals do occur at much smaller doses. Except for the cat of course ii have noticed that because they have larger pineal glands they tend to require higher THC levels when there is illness or injury. 

It can appear disastrous when a domestic pet gets into your stash and often consumes an entire bank bag which is way too much for cats and dogs indeed. There are many studies indicating that dogs can be exposed to high amounts of THC without fatality so the risk of overdose in animals is almost as rare as in humans. People need to be aware that as Cannabis laws begin to relax there has been a notable increase of admission of dogs for accidental Cannabis ingestion and sometimes this is a veterinarian's first experience with Cannabis. Such sad reflection of human responsibility must not be confused with any side effects of Cannabis. 

Animals need Cannabis as much as humans do...

There are literally thousands of stories available on line of all kinds of animals being medicated with Cannabis by their humans. This is mostly because it is not possible to open dialogue with a lot of veterinarians due to the alleged lack of scientific evidence and training. Even in the US where certain states have ‘legalized’ for medicinal reasons, sadly veterinarians are not included in these announcements. They are simply not empowered to prescribe Cannabis to any animals at this stage. Despite the fact that human trials are going ahead in the Cannabis field it does seem as though veterinarians are sitting on the side lines on this issue. This seems strange to me since most Cannabis testing is done on animals.

You will also find lots of stories about companion animals especially cats and dogs and some breeds of birds actually displaying behaviour similar to begging to partake in their owners puffing experience. This ii have personally seen both in my own animals (cats and dogs) as well as those of friends and patients where the animal will quite literally sit at their owners feet pleading until the human blows a few puffs into the animals face. Cats of course are far more persistent and end up climbing all over you till you end up having to relocate so in a lot of ways ii have seen how cats feel the same about Cannabis as they do for Catnip. Again it is my belief that this is because cats have larger pineal glands than most domestic animals and need higher doses. And ii have heard stories of birds persistently calling their owners to their cages and also stories of birds including chickens coming to ‘beg’ for Cannabis. All of this proves that animals also have a fully functional EC system which requires Cannabinoids from the Cannabis plant to ensure optimum health. If you study animals long enough especially cats and dogs you may see that they seem to seek out ways to 'get high'. For example dogs like to eat rotten fruit which makes them drunk. After consuming Cannabis most cats and dogs will simply go off and eat or go to sleep and ii have noticed the bigger the animal the longer it sleeps.

In the years ii spent in the rural Transkei ii spent a lot of time working with cows, goats sheep, pigs, donkeys as well as horses and chickens and ii can tell you that all of these breeds displayed favour for Cannabis. In fact ii also spent a lot of time constantly fixing fences as these animals would put a lot of effort into breaking into the ganja gardens. Believe me the immense force of a determined cow is only over shadowed by the sheer cheek of a herd of goats. So ii do believe that since all animals have an EC system they also have a natural affinity and need to consume Cannabis. During my time in the rural ii was blessed to work with a few veterinarians who were open-minded to the healing benefits of Cannabis.  They allowed me to administer my medicinal oil to treat a variety of conditions like wounds, arthritis, mange, eye and ear infections and old age issues with positive results. 

How can Cannabis Help Animals?

Animals may enjoy relief from a number of medical disorders like pain, inflammation, nausea, loss of appetite, lethargy, depression, arthritis, joint and ligament problems, epilepsy, cancer, liver and pancreatic disease, renal and digestive problems, bone disorders as well as wounds. The added bonus is that animal owners will not have to worry about the debilitating side effects like liver damage of some prescription drugs.

What is the correct dose?

Before prohibition in 1937 Cannabis was a common ingredient in a variety of veterinary preparations as was the case with medicine for humans. Still the veterinary community emphasize that due to lack of research appropriate Cannabis dosages for animals remains unknown. In order for a human to overdose on Cannabis they would need to consume their entire body weight in a 24 hour period, which is impossible, however, as mentioned earlier with animals it takes a lot less Cannabis to create the same effects as in humans. Animals which weigh more than 3 kg are able to metabolize Cannabis and this usually results in food and napping. Cannabis also stimulates animals’ appetites in the same way as it does humans. So a 34 kg Labrador who accidentally gets into the stash will have a different experience to say a 12 week old 1 kg dachshund for instance. Always consult with a reputable Cannabis Medicine Practitioner before self medicating your animals.

Dr Douglas Kramer was a pioneer in Cannabis Veterinary Medicine…

Before his untimely death on 22 August 2013 Dr Douglas Kramer, dubbed the “Vet Guru” was an aggressively active advocate for Cannabis Medicine for animals. He endorsed a widespread acceptance and legalization of Cannabis for veterinary purposes. He was also a grower of selected strains for his personal research.

“Any animal that has the Cannabinoid receptors would respond [to THC] in the same way we do,” he stated, noting that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the primary active ingredients in medical Cannabis, helps alleviate chronic pain, reduce nausea, spur appetite and in many ways improve quality of life for mammals, including humans. “There are studies out there that show that pigs, chickens, monkeys and rats all have those same receptors.”

“A glycerine tincture is, to me, by far the optimal way to administer it because it offers the greatest accuracy in dosing,” he said. “It’s also sweet tasting. Obviously you make it into butter or oil, so anything that you can cook or make with butter or oil would work, like homemade dog biscuits.”

Between 2011 and 2013, some 300 people had told Dr. Douglas Kramer about having experimented with Cannabis Medicine for a pet. Prior to that, Dr. Kramer had worked at a small animal practice in California, where clients would occasionally admit to giving Cannabis to an animal companion for a medical reason. Kramer would generally prescribe one drop of liquid Cannabis oil put in a small piece of cheese for every 5 kg of body weight. One drop of oil is generally in the range of 20-40 mg.

“My position is the same as the (American Medical Association’s). We need to investigate Cannabis further to determine whether the case reports I’m hearing are true or whether there’s a placebo effect at work and we need to know what the risks are”.

Dr. Kramer sympathized with veterinarians who were cautious of openly considering the potential of Cannabis Medicine as a veterinary drug. Since it was still illegal for veterinarians to prescribe or even recommend Cannabis as a treatment for animals, it must of frustrated him that his colleagues were not playing a more active role to facilitate research in a field with very real and potential benefits for animal welfare.

“I agree that there should be studies but at the same time, I don’t think animals should have to wait years for treatment, for relief from pain and/or nausea.”

Dr. Kramer quickly learned that the therapy could be applied to all sorts of medical conditions, and that it worked safely without causing harmful side effects. As a result, he became somewhat of an outcast within his profession, at least initially, as he began to treat more and more pets with Cannabis Medicine.

Over the past few years there have been many stories about conventional and holistic doctors who became advocates for Cannabis Medicine and then mysteriously died or ‘’committed suicide” so for me personally something does not make sense about a healthy 36 year doctor who knew the cure for cancer for humans and animals. And who went up against the system to fight for animal rights, suddenly dying of cancer or so it is alleged. The reporter for AOL.com that August day claimed that he was unable to find any information on the cause of Dr Kramer’s death as his obituary did not say anything but there was a request that donations be made to a certain cancer organization. This fuelled the rumour that he had died of cancer which ii will never believe.  

More and more veterinarians around the world are starting to see a marked increase in the interest of their patient’s owners in Cannabis Medicine and many say that over the past two years requests have increased from generally once a year to now up to once a week, so it seems pretty certain that veterinarians will learn about Cannabis Medicine from the human owners of their patients.

Today most veterinarians agree that there is more than enough science to explain how the EC system works and that the therapeutic benefits for animals simply cannot be ignored. As human caregivers we naturally want to do the very best we can to care for our animals, companion and other animals. We also want to know that the treatments we are giving our animals are effective, humane and cause more good than harm. Through the devoted work of doctors like Dr Douglas Kramer, we must start to realise that Cannabis does work and that denying us a substance with such limitless therapeutic potential is a waste of resources and an insult to health freedom for humans and animals.

Animal owners have the right to speak out for their animals and to explore alternative treatments to ease pain and suffering, and ii do believe that our animals depend on us for this. So rather than just sit waiting for animal age-related disease to happen we should rather try to prevent it and the best way to do this is with Cannabis medicine. 

Please also read How to save 400 grams of French Poodle August 2017 which was interesting as I was on my way to the High Court for a Cannabis ruling the day that I experienced this post.

If anyone needs help with treating their animals with Cannabis Medicine please feel free to contact me and I will help you in all ways I can. I do not charge for consultations and give free advice direct to your phone and if I am not able to help you myself I will refer your case to an Elder and still give you some feedback.