Pet owners increasingly using medical marijuana to help their pets beat pain.

(NaturalNews) As the social stigmas and taboos about marijuana that largely emerged during the "Reefer Madness" generation continue to be stripped away from the public consciousness, an increasing number of people are beginning to look at this all natural herb with fresh eyes, recognizing its incredible potential for healing. This includes a growing number of pet owners who are now using the plant and its essential oils to safely and effectively treat their ailing pets.

CBS New York reports that veterinary cannabis use is on the rise across all segments of society, and particularly among pet owners whose pets have severe or even terminal illnesses that do not respond to conventional treatment. Major conditions like cancer, many pet owners are finding, respond quite well to cannabis use when nothing else does. And unlike conventional treatments, cannabis treatment does not cause any harmful side effects.

One such success story is "Luna" Capers, the beloved dog of Rowyn Capers who reportedly gained her quality of life back after being given a non-psychoactive cannabis oil extract for late-stage lymphoma. When chemotherapy left the dog gravely ill and on the verge of death, Rowyn began to administer the natural therapy instead, which produced incredible results.

"Her lymph nodes were like golf balls and she was coughing constantly and she couldn't breathe, and I just thought it's time to say goodbye," said Rowyn to CBS News about Luna's condition before the cannabis. "The first time I dosed her [with cannabis] I was so scared. We were looking at her all night. [But the] more I increased her cannabis dose the less side effects that she had. The vomiting stopped, the diarrhea stopped."

Similar success was achieved by Mary Lynn Mathre, the owner of a 13-year-old golden retriever who was also diagnosed with cancer. After learning about cannabis, Mary Lynn began to give all of her dogs a daily cracker topped with cannabis-infused butter, which not only helped the sick one but also helped improve the health of all her dogs, including one with a strange bald spot on its leg.

"There was no hair on a circle that it would lick and lick," stated Mary Lynn to CBS New York, noting that both dogs experienced dramatic improvements as a result of the cannabis.

Cannabis helps pets with low energy, cancer, and epilepsy

Al Byrne's three dogs, who range in age from three to 13, have also responded positively to marijuana. Besides noticeable increases in energy among all the dogs, Al says each of his furry family members now has a shinier coat and a "shine in their eyes" that was not there before.

"When you see them enjoying life and feeling better and not being sick, you know you've hit something," says Darlene Arden, a certified animal behaviorist who is a strong advocate for veterinary cannabis use. "I think we can now see marijuana for exactly what it is and what it can do. [It's not] a street drug but a legitimate medication to be used under proper supervision."

Many CBS New York commenters with pets seem to agree with these sentiments, as some of them posted their own stories about how medical cannabis helped their pets. One woman recounts how her three-year-old dog almost died from epilepsy but experienced a dramatic and immediate recovery after being placed on a regimen of medical cannabis.

"As a last ditch effort after her last bout of seizures and being unable to come out of her postictal state, despite being administered a heavy sedative by our vet, we tried marijuana we had received from a friend of ours (it's legal in our state)," writes the commenter. "Within less than 15 minutes, our dog came fully out of its postictal state, laid down, and napped for (about) 2 hours before waking up and wanting to play tennis ball and tug. It was beyond anything I had seen before with this dog."

Sources: naturalnews.com
newyork.cbslocal.com
science.naturalnews.com

Thousands of Dogs Have Been Poisoned, FDA Fails to Issue Recall

Thousands of family dogs across the USA have been sickened by pet jerky treats made in China, and nearly 600 dogs have died. The FDA has issued a warning over the deadly jerky treats but has not forced any sort of product recall.
 

So far, the cause of the fatalities remains a mystery. The FDA says it has tested jerky treats for heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotics, chemicals and even Salmonella but cannot find the cause. The agency is warning pet owners to watch their pets for symptoms of poisoning which may include “decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes with blood or mucus), increased water consumption and / or increased urination.”
Click here to view the FDA’s fact sheet on contaminated jerky treats.
 

According to USA Today, the deadly jerky treats “come mostly from China,” and the number of dogs sickened or killed by these treats has been rising all year.
The treats causing this epidemic of death, says USA Today, are “made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes or dried fruit.”

BEWARE OF PET TREATS MADE IN CHINA

Most consumers do not fully realize that pet treats do NOT have to list their country of origin. Many pet treats are highly deceptive on their packaging, sometimes showing a logo of the continental USA and claiming to be “made with beef from the USA” even though the treats themselves are manufactured in China using toxic chemicals.

The FDA has not issued a recall on the brands it suspects are causing these deaths. This is one of the problems with the agency: it already knows which products are killing dogs, but it has so far failed to release that information to the public. As a result, as more and more people learn about this, all pet treat manufacturers will suffer because consumers will shun the entire product category.
 

In truth, there are perfectly healthy, safe and even nutritious pet treats made in the USA and other countries, yet due to a lack of labeling laws, it is virtually impossible for consumers to know which country the pet treats they buy are coming from.

This is why we need stronger labeling requirements that mandate the disclosure of things like country of origin, GMOs and even heavy metals contamination. Currently none of these things have to be listed on the label.
 

Even those of us who believe in smaller government recognize the important role of government in enforcing a “level playing field” through honest labeling. Only with this information can consumers make informed decisions about what they wish to buy (or avoid buying).
 

Until that happens, countless more dogs, cats and even our own children will die from contaminated food products. These are deaths that could have been avoided if we only had honest labeling laws in place that, for starters, clearly list the country of origin. While that regulation is in place for human foods, it does not exist for pet foods.

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University Introduces ''Puppy Room'' to Help Relieve Stress

Thanks to the Dalhousie Student Union, Dal students got the chance to spend a little quality time with some canine companions from Therapeutic Paws of Canada during exam season.