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Medicinal mushrooms are now available for dogs. They are given to pets for general immune support, similar to how they’re used for people.
For centuries, traditional Chinese medical practitioners have used fungi for healing. Medicinal mushrooms are now being used increasing in the West.
In fact, one mushroom variety has become famous for its immune-boosting properties. This is partly because of what happened to a mushroom researcher’s elderly mother. She recovered from Stage IV breast cancer. Her return to health was widely publicized. Turkey tail mushrooms are the likely reason she beat this disease.
Turkey tail is now being studied for its ability to help other cancer patients. The National Institutes of Health released findings that show this supplement boosted the immune function in a group of women with breast cancer. This positive response was dose dependent. Those who took the largest amount of turkey tail had the best results.
But so far, we’ve only been talking about humans. What about medicinal mushrooms for dogs?
Mushroom Supplements for Dogs
I want to make it clear I’m not an animal healthcare expert. Instead, I’m a dog Mom who pampers her own pet with natural remedies. I like to think this is why he’s almost 16 and still going strong, considering his age. So, if you have any questions, please ask your own vet.
Most dog owners probably don’t consider giving their pet medicinal mushroom supplements unless their trying to solve a health problem. So, if you’ve read this far, your dog likely can use some immune support. Or you may be trying to prevent health problems.
A few online holistic veterinarians recommend medicinal mushrooms for both dogs and cats.
However, very few studies have been done on the potential healing power of mushrooms, at least as far as animals are concerned. As with human medicine, clinical trials generally focus on bringing new drugs to market. Mushrooms are natural substances. This means they cannot be patented. So there’s limited financial incentive in exploring their health benefits.
Medicinal Mushrooms for Dogs
In recent years, a number of veterinary mushroom supplements have become available. They are commonly given to sick and aging pets, or to animals battling cancer.
Some pet owners also use mushrooms if their pet has kidney disease. Mushrooms have natural anti-inflammatory compounds. So some arthritic pets take them, instead of drugs.
I’ve recently started using medicinal mushrooms on my own dog. We were recently told he has cancer, and we didn’t want to do conventional treatments. He’s 16, and we don’t want to put him through chemotherapy or radiation. Instead, we decided to work with his body. We’re doing things to boost his immune system naturally, so his body fights the cancer. The malignancy is on his eyelid. It doesn’t appear to be getting worse. But I can’t claim this is because of the mushrooms. And I can’t promise anyone else will see similar results.
Canine Medicinal Mushrooms
I’d much rather give my dog (if needed) a mushroom formula designed for pets. That’s because it’d know the dosages would be appropriate for a dog, rather than a human. Also, any ingredients that would be dangerous for a dog would be eliminated.
One of the companies I like to tell my readers about Only Natural Pet medicinal mushrooms. Only Natural Pet is an American-based company that’s totally devoted to natural pet care. If you can’t find their products locally, they’re available online.
Only Natural Pet Medicinal Mushroom Blend
Only Natural Pet’s Immune Strengthener contains reishi, shiitake and maitake mushrooms, as well as herbs and vitamins. All of these ingredients are designed to work together to strengthen immunity naturally. I like the idea of combining multiple immune-boosting ingredients together. That’s because herbalists generally recommend multi-herb formulas. It’s believed these are more effective than single-herb remedies.
Anyway, below, you can see Only Natural Pet Immune Strengthener. There is an auto-ship option, but I recommend ordering just one bottle the first time to see how your pet responds.
Only Natural Pet ShroomImmune Organic Mushroom Blend
Only Natural Pet also sells another mushroom immune boosting blend for pets that contains five varieties of mushrooms – reishi, maitake, shiitake, lion’s mane and caterpiller mushroom. All have a long history of use medicinally. These capsules can be opened and sprinkled on a dog’s food.
