Don’t Bogart that Joint
All my life, I’ve heard humans talking about the wonders of medical cannabis. And not just the raw material, but the therapeutic compounds that come from it — like cannabidiol, or CBD for short. For humans, it’s been used to treat all kinds of conditions. Could cannabidiol for dogs work the same way? Here’s how I got my chance to find out.
Several months ago, when I was simultaneously body-slammed by Kemosabe and pinned to the ground by Thunderbear, something happened to my left knee…the kneecap slipped and moved out of its natural position.
It slipped back into place on its own, but then it started to dislocate more frequently. It wasn’t painful; when the knee-cap would slip, I would just hold the leg up for a few steps and then the knee- cap would magically slip back into place.
I was taken to the vet for x-rays. This required lots of treats because that x-ray table was a little creepy, and the vet and the vet tech put on these aprons that look like bullet-proof vests, and I’m thinking to myself, “Hey if you guys are wearing protection from the bad guys, I want a vest too.”
The radiographs showed well-formed hip and knee joints with no sign of malformation. I was put on a course of NSAIDs. Two weeks later there was no improvement. So my human began experimenting….you know, the Mad Scientist routine. For a few months I got a variety of concoctions, but nothing stopped the knee from dislocating. My vet suggested we go to an orthopedic specialist.
We sat in the waiting room and then a door opened and a big giant German Shepherd burst out of the room, dragging his owner at the end of the leash. He scared me. So I said “woofwoofwoof woo” which roughly translated into human means, “Hit the road, Jack, and keep your paws off my human.”
The orthopedic surgeon was a friendly human. He took me down a long hallway and trotted me, then manipulated my left leg. He showed my human a small spot on the x-ray where there was inflammation. He called my condition: patella luxation, grade 2.
His recommendation was for me to stay at my normal exercise level, which he said was good for my quadriceps muscles, and see if over time the inflammation would go down. He would re-evaluate me in 8 weeks.
Now my human being — a former hippie — had a brain-storm. Or a brain drain, depending on how you look at it. She decided that she would try cannabis on me. Of course medical cannabis is not available in Virginia, so she did some research and found a company in Washington State that sells cannabis that’s THC-free but high (no pun intended) in the therapeutic compound cannabidiol –- also known as CBD. The company is Canna-Pet, and they only make hemp supplements like cannabidiol for dogs and cats.
Cannabidiol has been shown to be therapeutic for epilepsy, anxiety, neuro-degeneration, inflammation, pain and immune responses, liver disease, osteogenesis, and cancer.
After two days of receiving 2 capsules in both my AM and PM feeds, I managed to jump over the dutch door between the kitchen and the laundry room. Of course I did land on my head with that heroic leap over the dutch door, but I have never succeeded in jumping that high before. I felt awesome!
Two weeks into taking my cannabis capsules, there has been no improvement in the patella luxation, but it could take as long as a month to see results. However, I find that food tastes better than ever, and that standing on my hind legs to get to the cat food bowls is a great way to satisfy the munchies. And I’m suddenly really into Dylan and Floyd.
