Hemp for Dogs

Izzy has not been well for some time now.

Before her ACL surgery, she was showing signs of lethargy, off and on constipation and just no joy in wanting to do anything. We'd throw her favorite ball, instead of chasing it she would watch it go.

She seemed in pain and sad all the time. This is so not like this active dog. Except for swimming nothing interested her. But even her swimming was different. Not nearly as fast and she quit before we made her. Walking was something she just didn't want to do. which is something she drove us crazy about doing all the time. We blamed all of this on her upcoming surgery and just assumed she would be fine as she was after her last ACL surgery within a week.

She is 100% recovered from her ACL and as the x-rays showed she was perfect. The surgeon said she was textbook perfect now in her healing. 
However, she is still lethargic and all the other things I explained above. 
Once again, we thought if we gave it time, it could just be a slower healing from the surgery this time. But this is not it. She is not herself in any way. She is a different dog. We also began to say it was age. But something told me it just wasn't. I just felt it. I don't know what it is but Izzy is not the same dog and she appears to be in such pain. Steps are no longer her friend. (I know the feeling)

Because she had Lyme disease once there is a very good chance it will rear its head again. A great many of her symptoms are just like when she had Lyme so I wanted to get her tested. I even laughed and said, hey this was what I was like prior to my thyroid diagnosis. Rick and I laughed.

Friday after work we went to see our favorite vet.
I thought the appointment was at 5:30pm. 
Rick insisted it was at 5pm
So we got there at 5pm. It was at 5:30p. 
We sat on the bench just the 3 of us and watched the goings-on.

2 couples were having their dog put down.
Oh my goodness, this was horrible.
I saw a woman come out of a door with tissues and very red eyes.
She walked to the counter and said something to the young woman and the young woman directed her where to go.  
I said to Rick softy so no one could hear me, I think she may be having her dog put down. A little bit later she and her husband came out of the room. A man that had to be 6'6" and with a linebacker build, They both were crying like babies. This got Rick and I all welled up with tears. 
We knew.

I said to Rick that I think being around this kind of energy all day would be exhausting, draining emotionally and I don't think I could do it.
The couple said something to the women at the counter and they left.
We sat there rubbing our dog sitting between us on a bench.

No one else was now in the waiting room and I said to the women at the counter. Did they just lose their dog? She said yes and there is another dog in a room over here and she pointed. The dog is having difficulty breathing and the doctor you are seeing is in with her now. We may be a bit later and she apologized.
Jeez, that is okay. If someone was telling me they think my dog should be put down I don't want to rush out of the room. We can wait. She thanked us for understanding. Who the hell wouldn't in this situation? 

Rick got up and said, "I think me and Iz need to go for a walk."
I knew what he was doing, the big macho man and his dog.
I swear he will be a hot mess when Izzy dies more than if it were me. 
He claims not, but I am not certain of that. 😃

Izzy and Rick returned and I told them the other couple was putting their dog down. We saw this couple, this time younger, crying after coming out of that room. My God this was heart-wrenching to witness. I can only assume the pain I will feel when I have to go through this. It was killing me, actually us.

Finally, we are called back to a room to see our Dr. M. I love Dr. M.
He apologized for being late. (only 15 minutes) Rick said, "We saw what was going on and no need to apologize. I would want you to be kind and patient with us too."  He thanked us.

Then Miss Izzy....

He too feels that her Lyme disease has come back. But that would be a full blood panel. And while at it let's test her thyroid too since we need to eliminate things to find the culprit. We talked about her issue with steps now and could this just be pain from arthritis and or Lyme. 

He told us it probably was arthritis, x-rays showed some, and if she had Lyme again we all know how this makes her joints extremely painful. 

So blood was drawn and between those two tests, it was $596.83. The vet office bill was more than normal by $20 because we were there for an extended time. Then add a urinalysis and her new arthritic "chews" and the bill was $831.26.

Dear Lord!  How do people afford to care for their dogs properly without dog insurance I ask you? I put it on a charge card and should be reimbursed for all by $76.95 as the office visit which they do not pay.

Now to the arthritis medicine.
We were discussing meds to help her joint pain.
He mentioned that there were 3 options.
One was Gabapentin, but she is just a zombie on those and we weren't thrilled.
Two was another drug (Rimadyl?) which she has had before but it causes issues with her kidneys and liver so she would have to be monitored. Not a thrilling option either.
Three was a Broad Spectrum Cannabinoid & Terpene.

Rick and I said at the same time, Pot? Cannabis?

He said yes. How do you feel about this?
I said, 'Well this is wonderful because this would not have THC correct?"
Dr M stated it did not, only hemp oil. He went on to explain the testing down. Rick and I have watched many documentaries on this on humans we understood it completely and honestly were thrilled he was progressive enough to want to go this route.

He went into great detail on how this study was done, how it has been published and accepted across the board. He named the journals etc. 
He has had some kickback from humans on this. 
Everyone assumes pot not the actual hemp without the THC.
We were not those humans. We both knew this worked fabulously in humans so why not my dog. Better than having side effects from all the drugs which could kill her.

Rick made a joke that since we got her down 18lbs we sure didn't want to have her have the munchies. He assured us this did not have the THC which is what gets humans high and the munchies. He went on to explain in great detail how it works and the receptors it hits etc. He gave us papers to read and the link to the website.

This "chew treat" has the following ingredients in each chew.
It has this companies proprietary hemp oil blend along with glucosamine HIC and Chrondoitin Sulfate. The last two are great for her joints and we were giving her these supplements but this will be more concentrated so I won't have to buy those anymore. The "treat" was expensive through the vet $100 for 60 chews. When I got home I went online to the company who's "chews" we just received and found that we could buy them on their company website for only $80 and some cents for the same bag. Whew. (https://ellevetsciences.com) If you subscribe it goes down a bit more. So sorry, Dr. M. we will buy them online if they work.

We begin at 2x a day for a 2-week protocol. Then after that 1x a day.
It takes time to build up in their system and we are to be very conscious of the time span. 8 hours apart.   

On the drive home, Rick said, "Dogs get humane treatments like euthanasia and they get hemp oil to elevate pain. No side effects, no addictions, just no pain. Too bad we don't treat humans with the same compassion."

Boy, do I ever think he is 100% correct. But then the pharmaceutical companies would be out of business and it's all about the money.

Izzy waiting for the doctor to come in. 

She even looks worried.She hates it there so much.