When it comes to natural healing for your dog, you can’t go wrong with medicinal mushrooms.
MUSHROOMS AS MEDICINE
Healing Functions Of Mushrooms: Mushrooms are really versatile natural plants. And they serve four major functions:
Prevention (disease)
Regeneration (cells)
Intervention (treatment)
NUTRITION IN MUSHROOMS Mushrooms’ healing abilities come from their nutritional value. They contain:
Minerals: potassium, selenium, sulfur, sodium, geranium, zinc, phosphorus
Sugars: mannitol, xylose, glucose, galactose, mannose
Vitamins: B complex, folic acid, pro-vitamin D
Protein: essential amino acids
Enzymes: antibacterial, proteolytic
Lipids: phospholipids, sterols, sterol esters, free fatty acids, mono-, di- and triglycerides
Polysaccharides: glycogen, beta-D-glucans, chitin
Essential oils: triterpenes
MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS FOR DOGS I consider these the best and most powerful Mushrooms for dogs: Reishi, Shiitake, Maitake, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, and Chaga.
1. REISHI MUSHROOMS Reishi mushrooms are known as the mushrooms of immortality. They have anti-tumor effects, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and immune-stimulating properties. This makes them great for boosting overall health.
Help improve heart health
Improve immune system function
Improve liver function
Inhibit antihistamine release
Improve endurance
Help relieve pain
Reishi mushrooms are typically used to treat:
Cancer
Heart disease
Arthritis
Allergies
Viral upper respiratory tract infections
Compromised immune systems
2. SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS Shiitake mushrooms have 30 different enzymes and 10 amino acids. They also have minerals like calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and selenium. And that makes them really impressive when it comes to your dog’s health (and your own for that matter). They stimulate white blood cells and improve circulation. They can also inhibit tumor growth and lower cholesterol. Use shiitake mushrooms to:
Reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation
Treat Cushing’s disease
Help soothe bronchial inflammation
Regulate urinary incontinence
Reduce allergy symptoms
3. MAITAKE MUSHROOMS Maitake means “dancing mushroom” in Japanese. These mushrooms are known to stimulate t-cells, inhibit tumor growth and lower cholesterol. Maitake mushrooms are good for:
Preventing cancer
Supporting the body during chemotherapy and other cancer treatment
Helping manage diabetes
Supporting dogs with liver problems
4. TURKEY TAIL MUSHROOMS Turkey tail mushrooms are full of beta-glucan polysaccharides. These are the essential sugars in the body that aid in activating the immune system. This can help protect the body from infection and fight off disease. A recent study done by the Veterinary School at the University of Penn State looked at turkey tail mushrooms for dogs with hemangiosarcoma. This is common cancer found almost exclusively in dogs. Dogs treated with a compound derived from the turkey tail mushroom had the longest survival times ever reported for dogs with the disease. But these mushrooms are good for more than cancer. The benefits of turkey tail mushrooms for dogs include:
Help heal pulmonary disorders
Treat the inflammation of the urinary and digestive tracts
Decrease the effects of chemotherapy and radiation
5. CORDYCEPS MUSHROOMS Wild cordyceps mushrooms actually grow on caterpillars. This makes them really expensive to harvest. Luckily, they’re also cultivated by growers. Although cultivated mushrooms may not be quite as potent as wild ones, they’re way more wallet-friendly. Cordyceps have antifungal and antibacterial properties. They also have three protein-bound polysaccharides and several amino acids. Studies show that cordyceps mushrooms have impressive antitumor properties. They can protect against liver and heart disease as well. Cordyceps are also good for treating:
Leaky gut syndrome
Chronic liver disorders
Hyper lipedema
Hypercholesterolemia
Kidney failure
Cardiac arrhythmias
Lung carcinoma
Asthma
Geriatric disorders
6. CHAGA MUSHROOMS The main benefit of Chaga mushrooms is their effect on the immune system. They have the unique property of not only boosting the immune system when necessary, but they’ll also slowing down the immune system that’s running on overdrive – something called a Biological Response Modifier. That’s good news for dogs with over-active immune systems. Benefits in detail:
Anti-Cancer Properties Chaga mushrooms have been credited with the low cancer rates in areas of Russia where they were regularly used by the native peoples. It’s been proven effective for fighting several types of cancer, particularly breast and uterine cancers. Other recent studies show that Chaga is effective for melanoma, liver, and colon cancers. Their anti-tumor effects are described as “pro-apoptotic,” meaning they promote cell death in cells that are a threat to the body while leaving healthy cells alone – selectively targeting and killing cancer cells. They’ve also been shown to help reduce toxicity after traditional radiation or chemotherapy treatments.
Antioxidants Chaga mushrooms are brimming with antioxidants! They contain polysaccharides that boost heart, intestinal, and liver health, and also energy levels. Chaga mushrooms also contain a high number of Beta-D-Glucans, which supplement the immune system, regulate both blood sugar and cholesterol, and help the immune system target cancer cells. They’re also high in B vitamins, enzymes, sterols, and several minerals, like zinc and potassium, which all help fight free radicals. Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Chaga mushrooms have an anti-inflammatory effect, especially for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They also have some pain-relieving benefits.
Anti-Viral A paper published in 2005 by Ulrike Lindequist et al studied the medicinal benefits of several different types of mushrooms and found Chaga to be specifically useful as an anti-viral (4). The paper notes that “besides immunostimulation, other effects of the polysaccharide–protein complexes [of the mushrooms] contribute to the antiviral activity.” Chaga mushrooms are being researched for use in HIV patients, but they can also be a useful anti-viral for your dogs, particularly when considering the flu.
Gastric Issues Some of the earliest uses of Chaga mushrooms were for ulcers, stomach pain, and inflammatory bowel disease. It’s believed that the immune-stimulating traits of Chaga help balance the gut bacteria and ease ulcers and gastritis.
Diabetes Chaga mushrooms can help regulate blood sugar levels for animals with diabetes. However, if your dog is diabetic, you may want to alert your vet and monitor his glucose levels when adding medicinal mushrooms to his diet because they may interact with his medications.
Cholesterol A study by Jiangnan University in China demonstrated that adding Chaga to the diet could cause a significant decrease in cholesterol levels, and also boost HDL, or “good cholesterol.” If your dog has hypothyroidism, he may be more prone to high cholesterol levels and Chaga mushrooms could be a great addition to his diet to help with that.
-Paw Naturals
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