5 Tips for Your Dog’s Joints
Caring for your dog’s joint health is crucial to ensuring they lead a comfortable, active, and happy life. As dogs age, or even through rigorous activity, their joints can become stiff and uncomfortable, leading to reduced mobility and a decrease in their overall quality of life. Fortunately, there are several natural methods you can incorporate into your dog’s routine to support healthy joint function. From the use of CBD and essential oils to regular massage, exercise, and a proper diet, these strategies can help keep your furry friend’s joints in top shape, allowing them to enjoy their daily activities with ease.
CBD
Your dog’s joints contain cannabis receptors that send out signals whenever articular cells are under stress. Those signals trigger a series of events that brings compounds like CBD, THC, CBG & CBC to the area. Once the compounds attach to the receptors, your dog receives benefits like having a normal inflammatory response that reduces occasional joint stiffness and encourages healthy joint flexibility and mobility.
Essential Oils
The cannabis system can also utilize aromatic compounds found within essential oils to further the body’s joint comfort efforts. Humulene (smells like cloves) naturally soothes joints and limonene (think lemons) enhances the functions of joints and associated connective tissues. Water based diffusion of just a few drops of essential oils offers additional antioxidant protection for joints and can ease joint discomfort-related anxiousness.
Massage
Massage or even just deep petting stimulates the muscles to bring healing blood to the surface of the body. This in turn allows for more fluid movement within the muscle tendon attachments and ligaments that make joints move. When these softer tissue are supported, the joints don’t have to carry so much weight and movement is more comfortable. You can even add a few drops of coconut oil plus essential oils to the massage for added benefits. For best results, give CBD about an hour before so your dog is nice and relaxed for their spa day.
Exercise
It’s true that too much or too aggressive exercise can lay your pup up for days or even weeks, but regular gentle exercise has the opposite effect. Moving the joints helps push harmful inflammatory compounds out and healthy ones in, and with those compounds come other beneficial ones like CBD and aromatics. If your dog is already mobile, consider going for slow 30 min walks morning and night, again about an hour after CBD administration for optimal comfort. If your dog isn’t very mobile, even passive movement of the joints helps if done 2-3 times daily.
Diet
Many of us forget about this all important aspect of joint care. A healthy diet provides nutrients for the body so it can manage older joints, joints suffering from occasional stiffness, and joints that simply have taken a beating during active play. While convenient for us, kibble is the worst food you can feed to most dogs as it’s over processed and lacks much needed moisture. Transitioning dogs to a commercial or homemade cooked or raw food meal is ideal because it provides much needed nutrients in a manner the doggie digestive tract is designed to utilize. This means your dog’s whole body gets exactly what it needs to support healthier joints. Lastly, don’t forget to limit treats … and to make those treats healthy like freeze dried meats or raw carrots and leafy greens.
By incorporating these five tips into your dog’s care regimen, you can significantly enhance their joint health and overall well-being. CBD and essential oils offer natural ways to reduce joint discomfort, while regular massage and appropriate exercise help maintain flexibility and mobility. A nutrient-rich diet tailored to your dog’s needs ensures their joints receive the support they need to stay healthy and strong. With these simple yet effective strategies, your dog can continue to live an active and comfortable life, full of joy and movement.
