Tumeric For Dogs: What You Should Know

feeding tumeric to your dog
(Last Updated On: April 17, 2021)

You might have heard of giving tumeric to your dog. If you’re wondering about its benefits and whether it’s worth trying, read on!

Also Read this post about giving your dog probiotics

Benefits of Turmeric For Dogs

Anti-inflammatory

Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties that come from its curcumin content. Curcumin acts as an antioxidant to reduce aches that are caused by rheumatoid arthritis. As our dogs get older, they become more susceptible to arthritis and other joint problems that cause them pain. Introducing turmeric to their diet can help prevent or reduce the pain that they will feel from such inflammations.

Antibacterial and Antiseptic

Because turmeric also has antibacterial and antiseptic properties, it is especially useful for external applications to infected injuries. You can mix it with honey which also acts as an antibacterial agent to create a paste that you can apply to treat your dog’s wounds.

Healthy Hearts

High cholesterol levels and heart attacks do not exclusively affect us humans. Our dogs are also likely to experience these especially during their older years. Turmeric can also improve our dog’s health to avoid such ailments from occurring. There are good and bad cholesterols, and it would be better for our pet’s heart and liver if the bad cholesterols are kept at low levels. Luckily, turmeric has been proven to do just that. It also reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes caused by blood clots as it can also function as a blood thinner.

Liver Loving

Because our pets’ livers function to metabolize the necessary fats in their diet, it’s important to keep their liver healthy and functioning. Turmeric can serve this purpose well, as it stimulates the production of bile that is necessary for the metabolism process. However, if your dog has existing liver conditions then you should get a veterinarian’s go signal first before adding turmeric to their diet.

Prevents Cancer

Turmeric also has cancer-preventive properties. Existing tumors can get shrunk by turmeric of prevented from growing further. Turmeric’s antioxidant properties play a huge role in preventing cancers from developing in dogs and can also help alleviate some effects of chemotherapy.

Other Uses

Other than those mentioned above, turmeric also has a lot of other health benefits including but not limited to:

  • Treats epilepsy
  • Treats depression
  • Relieves allergies
  • Aids digestion

And many more!

How Turmeric Can Help Dogs With Hip Dysplasia

feeding tumeric to your dog

Hip dysplasia in dogs is a disease when the ball and socket joints are abnormally formed, which causes arthritis and wear and tear of joints. This occurs more often in large breeds, but can also affect your smaller dogs as it can be caused by genetic or environmental factors. Dogs with hip dysplasia experience inflamed joints and can be in a lot of pain.

Check if your dog is showing any of the following symptoms for hip dysplasia:

  • Limping
  • Hopping (like a bunny)
  • Weight shifting
  • Lameness
  • Stiff joints
  • Falls over while squatting
  • Wasting of thigh muscles
  • Difficulty jumping and climbing

Pets that are diagnosed with hip dysplasia are often treated or relieved of their pain through several different measures, including but not limited to the use of:

  • Painkillers (Drugs and steroids)
  • Bone cell protecting supplements
  • Physical therapy
  • Pet ramps
  • Stem cell therapy
  • Surgery

Different treatments are applicable depending on the severity of a dog’s hip dysplasia. But given that not all of these treatments are accessible and/or available, you may want to consider natural options to relieve your pet. Because turmeric has a lot of health benefits that can help help relieve dogs suffering from hip dysplasia, including turmeric to their diet may help reduce the negative effects of having such a disease.

Anti-inflammatory

The pain that hip dysplasia brings to dogs comes from inflamed joints, which turmeric can help relieve with its anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric, as well as its curcumin component, act as anti-inflammatory agents to reduce the biomarkers that indicate inflammation.

Painkiller

Because some commercial painkillers can have detrimental side effects on the stomach lining and other internal organs of dogs, substituting turmeric and its curcumin content for the same benefits without the negative effects is ideal. Curcumin is proven to help sensitize pain and can act as an alternative to medical painkillers.

Joint-friendly

Surprisingly, turmeric can also protect your dog’s bones. It aids in the production and development of bone cells, which make your dog’s bones stronger, prevents cartilage degradation, and prevents osteoarthritis.

All-natural Treatment

The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric and curcumin have already been proven to produce positive results on dogs with osteoarthritis without any negative side effects.

Turmeric is an all-natural alternative to commercial medication without all the adverse effects.

Anti-bacterial

Turmeric can also keep the joints of dogs with osteoarthritis from being infected by bacteria, as it also has anti-bacterial properties. Turmeric truly has a lot of helpful qualities that can relive dogs suffering from hip dysplasia.

Are There Any Side Effects?

You might be wondering, for all the good that turmeric can bring to my dog, are there any side effects that I should be worried about? The short answer is, no. Not if you follow recommended dosages and prevent overexposure to it. As mentioned earlier, turmeric’s blood-thinning properties can be dangerous if your dog’s blood thins too much. As such, it is advisable to control the amount of turmeric that you introduce to your dog’s diet. Including turmeric to your dog’s food also comes with increasing their water intake to prevent constipation.

There have been cases of dogs “smelling like cat pee” in their face area after turmeric has been added to their diet, but apparently this can be addressed by adding a dash of cinnamon and pepper to the turmeric mixture.

The adage “too much of a good thing” still applies in the case of turmeric. Sure, it has a lot of wonderful and even surprising health benefits, but overdosing on it may present more problems than solutions. This is why you have to take care and ask for a veterinarian’s advice before you start including it to your dog’s diet.

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