Mushrooms for Your Dog’s Mind and Body

By Dr. Christina Chambreau.

Many people are only familiar with the button mushroom (Agaricus bisphorus) found in salad bars. That was my main mushroom exposure, too. Living in Japan for a few years exposed me to Shiitake mushrooms in oriental cooking. Living a month with friends in Finland, I reluctantly ate some of the ones they had harvested from woods and preserved. Though I started my homeopathic practice in 1987, and became increasingly passionate about other holistic approaches, the power of mushrooms to heal animals, people and the environment exploded for me in 2015 when I listened to Dr. Cornelia Cho’s presentation on the health and environmental mediation abilities of mushrooms at the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Conference. Now I am passionate about eating them myself and using them for physical and mental challenges of dogs.

Mushrooms, along with herbs, hemp and many products have been recognized for their health benefits for many centuries by many different cultures. Yet only in the last few decades in the scientific and medical fields in the west, have health benefits been recognized, studied and promoted.

Scientists keep being surprised when nature shows its power to heal. In a 2012 study, Cimino Brown was “shocked” when dogs with hemangiosarcoma of the spleen lived beyond a year with the only treatment being the Coriolus versicolor mushroom (Yunzhi). Prior studies of dogs given no further treatment had a 86 day survival at the max.

If you are not yet exploring the world of fungi for yourself and your dogs, get ready for good eating and improved health, even behavioral. What we think of as mushrooms is the fruiting body of a huge network of underground mycelium that are providing ways for trees and other plants to communicate with each other, share nutrients with each other and increase absorption. They can detoxify our dead bodies (which are full of polluting chemicals even before embalming), eat the plastic in the oceans, clean up oil spills…and help keep our animals healthy. By feeding mushrooms and supporting ethical mushroom companies you will both build health and help restore our planetary balance.

Source of mushrooms

You can forage them in the woods (study with experts first), grow them easily at home, even purchase at grocery stores – fresh and dried. Organic dried mushrooms would be a good way to keep and store them. Mushroom extracts can also be found in liquid, powder or compressed tablet form. Increasing numbers of companies are selling pet products for their calming influence, relief of behavior problems, a big boost for immunity, adding nutrients to the diet, and treatment of many medical problems, especially cancer. They are almost a complete pharmacy.

Sourcing is critically important: if wild crafted, are they leaving enough for future mushroom growth; if farmed, are they organic and raised sustainably; what substrate is used; how are they processed; are you wanting just the fruiting body or also the mycelium? Two of the leading experts in the animal field are veterinarians Rob Silver and Ihor Basko, so read their works.

Jake is helped with mushrooms

Jake was a 2 year old rescue with anxiety issues that made training difficult. He also had itchy skin, dandruff and doggy odor to skin and mouth. He was overweight. Drugs made him lethargic and still hard to train. Switching to a commercial frozen diet helped the weight and bad odors. After a month on a combination of Reishi and Chaga mushroom supplement, his anxiety was completely gone and he was learning well. The skin took a few more months to completely heal, then they stopped the supplements and started incorporating different mushrooms and powders into the daily diet as they began doing for themselves. He continued to thrive.

Benefits

So many types of mushrooms. So many health benefits. Button (Agaricus bisphorus), Chaga, Cordyceps, Maitake, Reishi, Shiitake, Turkey Tail, and more. Each variety may have higher or lower levels of the following: Vitamins, minerals, protein precursors, sugars, lipids, polysaccharides, essential oils, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antitumor & antibacterial compounds, fiber and more. I will mention only a few uses in dogs.

All of the mushrooms can be a general benefit to health. Use your intuition (maybe dowse or muscle test) or merely share fresh mushrooms you are cooking for yourself. Purchase pet products for specific problems. Consult with botanically trained veterinarians (see my earlier article on finding holistic veterinarians). Note changes over a month or two.

Chaga (no fruiting body – mycelium grows on tree bark, from which Chaga absorbs some healing chemicals): Cancer, digestive issues including pancreatitis, itchy skin, fatigue, diabetes.

Cordyceps: aging issues; kidney disease; enhance performance in agility, search and rescue, hiking; lung problems

Lion’s Mane (looks like a brain): Behavioral and neurologic problems; learning challenges; anxiety; senility, cognitive disorders; gastritis.

Reishi: wound healing & anti-inflamatory; depression; anxiety; aging issues – physical and mental; neurological disorders (stroke); cancer; many more.

Turkey Tail: builds immune system; cancer; obesity; viral issues; IBD

Each of these has many other benefits and often they are combined into specific products for specific conditions.

Cooking mushrooms

Because the cell walls of mushrooms are made of myo-chitin, when raw they can be difficult to digest. Cooking greatly increases the digestibility therefore making nutrients more bioavailable.

Steaming (preserves the Vit C) or sautéing, or merely adding to soups and stews are all good. Cooking in organic butter (or other fat) helps extract the nutrients.

Because mushrooms seem to act synergistically, cook several at once. Most farmer’s markets now have at least one vendor with multiple types. Once a week, replace the meat with mushrooms for a meal for two and four legged in the home. Note in the journal which mushrooms each dog loves or detests.

Empowering people to gain health for themselves and their animals in 1980ways that help our earth be healthy has been Christina’s mission since graduating from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in 1980. Writing, speaking, teaching, treating and now advising you have helped thousands of dogs thrive. Check out her website for free articles and to schedule a consult – https://christinachambreau.com/