Top 5 Best Mushrooms for Fighting Cancer in Dogs: Turkey Tail, Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane

It’s always a scary thing when we bring our canine friends to the vet and we hear the big ‘C’ word. It is devastating news and leaves you thinking what could you have done differently to of prevented this from happening. Educating ourselves on staying healthy and our canine friends 

health is probably one of the best things you can do. What we put into our pet’s bodies is one of the main key factors on preventing illness and disease such as cancer, and finding out the right foods to add into their diets can sometimes mean the difference between life and death for our pets. These foods not only give an immunity boost for dogs, but can keep our furry friends around a lot longer.

In the simplest of terms, cancer happens when cells tend to grow faster than normal. Cells in our bodies are supposed to grow and divide and then die when it’s time for them to stop growing. Unlike these normal cells, cancer cells just continue to grow and divide out of control. They do not die when they are supposed to and instead usually group or clump together to form lumps, which we know as tumors. A growing tumor then becomes a lump of cancer cells that destroy normal cells around the tumor and damage their body’s healthy tissues. This is what causes people and animals to become very sick.

What to Look For in Mushroom for Your Dog:

• Organic Mushrooms ensure highest quality and safest for your dog

• Quality Mushrooms! High Beta Glucan is best gauge of quality, also should be mostly fruiting bodies

• Cultivated Mushrooms – Foraged mushrooms vary greatly in strength, cultivated and Beta Glucan tested mushrooms are superior to all others!
• Hot Water Extracted – Hot water extract helps make the mushroom bioavailable and it removes mycelium and fiber which are not medicinal. Mushroom extracts are more expensive, but worth it!

• Medicinal Grade – Get mushrooms from a mushroom or herb supplier not a food supplier

Mushrooms once to be thought as dangerous for canines are now being reconsidered as beneficial, if given the right ones. Through extensive research and studies, scientists have found five branches of mushrooms to be jammed packed with antioxidants and cancer fighting benefits that are not only safe for dogs but life-saving as well. These mushrooms include the Turkey Tail, Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane. They have been used more and more by veterinarians around the world and are being made into dog immunity supplements.

Turkey Tail / Trametes versicolor

Turkey Tail mushrooms, otherwise known as Coriolus Versicolor, are commonly being used as a dog immunity supplement and is a fantastic and immunity boost for dogs. It has multiple shades of brown and fanned out much like that of an actual turkey’s tail, and can be found growing on trees and dead tree stumps. Turkey Tail is considered the best over-all mushroom for cancer prevention and treatment due to the research that has been done connecting it with cancer and chemotherapy support.

Benefits of Turkey Tail for Your Dog:

• Adaptogen Herb – this means it helps your dog deal with stressors better

• Immunity boost for dogs – Aids your dog in building more disease fighting aids such as leukocytes and t cells

• Aids in Dogs Digestion – Turkey Tail can help your dog’s digestion and absorption of nutrition.

• Anti-Cancer – Research shows that Turkey Tail actually recognizes tumors in the body and help the body fight them directly!

Reishi Mushroom / Ling Zhi / Ganoderma

Reishi mushrooms have been proven to be able to slow the growth of tumors and kill off malignant cells in the process. Reishi mushroom is so popular that is well know by several names! 

Ling Zhi is the pinyin name for this mushroom as it originates from China and is highly prized there! Even in English many people still know this is as Ling Zhi or even Lingzhi. Reishi is the Japanese name as it has also come to the the west through the Japanese also. This shows you the sheer popularity of this mushroom. In America after some studies were done with Reishi mushroom they found the results the be staggering. Reishi has an amazing list of benefits for you and your dog and has basically no side effects at all. When research was published the public got interested in using this mushroom, the publishments were under the pharmaceutical name Ganoderma, giving this mushroom its 3rd popular name!

These mushrooms are used to extend life and give a better quality of life to our dogs. With four main ingredients, there is no question as to why it is used in medicinal treatment for dogs diagnosed with cancer. Triterpenes is the main ingredient which shows anti-tumor effects. Water soluble-polysaccharides that act as a prebiotic. Ling Zhi-8, a protein that helps suppress key cells in the immune system. Anti-Oxidants like Zinc and Vitamin C which help aid in the intruder cells.  This type of particular mushroom is also known as the ‘mushroom of immortality’ because of all the anti-cancer effects that it contains. Organic Ling Zhi extract powder may also be one of the best ways to dose as it is powdered and highe

r strength than lingzhi powder.

Benefits of Reishi Mushroom for Your Dog:

• Anti-Inflammatory and also Antioxidant

• Helps cleanse and detox your dog’s liver

• Benefits your dog’s circulation, heart function and blood pressure

• Helps with Allergies

• Natural antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal – making it helpful for infections, colds, flu, yeast infections, smelly ears, etc.

• Anti-Cancer – reishi for our dog has been shown to be anti-tumor, immune boost, and antioxidant

Chaga Mushroom / Inonotus Obliquus

Chaga are another species of mushrooms that have been more commonly powdered for  immunity supplements for dogs. They can either be made into treats, pills, liquid extract or quality 

powder that can be then mixed into their food. It is important to give them a daily dose of this cancer fighting mushroom as they contain many antioxidants that have been proven to fight cancer and the deadly intruder cells that it produces. Chaga supplements can be found in many health food stores and can be easily found online thanks to the growth and popularity of this mushroom.

Chaga taste great and your dog will love it too. People have used chaga as coffee and tea for ages. Chaga mushroom is actually a new mushroom to catch popularity. As it turns out from further research chaga has bonus effects to its immune boosting for dogs, it actually helps with strength, endurance and energy! Because chaga can be easily sourced in low quality, I recommend you find Organic Chaga Mushroom Powder and add it to your dogs food, better yet it should be combined with other organic mushrooms like Organic Cordyceps and Organic Reishi Mushroom.

Benefits of Chaga Mushroom for Your Dog:

• Scores among highest food Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity –  meaning its scientifically one of the 5 best antioxidants on earth. Organic Chaga will give best results

• Immunity boost for dogs – Directly aids in helping your dog fight diseases

• Anti-Cancer – anti tumor ability, strong antioxidant qualities, tumor reduction

• Anti-Viral and Anti-Inflammatory

• Boosts Endurance in your dog –the health benefits extend past the immune system and helps keep your dog full of energy and strong

Cordyceps / Dong Chong Xia Cao

Cordyceps are grown on certain caterpillars typically only found in the Himalayas and other high-altitude locations around the world. There are not only had vast results on it being able to slow tumor growth, but these mushrooms also have been proven to divert some side effects from the treatment of chemotherapy. Specifically, this mushroom can allow the regeneration and growth of white blood cells, even during the brutal stages of radiation. Cordyceps are not only used to treat cancer but many other illnesses and diseases such as coughs, chronic bronchitis, respiratory disorders, kidney disorders and so on.

As cordyceps caught attention outside of China (where it is called Dong Chong Xia Cao) it became extremely expensive as it is so highly prized and rare to find in the wild. Cordyceps prices are in the thousands of dollars, however they are now simply grown in a lab or log cultivated. Although this nets a weaker effect, the cost of ‘farmed’ cordyceps makes it worth it, especially when you can simply use larger or “normal” mushroom dosage anyway. Due to these circumstances of cultivation, I recommend your cordyceps be an Organic Cordyceps Powder

Benefits of Cordyceps for Your Dog:

• Adaptogen Herb – strengthen your dog’s health while helping them overcome stress

• Immune booster – this herb is effective at boosting immunity in dogs as the other mushrooms, but cordyceps also greatly strengthens and benefits your dog’s lungs and upper respiratory system.

• Kidney Support – used in almost any kidney disorder, recommended for people to add to soups, Organic Cordyceps Powder in your dog’s wet food is even better!

• Weakness, Fatigue, and Atrophy – Benefits your pets vitality

• Anti-Cancer – also anti-inflammatory and recommended in cancer treatments to be combined with Organic Reishi and Organic Turkey Tail

Lion’s Mane / Hericium Erinaceus

Lion’s Mane is a potent mushroom made with 20 percent protein and is known as a delicacy when prepared in meals. Just like its name this mushroom has an appearance similar to a lion’s mane. A lion itself is symbolized as strength, which is why this mushroom is so powerful with all of its anti-cancer effects. This mushroom can reduce the size of tumors while doubling the white cell blood count, which help fight off intruder cells that attack the immune system. Lion’s Mane can also reduce the number of blood vessels inside of a tumor, making them harder to turn malignant. In short, the extracts from these mushrooms are toxic to cancer cells and will help your dog fight those gruesome intruders.

Benefits of Lion’s Mane for Your Dog:

• Helps Brain, Eye, and Circulation in dogs

• Slow tumor growth – and reduces blood flow to tumors allowing them to continue to reduce over time

• Anti-Inflammatory – Especially in digestive inflammation and other digestive complaints in your dog

• Benefits blood sugar – it is also used to help treat diabetes

Source Organic Mushroom Powder for Your Dog

The faster you can recognize symptoms in your dog, the faster you can help treat them and suppress their symptoms. It is always better to start off early with immunity supplements for dogs, but it is also never too late to start as well. They are part of the family and we should be doing our best to keep them healthy, in hopes that they will be around for a long time. If you also get a dog breed that is prone to cancer than it is even better to keep them as healthy and to research as much as possible about immunity for dogs. Cancer can still happen and maybe someday there will be a cure, but it does not have to be the end of the road for our pets and educating ourselves on prevention and fighting cancer cells is half the battle. If it were the other way around, our dogs would do the same for us, so they well deserve the same treatment back.

These 5 mushrooms for your dog is very beneficial, in fact they all can and should be used together! Doggie Herbs makes an immunity supplement for dogs using powerful Chinese herbs and all 5 mushrooms listed above, including: Organic Tail Tail Mushroom, Organic Reishi Mushroom, Organic Chaga Mushroom, Organic Cordyceps Mushroom, Organic Lion’s Mane Mushroom. Although you can buy all these products separately, Immunity for Dogs by Doggie Herbs has all the quality ingredients together and pre dosed with a measuring spoon included in the herbal powder for your pet.