After treating my dog's cancer with cannabis, he's still alive — more than three years after a vet said he'd die

Ever since I wrote about using cannabis to treat my dog's cancer last year, people have continued to ask about him. I'm happy to report Kai is still alive — three and a half years since a vet said he would be dead.

Back in April 2016, Kai had some big tumors on his body and was hardly able to move. The doctor said even if he operated they would return in a few months, and without the operation he would die by June or July.

I took him home feeling bad about it. Then I started giving him Rick Simpson Oil — a medication derived from cannabis. He perked up and the tumors stopped growing, though they never went away.

He still gets cannabis of some form every day. For most of that time it's been RSO, although it's sometimes been hard to find. When he doesn't get it for a few days he's visibly dragging along.

I prefer RSO with high CBD but also a significant amount of THC. But that's been pretty much impossible to find the past few months — which is strange, because there seems to be CBD everywhere these days. The market seems to be taking it out of the RSO.

Now I use a little RSO with high THC, along with some CBD isolate on a dog biscuit with a little peanut butter. Peanut butter is probably Kai's favorite thing to eat.

I've got to say that I thought I was just easing the passage of what I thought would be Kai's last days, but it's been lasting a while. The doctor said operating would cost $5,000 and the tumors would come back. I've probably spent near that amount on cannabis for him over the years. He's still got the bumps, but they don't seem to bother him.

As the weather turns cold every fall, he slows down and I tell myself he's not going to make it through the winter. So far he's been there in the spring each time. It's cooling down now. About a week ago he laid around and didn't move much for a couple of days. Then he livened up the next few days. It's like that. He's an old dog. We'll see what the spring brings.

You can read more about research on cannabis and cancer here.

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