(PRESS RELEASE) SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Veterinary surgeon Dr. Theresa Fossum, DVM, MS, Ph.D., Diplomate ACVS, and author of the most referenced book on pet operations, Small Animal Surgery, has added a new product to her line of natural animal supplements: Dr. Fossum’s Pet Care, Wound Therabee, with certified Manuka Honey for animal cuts and burns.
While in development, the product was used during Northern California’s Bear Fire in 2020 on numerous dogs and cats that had been burned escaping from the flames by veterinarians from the VCA Valley Oak Veterinary Center in Chico, California. The co-medical director there, Dr. Daniel Gebhart noted, “we were so impressed by the Manuka Honey/Cannabinoid ointment that is now available as Wound Therabee. Finding this incredible product was one of the few positives to come out of our fire experience. With over 80 fires already this year, and with more to come since it’s only July, we urge our veterinary colleagues to stock up on this incalculably valuable salve.”
Wound Therabee combines sterile Manuka honey with hemp extract. This formulation is a great all-around first aid kit addition for wounds, sores cuts, and burns. It contains 100% active Leptospermum honey (Manuka honey), harvested by bees in New Zealand and infused with potent cannabinoids including CBD, CBG, and CBN.
While honey is often used as a folk remedy, regular table honey is actually not sterile and not antibacterial. Wound Therabee features an active ingredient that is unique to Manuka honey produced by bees pollinating the Leptospermum Scopartum shrub. It’s produced and regulated in New Zealand, is traceable, is free of pesticides, chemical residues, and antibiotics, and has a unique manuka factor (UMF) of 12.
Manuka honey is quite an impressive substance! Indigenous cultures have used this honey as a wound treatment for thousands of years due to its natural broadband healing properties from a highly concentrated viscous solution of floral sugars and amino acids derived from the crop of the bee. And it can be stored and remain stable unrefrigerated for over a thousand years.
The properties of Manuka honey include low water content, acidity (pH 3.9), high sugar content (80%), high osmolarity, it generates hydrogen peroxide, antimicrobial peptide (Bee defensin-1), phytochemicals including flavonoids, terpenes, antioxidants and polyphenols, and methylglyoxal (MGO) that correlates with Unique Manuka Factor (UMF).
The addition of cannabinoids to the Manuka honey may help reduce discomfort and itching.
Dr. Fossum notes, “while our proof of concept came from a very intense situation, we are proud to offer this natural ointment to our fellow veterinarians and pet parents for hopefully less dire but useful animal wound care.”