Maybe you have encountered the following:

• Your pet has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and you have been told nothing more can be done except to wait for the end. E.g. cancer

• Your pet suffers from a chronic disease and you have tried many types of medication, to no avail. E.g. skin allergies, inflammatory bowel disease

• You feel that your pet is showing symptoms that indicate your pet is unwell, but the vets you bring to say it is “okay” unless it gets worse. E.g. slight nausea signs, occasional vomiting, separation anxiety, discomfort at various times of day, waking up at night, occasional limping.

When we have a pet, we love them and want them to have a good quality of life when they are around. Some of the scenarios above result in a lower quality of life, for which we can utilize TCVM as a tool to help address and improve. The use of acupuncture can help ameliorate pain and enhance circulation and well-being. Chinese herbs can help improve energy levels and address internal issues by balancing the body. Food therapy works similarly to herbs but on a gentler gradual scale and ensures the right types of food are being given to your pet given your pet’s unique condition. Tui-na also helps improve circulation and well-being and creates bonding between you and your pet.

Usually, symptoms, no matter how small, are an indication that our body is unwell or imbalanced. They may persist for years before the symptoms finally worsen into something that needs to be “fixed” by conventional medication or surgery. Even then, the root cause of imbalance of disease is still there, un-fixed. Take mammary cancer, for example. Mammary masses can sometimes regrow even after they have been surgically removed. From a TCVM perspective, the root cause could be associated with a liver qi stagnation, an accumulation of heat or damp in the body, or due to a qi deficiency. By not addressing the imbalance in the body, it can be difficult to ensure that the symptom (the growth of mass) does not recur.

We do not suggest that TCVM replaces the use of chemotherapy, surgery, or conventional medication, but we recommend utilizing it as a preventative tool to address symptoms before they manifest as disease, or to use TCVM when disease has already occured, either in conjunction with conventional medication, or as palliative care to improve the quality of life when other forms of treatment are limited or have limited effectiveness. We want you, the pet owner, to know there are still options, outside of conventional medication. It may take time and a lot of effort from making dietary changes to giving herbs on a long-term basis, for improvement to occur, but it is well worth it to improve the quality of your pet’s life.