veterinary TCM

[Guest guest]

, " " <@e...>

wrote:

 

> We have a long way to go to bring herbal medicine into mainstream

> vet med! This is because there is pitifully little real science (if that

> is defined as published clinical trials or controlled trials) to support

> the clinical use of herbal medicine in animals listed in the search

> profile above.

 

and yet there are those who would seek fame and fortune touting their

skills at veterinary herbalism. I can be no more more blunt than to say

that I believe much of what I have read about the TCM treatment of animals

is just clinically misguided. I believe my animals's health have been

damaged by unnecessary or poorly timed supplementation by well intentioned

but misguided " TCM " veterinarians. No consideration has been given to the

differences between treating human omnivores, obligate carnivores (most

pets) and obligate herbivores with multiple stomachs (most farm

animals). And I do not merely speak from a modernist persepctive.

Premodern texts such as forgotten traditions documented by unschuld make

important distinctions between animals and humans.

 

According to xu da chun, animals have turbid blood. Their diseases tend

to be of excess. their lives are short. But they don't really live long

enough to " wear out " , per se. why would an animal develop severe

vacuities from taxation in 10 or 15 years. You think it would take more

time. especially since well fed animals are so robust. In fact, it is

interesting that many short lived animals do NOT exhibit significant

decline in DHEA over their lifespans, another sign that vacuity may not be

as prominent as one may think. If the answer is that they have a built

in lifespan, then what good is intervention at all. I am not suggesting

that an animal can live for 70 years, but rather we must consider the

wisdom of excessive supplementing therapies in a short-lived creature such

as a cat that subsists on intensely supplementing foods such as fatty

meats, organs, marrow and bones. It seems a lot more likely to me that

they can be come overloaded with excess. And according to yan de xin, the

main cause of vacuity is actually stagnation. This makes even more sense

in obligate carnivores.

 

Kidney failure is the main cause of death in cats. Chinese research has

pinpointed da huang (rhubarb/rx et rz. rhei) as a key herb in the

treatment of renal crises. I find cats tolerate this herb quite well and

it is a viable therapy in cases where supplementing therapy have just led

to continual decline. Da huang has also been indicated for type 2

diabetes, as well, another disease that affects aging felines, a disease

that begins with excess (which is why kanpo physicians may use formulas

such as fang feng tong sheng tang for excess type DM).

 

In most of the cats I have consulted on, purging and moving blood have

been far more successful kidney supplementation. My own 13 y.o. cat, who

has a terminal neurological condition, went through a period of extreme

decline last fall while undergoing supplementation therapy. He eventually

could not walk at all, was ice cold and immobile all the time, did not eat,

drank profusely. His bowels had also ceased to move. I brought him to a

" straight " vet and treated him for severe constipation (something I had

insisted was a major problem to every TCM vet I ever saw, all of whom did

no tests and just dismissed me). After the enemas and manual extraction,

his energy and appetite returned instantly. By keep his bowels regular

with fiber and laxatives, he has improved dramatically and even is

beginning to walk a little again. I would thus urge all TCM vets to

carefully consider yan de xin on blood stasis and aging as a key to the

treatment of animals as well.

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein