Pet Corner
Acupuncture for Pets
March/April 2005
By Randy Kidd, D.V.M.
By now, most of us are familiar with
acupuncture, and many folks either have a pet that has been to an
acupuncturist or know someone whose pet has been “needled.” In
addition to herbal remedies and other treatment methods,
acupuncturists insert hair-thin, specialized needles into roughly
the same anatomic points identified by ancient practitioners.
According to traditional acupuncturists, the needles activate and
balance inner systems so the patient’s whole body returns to and is
maintained in a healthy state.
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Herbal remedies are used to further enhance the balance of the
patient’s inner organs and systems (see “Favorite Oriental Medicine
Herbs” below). A practitioner of Oriental Medicine tries to aid
this body-balancing act by selecting herbs that enhance and balance
what is known as the yin components of the body (cold, deep, dark,
chronic, feminine, wet) or the yang components (hot, superficial,
light, acute, masculine, dry).
In addition to balancing these primary yin/yang body components,
herbs may be selected to balance one or more of what the Oriental
perspective refers to as “organ systems” — liver, gallbladder,
spleen, kidney, etc.
Finally, herbs and acupuncture needles may be directed toward
enhancing the flow of qi, which is loosely translated as the vital
energy, the breath of life, or the spirit of the animal.
Acupuncture practitioners might diagnose a problem as resulting
from a yin deficiency, for example, or an excess of yang in the
liver or as a blockage of qi (arthritis, for example, is thought of
as a blockage of qi at the site of the painful, bony growth).
Depending on the diagnosis derived from this Oriental system (which
will not be equivalent to a Western medical diagnosis), herbs and
acupuncture points are selected to re-balance the patient’s whole
body.
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