When it comes to your pet’s health, having treatment options can make all the difference. Using both Western Veterinary Medicine and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) offers additional pathways toward optimal health. Both systems have the goal of health and prevention of disease, and both have their merits. Each patient is unique in how they came to their present condition; by integrating both Western and Eastern systems, a veterinarian gains a better insight and has more tools available for prevention and treatment.
Western Veterinary Medicine focuses on defining a disease process by pinpointing a specific area of physical action. This type of medicine tends to tackle diseases of sudden onset well and may use advanced surgical techniques to restore pets’ health.
TCVM is a medical system developed in ancient times to treat diseases seen in animals. Its recognized patterns and application, though centuries old, continues to be an active system to which people are still adding knowledge and discoveries. TCVM is a system based on the observation of things in the natural world—including the body—and derstanding the balance of forces at play through the entire body. This type of medicine can be amazingly effective for chronic diseases that Western veterinary medicine cannot cure or where the use of medication can bring about severe side effects. The application of TCVM during a physical exam can indicate imbalances earlier on in a disease state where a Western diagnosis may not yet be developed. As its main tools, TCVM uses acupuncture, herbs, diet therapy, environmental changes and exercise programs. Uniting Hands, Hearts & Healing.
One of the main concepts in TCVM is that of Yin and Yang. The theory of Yin and Yang is a philosophical view that describes the cycling between two opposite, yet complimentary things. An example of this would be the cycling of the sun and the moon. Day and night are part of the same cycle and are opposites of each other; one leads into the other and without one, we could not have the other.
The Tai Ji symbol, which is the universal symbol for Yin-Yang theory, shows the flow of this relationship between yin and yang. The black represents yin, and the white, yang. The way they fit together describes how they create and control each other. One flows into the other in a cycle indicated by the roundness of the symbol. The small dots in the black and white portions underline the fact that nothing is totally yin or completely yang.
Yin is described as more solid in nature. Something that has a tendency to sink and be deeper on the inside, is darker and colder, produces form instead of energy, encompasses the directions North and West (sun setting) and is more related to the moon than the sun in nature. For example, water and fluids are very yin.
Yang characteristics are more outward in nature. They are on the outside of things, lighter, brighter, produce energy versus solid form, are associated with the sun and the directions of South and East. Yang energy expands and rises. Its action is to generate rather than to grow. For example, heat, fire and the sun are more yang.
Yin and Yang describe opposites, yet they are interdependent—a property of something that is always relative to something else. We would not understand cold if we didn’t appreciate hot. The interaction of these two concepts and keeping them in balance is the essence of prevention in TCVM.
For more information about how the use of Western Veterinary Medicine and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine can benefit your pet, contact Glacial Ridge Vet Clinic at 320-634-3558.