Small companion animals such as cats and dogs as well as exotic animals may be treated safely and effectively with the correct herbal medications. Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine is a 3,600 year old Traditional Chinese Medical art and science of using either single herbs or, more commonly, well-researched herbal formulas to act as both nutrients and drugs in the patient’s body. 

Central Therapy• Why Herbal Medicines?

All of the animals on the earth have co-evolved with plants and thus have gastrointestinal and detoxification systems more safely amenable to herbal treatment than most drugs. There are exceptions and part of the training for a competent herbal practitioner is to now which herbs are may be a problem in some species or when given concurrently with certain western medical drugs.

The herbal medicines may be given in pill, tablet, capsule, granular or raw form. The pills, tablets and capsules are best for those animals who will comply with taking them orally. The granular herbs and raw herbs may be added to some patient’s foods who have good appetites and are not finicky. Raw herbs may also be cooked together with some home-prepared food in soup or stew form for debilitated animals. 

• The Uses of Herbal Therapies. 

Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine practitioners use herbal medicine for a large variety of medical problems and diseases including behavioral disorders such as fear, anxiety, depression and anger.

Many of these behavioral problems may successfully be treated with a combination of husbandry and environmental changes coupled with the short-term use of an appropriate herbal formula.

• Using Chinese Herbs.

Chinese herbs are selected and combined in formulas based on principles that have no relation to modern biochemistry. Chinese physicians used several different methods to classify traditional Chinese herbs: Every herb has its own properties which include its energy, its flavour, its movement and the related meridians to which it connects.  

The vast majority of herbal treatments use formulas containing four or more herbs. Only a few herbs are used by themselves alone. There are several reasons for this. One is to affect related secondary aspects of the illness, another to prevent the formula from causing side effects or illness by balancing it’s effects, and lastly, to strengthen the effect on the pathology.

• Why Chinese Herbs.

Herbal medicine is distinct from medicine based on pharmaceutical drugs. Firstly, because of the complexity of plant materials it is far more balanced than medicine based on isolated active ingredients and is far less likely to cause side-effects. Secondly, because herbs are typically prescribed in combination, the different components of a formulae balance each other, and they undergo a mutual synergy which increases efficacy and enhances safety. Thirdly, herbal medicine seeks primarily to correct internal imbalances rather than to treat symptoms alone, and therapeutic intervention is designed to encourage this self-healing process.

• The Safety of  Chinese Herbs.

Chinese herbal medicines are very safe when prescribed correctly by a properly trained practitioner. Over the centuries doctors have compiled detailed information about the pharmacopoeia and placed great emphasis on the protection of the patient.