Animal Medical & Emergency Hospital

In my 40 years of practice, I have seen many changes both in medicine and in the relationships we have with our best friends. One thing that has not changed is my desire to prevent problems rather than to have to treat them. Just about every day in my practice life we encounter dogs with gastrointestinal problems. The most common causes of these problems have changed over the years.

Frequently, while I'm watching television, there are so many pills advertised, it seems like conventional medicine has a pill for everything.  They also have a long list of side effects included in most of the advertisements. Sometimes the best approach is to combine conventional medicine with some of the ancient wisdom. Here's a recent example:

For around 4,000 years the Chinese people have had the benefit of a comprehensive medical system. Some historians report that many of the Chinese methods actually came from India. India has early records of acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, chiropractic, and exercise methods like yoga which preceded the traditional Chinese medicine system. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) employs an approach in which the doctor is practicing as a philosopher, a teacher of exercise, an teacher of good nutrition, an herbalist, and then lastly an acupuncturist.