Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture Benefit the Aging

Here is Sophie, a 13-year old Maltese-Poodle. After receiving acupuncture, Sophie is receiving a soft laser laser therapy treatment from her mom, Peggy.

Research on helping the senile
Research on humans with senile dementia shows benefit in their intelligence, living ability, and daily habits following combination of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and rehab medicine. We expect dogs & cats to also benefit.

As pets and humans age, we become less alert, more likely to get lost, unable to remember, and less able to handle daily tasks—in a word, senile. The medication piracetam can help with senility, but a study from researchers in Beijing China showed that piracetam was not as effective as a combination of TCM herbal formulas, acupuncture and rehab in benefiting the senile with vascular dementia. What this means for our geriatric dogs & cats is that we can boost their short-term memory, comprehension, directional ability, and living ability with the same techniques: herbs, acupuncture and rehab.

Herbs to benefit geriatric dogs & cats
One of the best TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) herbal formulas for geriatric dogs and cats is Rehmannia Eight (Ba Wei Di Huang Wan). This formula strengthens the kidneys, controls incontinence, eases pain especially of the lower back, increases warmth especially of the back and legs, improves pulmonary function to ease asthma, and benefits the brain and nervous system. You can see why it is ideal for many aging pets.

Acupuncture to benefit geriatric dogs & cats
Acupuncture points to benefit aging pets can include BL 23 to strengthen the kidneys, GB 34 to help with arthritis, GV 20 to focus the mind, HT 7 and PC 6 to ease anxiety which often accompanies reduced vision and hearing. In addition to these points, we may acupuncture BL 52 to strengthen the will to live.

Rehab to benefit geriatric dogs & cats
For rehab therapy, dogs and cats often benefit from swimming. Families can use hot tubs and backyard swimming pools, but my favourite is the warm, salt water pool at WaterWorkz. Swimming is excellent rehabilitation because it works the muscles, stimulates wide range of joint motion, and gives pets a great sense of accomplishment. At WaterWorkz we swim both dogs & cats and find that while it's just as much benefit for cats as it is for dogs, but it's even more fun to see the cat's parents watching their pets swimming because they're so amazed at the results.

Want to read more?
If you’d like to read the original research detailing the benefit of these therapies, go to the Sept, 2011 issue of Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Clinical Research on Comprehensive Treatment of Senile Vascular Dementia. The authors are Chen LP, Wang FW, Zuo F, Jia JJ, Jiao WG.

So if your pet is aging and becoming senile, ask for the treatments that have been shown to work: TCM herbs, acupuncture, and rehab. Keep your pet bright, alert, happy and intelligent. Your pet will love you for it.