Not all pets with arthritis have the same problem and it’s easy to understand the differences if we look at arthritis using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approach. With TCM, arthritis is called a “Bi syndrome.” There are 4 major types of Bi Syndrome:
- Cold,
- Damp,
- Heat And
- Boney.
Dogs & cats with Cold Bi have painful arthritis. Because they are painful, they have difficulty bending their joints to sit or lay down and often circle more than normal. They are much more comfortable if given NSAIDs, turmeric & boswellia. Arthritic dogs & cats with Cold Bi seek out heat and are better when they are lying on a heating pad or under the covers. These pets get worse in the winter or when they go outside in the early morning. They are better exercising in the middle of the day or in the summer. They don’t like to swim in cold water but are ok in warm water. They want to sleep in a soft bed. The tongue is slightly lavender rather than pink colored. The pulse, which is easiest to measure in the inguinal region, is slow & tight.
Treating Cold Arthritis with Moxa & TCM Formula, Supple Spine
Dogs and cats with Cold Bi benefit from treatment with moxa. Moxa is a herb (Artemisia vulgaris) that is rolled into a cigar shape, lit and held near the spine, joints, & acupuncture points to warm them. Moxa can be done 5-10 minutes every day. The TCM herbal formula that helps with Painful Bi is called Supple Spine (Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang) or Pubescent Angelica & Mulberry Mistletoe Combination. Supple Spine is ideal for the geriatric pet with arthritis, disc disease, or Scotty cramp. It is ideal for pets that are lame after exertion or lame when it is cold. Supple Spine helps pets that have numbness & tingling in the extremities or have degenerative myelopathy. In TCM terms, Supple Spine tonifies and expels wind. It treats blood deficiency, Kidney yang deficiency, Liver blood deficiency, and Yin deficiency. It is best for pain in the hind end. For dogs or cats that have painful Bi in the neck or cervical region, we use Ge Gen Tang. If the pain is in the shoulders or thorax, we use Juan Bi Tang.
Needling points along the spine, or Governing Vessel can help with painful arthritis. Feeding warm foods such as ginger, chicken, goat and lamb while avoiding cold foods, such as wheat & melons, barley, and celery can help.
2. Damp Bi is Stiff Arthritis
Dogs & cats with Damp Bi are more stiff than painful. Because they are stiff, they don’t bend their joints when they walk. They are much more comfortable if given a gentle massage. Arthritic dogs & cats with Damp Bi would all love to move to Arizona. They are worse in the Pacific Northwest where the air is often cool & damp, and are worse in the rain. They are better exercising when the weather is warm & dry. They don’t like to swim in cold water but would love swimming in warm water. Their tongues are slightly swollen and pink colored. The pulse is slow & slightly slippery.
Treating Damp, Stiff Bi with TCM Formula, Free the Sinews
Free the Sinews (Yi Yi Ren Tang or Croix Combination) is a TCM formula that warms, tonifies and moves. It helps pets with muscle spasm and joint pain who are better with gentle movement. It also helps calm the mind and nourish a dry coat and dry skin. It treats “wind” so helps pets who have arthritis that moves around the body, being worse in one location at one time, and worse at another location at another time. It helps pets with “blood deficiency” so it increases nutrient availability. Another formula to help treat damp, stiff arthritis is Agastache Combination (Huo Xian Zheng Qi Wan). Agastache helps with acute or chronic disc disease, lumbosacral arthritis, and hind limb weakness, especially in pets that have tendency to gut problems such as diarrhea, bloating & gas.
Dogs & cats with stiff arthritis benefit from acupuncture of lung and spleen meridian: LU 5 & LU 9, SP 3, SP 6, SP 9. These pets often benefit from neutral foods: eggs, duck, goose, quail, beef, tripe, pork, catfish, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardine, rice, corn, salt, green beans, cabbage, carrots, & sweet potatoes.
3. Heat Bi is an Arthritis of Excess
Pets with Heat Bi Arthritis are worse in the warmth. Their joints are swollen & hot and their tongues are red. These pets may have joint infection, such as Lyme disease or auto-immune disease like rheumatoid arthritis. They are more comfortable when ice packs are applied than when a heating pad is applied. They are best when walking in the cool of early morning or at dusk. They are restless at night and prefer to sleep on the cold floor or near a door.
Treating Heat Bi Arthritis with Cooling TCM Formula, Four Marvels
The best formulas to help pets with hot, excessive arthritis are a combination of Four Marvels (Si Miao San) and White Tiger (Bai Hu Jia Ren Shen Tang). These formulas clear heat and increase yin. Four Marvels is one of the most frequently prescribed TCM formulas for dogs. It drains damp, moves, clears heat and tonifies so it helps with osteoarthritis, degenerative myelopathy, loss of proprioception, numbness, skin infection, epilepsy, pancreatitis, vaginitis, lymphoma, transitional cell cancer, hepatomegaly, and anal sac inflammation. Other helpful formulas for Heat Bi include Angelica & Mastic Combination (Xian Fang Huo Ming Yin) and Benefit Hips & Knees or Open Liver Channels (Xiao Chai Hu Tang).
Treating Heat Bi Arthritis with Acupuncture & Diet
Dogs & cats with hot joints benefit from acupuncture of large intestine, liver, and gall bladder meridians: LI 4, LI 11, LV 2, LV 3, GB 34. These pets often benefit from cool foods: alfalfa, apple, asparagus, bamboo, banana, barley, broccoli, cabbage, celery, chard, Chinese cabbage, clam, cucumber, egg white, kelp, lemon, lettuce, millet, mint, mung bean, olive, pear, peppermint, persimmon, seaweed, Spirulina, tofu, watermelon, & wheat.
Boney Arthritis is common in geriatric cats & dogs. Pets with Boney Arthritis are often weak and sleep much of the day. Their bones creak when you pick them up and it doesn’t feel as though there is any cartilage left in their joints. They need stem cell therapy. They want to cuddle under the covers but don’t want to be petted. They snap at children. They often have degeneration in other organs too—kidney, liver, brain.
Treating Boney Arthritis with TCM Formula Rehmannia Eight
Pets with Boney Arthritis benefit from TCM formulas such as Rehmannia Eight (Ba Wei Di Huang Wan) to help the bones and the kidneys. Rehmannia Eight also helps with cold legs, numbness, incontinence, and asthma. . For cats & dogs with boney arthritis who are too warm, Rehmannia Six is better than Rehmannia Eight. For arthritic cats with hyperthyroid disease, Curculingo & Epimedium (Er Xian Tang) is best. It helps with restlessness, irritability, loss of balance, hind limb weakness, and kidney failure. For pets with severe, persistent chronic pain from arthritis from overuse, Minor Invigorate the Collateral Circulation (Xiao Huo Luo Dan Wan) is helpful. It eases spasm of arthritis or disc disease. Minor Invigorate the Collateral Circulation helps with numbness, paralysis, hemiplegia, cervical spondylomelopathy.
Treating Boney Arthritis with Acupuncture and Diet
Pets with Boney Arthritis benefit from acupuncture of points along low back, especially BL 23 (Shen Shu) which is between the 2nd& 3rd lumbar vertebrae. They benefit from analgesic activity of boswellia & turmeric and the Omega 3 fatty acids in fish & flax. These pets should eat warm and hot foods: chicken liver, beef, lamb, oats, garlic, ginger, vinegar, green beans, asparagus, onion, pumpkin, anchovy, cardamom, cayenne, cherry, chestnut, chicken, , cinnamon, clove, coriander, date, dill, fennel, garlic, goat, goat milk, ginger, kohlrabi, lamb, mussel, mustard, nutmeg, mutton, peach, rosemary, shrimp, squash, trout, turnip, vinegar, & walnut. Avoid feeding pets with arthritis any foods from Solinaceae or nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, egg plant).
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