Personalized Pet Diets

There is truth to the old saying: “food is the medicine you take every day.” This belief in the healing power of food is one central to Chinese Medicine, where food therapy is often utilized alone or (more often) in conjunction with other modalities to treat disease patterns.

 

Food therapy is one of the four major branches of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) alongside acupuncture, herbal medicine, and Tui-na. It is the art and science of tailoring diet plans to individual patients based on their age, species, personality and current disease process.

 

These recipes can typically be classified into the following categories:

• Health Promotion and Prevention - to improve health on a regular basis and to prevent seasonal- and climate-related problems.

• Disease Treatment - to directly treat clinical conditions, including skin problems, autoimmune diseases, and immunodeficiency.

• Adjunct Therapy - to complement primary treatments (acupuncture, herbs, or Western Medicine) of diseases such as otitis, urinary crystals and stones, UTI, IBD, CHF, cancer, renal failure, and liver failure.

 

Like other TCVM modalities, the ultimate goal of food therapy is to restore and maintain balance in the body. There are virtually no side effects when food ingredients are chosen correctly, and food therapy is a mode of treatment that can be used safely throughout a patient’s lifetime. Moreover, food therapy empowers pet parents to take part in the TCVM therapy for their animals.