Holistic, Integrative & Functional medicine house calls for Tampa Bay pets.
Email DrTruli@VetVMD.com or Text (813) 714-7863
Dr. Sandra Truli Springer, VMD, MS-TCVM, CVA, CVFT, CVTP, CVCH, CTCVMP, CTPEP, CVMMP
Veterinary Medical Doctor, University of Pennsylvania Ivy-League.
Master of Science- Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine.
Acupuncturist, Food Therapist,Tui-na (medical massage), Herbalist, Veterinary Medical Manipulation Practitioner.
Fellow of the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncturists.
Human Animal Bond Certified.
Founding Member of the Nutrition Innovation Council.
House Call Acupuncture for Pets
Seeing is believing. These pets are enjoying their acupuncture treated provided by Dr Sandra Truli Springer. Dr Truli (as she’s known to her patients) is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist (CVA.) CVAs are granted to licensed veterinarians only. The Certification is rigorous and includes 130 hours of continuing education, 30 hours of internship with experienced acupuncturists, and formal Clinical Case Reports.
Needles in neck and legs are hooked up to the electro-acupuncture machine to treat paralysis
Acupuncture for Miniature Schnauzer Intervertebral Disc Disease and Hemiparesis
This Miniature Schnauzer was suddenly paralyzed on his right side by a bulging intervertebral disk in his neck but he could still feel pain stimuli in his toes. Standard medical advice was painkillers and 4-5 weeks of cage rest. After 3 acupuncture treatments spaced 3-4 days apart, he is standing up, sitting, and sometimes rocketing across the living room before tripping on the right side.
Acupuncture is clinically proven to help speed recovery from intervertebral disc disease and to help with pain relief.
You can see how he lays on his side for the treatment. Normally, he is super playful and silly. He feels so relaxed from the acupuncture that he settles and sleeps for his treatments. One-third of acupuncture patients sleep through the treatment.
See the pink needle in his hind foot?
Acupuncture for Sudden Onset Bloody Diarrhea in a Miniature Poodle Puppy
This little guy had bloody diarrhea. He is usually a rambunctious, playful puppy. He fell asleep during his acupuncture treatment. His condition resolved with one acupuncture treatment consisting of one needle placement.
One-needle acupuncture is a new technique to veterinary acupuncturists in the United States. Dr Bruce Ferguson introduced Topographic Acupuncture to veterinarians studying at the Chi Institute in Reddick, Florida in Spring, 2017. Dr Truli is one of the first veterinarians in the United States to learn Topographic Acupuncture from Dr Ferguson.
This advanced system of acupuncture takes physical examination findings, symptoms, and history of the pet to determine which one to three acupuncture points on the body will be most effective at relieving many or all of the pet’s symptoms.
How can this be? Well, the acupuncture points are organized along lines of fascia and connective tissue. Approx 85% of the acupuncture lines also follow pathways of nervous system structures like nerves and spinal cord. But not all of them! They are interconnected in specific, known patterns. Knowledge of those patterns, combined with the physical examination allows a specially trained and experienced veterinary acupuncturist to treat your pet with very few needles.
How do you know it is working? Your pet may relax, yawn, fall asleep. sigh, stretch out, and we can see the relaxation and pain relief. Restricted joints, like hips that do not flex and bend will bend or extend, often within minutes of the start of treatment. Dr Truli can demonstrate for you in your house call where your pet is experiencing lack of proper mobility or flexibility or pain, apply the acupuncture needles, and then demonstrate return to normal or near-normal function. This system of Topographic Acupuncture is especially useful for sensitive, fast-moving, older, or pediatric patients as it is not over-whelming to them.
Acupuncture for Pets
Dr. Sandra Truli Springer, known as Dr. Truli to her patients, explains “What is Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine?”
Teenie the Chihuahua is friends with Dr. Truli after years of Acupuncture & Massage
“Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine as practiced in the United States is Integrative Medicine where the four branches of acupuncture, food therapy, herbal medicine, and medical massage therapy are implemented along with appropriate Western biomedicine for the benefit of pets health and well-being,” says Dr. Truli.
Click here to read more about TCVM.
Cat-upuncture
Getting to the heart of herbal medicine
2 nutritionally balanced, home-cooked, organic meals for a small dog
Massage for Constipated Guinea Pig
Dr. Sandra Truli Springer, VMD, CVA, CVFT, CVTP is a Credentialed Member of the AAVA
Beagle hooked up for electroacupuncture
Wait, What? Acupuncture for Dogs?
First, yes. Dogs can get acupuncture. They usually like it very much for a few very good reasons. One reason is, acupuncture is relaxing. Another reason is, acupuncture causes natural painkillers like opioids and enkephalins to be released in the body.
“About one-third of my doggy acupuncture patients fall asleep during the treatment,” says Doc Truli, Veterinarian and Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist.
Why are we doing acupuncture on dogs???!
Some medical conditions respond very well to acupuncture treatments (pain, arthritis, inter-vertebral disc disease). Imagine no drug side-effects. Imagine not having to medicate your pet! Imagine unexpected positive results when Western medicine reached its full potential and your dog still is not cured (collapsing trachea, bloody diarrhea). Some patients can be treated without pharmaceutical medications. Some dogs respond better to acupuncture than other treatments you have tried. Some dogs have no other options and acupuncture helps them feel less pain. There are countless reasons to consider acupuncture for your dog.
How Can I Tell If Acupuncture is Working?
“Acupuncture is results-based medicine. You can see if your dog is walking farther, eating better, coughing less. Sometimes, we can see evidence the treatment is affecting the dog during the acupuncture session,” says Doc Truli.
Big Chihuahua Yawn after Acupuncture!
Yawning
Yawning is a sign that the patient is releasing Stagnation. In Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine theory, pain is caused by Stagnant energy, or Stagnant Qi. There is a tight, stuck, dysfunctional feeling that the body interprets as pain. The acupuncture treatment enhances blood flow, increases capillary permeability, stimulates Beta-endorphin relaxation hormone release, and triggers natural opioid release in the body. Some of this effect is triggered plainly by the microtrauma caused by the fine, thin sterile FDA-approved medical device called the acupuncture needle.
Tru Tip:
As FDA-approved medical devices, acupuncture needles in America are sterile, single use devices, even for animals!
The healing process is triggered to start anew at the needle insertion point. But the effect goes far beyond an explanation of local trauma. The brain stem, nervous system, fascia planes, and brain itself are also known to respond to the acupuncture needle insertion at designated acupuncture points. Some studies have shown the effect travels faster than the speed of electricity or nerve impulses!
Tru Tips for Giving Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine
Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine: Salves & Moxa
Introduction to Traditional Chinese Veterinary Herbal Medicine
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) has been practiced routinely in China for more than 2,000 years. TCVM incorporates food therapy, tui na (sometimes also called an mo) physical manipulation therapy, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM). Traditionally, the majority of the medicine was food therapy, About 70% of patients in China are treated with Chinese herbs or a combination of herbs and acupuncture. Only about 30% of patients are treated with acupuncture alone. Many clinical studies have found that Chinese Herbal Medicine is extremely effective for treating medical disorders in a wide variety of areas including cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, reproduction, oncology, behavior, respiratory problems, and sports medicine.
How are the Chinese Herbal Formulas Special?
Chinese herbal medicine formulas use whole herbs combined into formulas with usually one to ten or more ingredients. These components are chosen to synergize the healing effects and minimize potential side effects. Studies in the past thirty years have shown that the formulas are far more effective with less side effects than single herbs or Western formulas that have not been tested in their final form. With Chinese Herbal Medicine, you should see results for an acute external condition (like “garbage gut” or a urinary tract infection, for example) within one day to four weeks. Chronic problems may take one week to six months to see results. Older pets or immunocompromised pets may need some level of lifetime maintenance therapy. read more…
Hi There!
Manchester Terrier Hates Thunderstorms
Manchester Terrier has Bad Start in Life
“It was just terrible,” says Buddy’s person of four years, “You wouldn’t believe the filth and neglect he lived in at the junk yard where I got him.” Meet Buddy. The 7-year-old black and tan 35 pound (17 kilo) Manchester Terrier wagged his tail so fast I couldn’t see it. He shoved his nose against my pant leg and tried to crawl into my lap as I sat at the antique carved mahogany dining room table. Luckily, the Persian rug gave him enough grip that his long toenails did not slide out from under him. Over-all, the feeling was happy chaos. Buddy pushed his black and white Pit Bull Terrier friend, Shady, aside, even though she weighed twice as much as he did.
“Now Buddy, let the doctor do her work,” said Marlene, Buddy’s person. Marlene has been rescuing animals since before people called it rescue work. She started with Pit Bulls the courts ordered destroyed in the 1980’s, horses too lame to walk, and Guinea Pigs dropped on the pet shop doorstep with bumble foot and starvation. As a holistic house call veterinarian, Dr Truli was a perfect fit for Marlene’s crew of rescue creatures.
“Marlene, I know I’m here to see Spike (Guinea Pig with viral eye infection from wild rats.) But I am concerned about Buddy’s redness in his eyes. He looks like he could have dry eyes.”
“Oh, yeah, well why don’t you check him out?” Marlene agreed.
Wood Constitution Bossy Dog Health Problems
Buddy was a bossy, stubborn, physically active, moody and loving guy that sometimes caused Shady the Pit Bull to lose her patience and tag him with a little bite.
“You know,” said Marlene, “I have to put him to bed under the covers if there’s a thunderstorm. He just loses it. And remember those liver enzyme elevations from a few years ago when we did blood work?” Marlene is a registered intensive care nurse. She remembers details like that.
Wood Constitution dogs are athletic, bossy, can be aggressive when they are frustrated or angry. They are loving and attentive when they are happy. Wood types are prone to Liver Qi Stagnation-related health problems. Stagnation causes Heat in the body. Heat rises up to the eyes to dry them out and the head to predispose to seizures (according to Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine theory.)
“Oh, wow! You know, I do remember now. Buddy needs to calm his emotions. He gets too heated up emotionally and causes himself to get dry eye and panic attacks during the storms. He is at risk of developing seizures if he keeps going like this,” said Doc Truli.
Herbal Medicine Treatment for a Wood Constitution Dog with Dry Eyes, Seizures, and Storm Phobia
We ordered Buddy Liver Happy (TM, Jing Tang Herbal) Chinese herbal remedy to soothe his Liver Qi and help him keep his emotions cool, calm and collected. Before the order arrived in the mail, Marlene called Dr. Truli.
“Buddy had a seizure last night!!!!! What do we do?” said Marlene.
“We are just in time. The Liver Happy remedy will help with the seizures and the dry eye,” said Dr Truli.
Herbal Medicine Helps Manchester Terrier Feel Healthier
After 6 months of Liver Happy, Buddy has no more seizures at all. His eyes are clear without using eye drops. His liver enzymes are still elevated, but they stay stable. He handles Thunderstorms without trying to start a fight with Shady the Pit Bull. He’s still a bossy know-it-all. But that’s what we like about him!
Chinese herbal medicine is available from a licensed veterinarian with advanced training in the diagnosis of Chinese health patterns and the uses of the Chinese herbal medicines. Dr. Sandra Truli Springer, VMD, CVA, CVFT (aka Doc Truli) studies with Dr. Xie at the Chi Institute (TCVM.com) in Reddick, Florida and practices Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine in the Tampa Bay area, Florida exclusively through concierge pet care provided in your home. If you do not live in Florida, USA and cannot travel here, you can research TCVM veterinarians in your area at the resources page of the Chi Institute. If you would like to inquire about scheduling an appointment, call Dr. Truli at 877 Dr Truli (877) 378-7854.
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Gives Results When Steroids and Antibiotics Cannot
Max was sick for years. Specialists suspected pemphigus autoimmune skin disease.
What is wrong with Max?
Skin is healing. No more bleeding and crusts. Scars are inevitable!
Max had years of scabbing and bleeding at all the mucocutaneous (pronounced mew-ko-cue-tane-ee-us) junctions of his body. These are areas where haired skin meets the sensitive smooth lining skin at the nose, eyes, lips, anus, prepuce, and paw pads. They all hurt and cracked and bled. He spent much of his days asleep or rubbing his face along the walls to sooth himself. His people had taken him to nine (9) veterinarians in the few short years before he met Doc Truli, including board-certified dermatologists for dogs. Skin tests and cultures ruled out infections and common problems and skin surgical biopsies came back with inconclusive results. (This can happen, especially with long-term skin disease.) Specialists suspected Max suffered from autoimmune skin disease, such as pemphigus foliaceus (pronounced pem-fi-gus foal-ee-aa-shus) but could not prove it conclusively on any tests.
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Pattern Diagnosis (TCVM)
New Balance of Comfort- no scabs or bleeding!
Part-way healed. See the pink healthy skin?
Excess Heat
We approached Max’s conditional from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). First, he clearly had too much “heat” in his body. Blood, red, hot, dry, panting, wanting to sleep in the air-conditioned house. According to TCVM, we needed to cool his energy.
Deficient Cooling
He was also deficient in his own internal ability to cool his body. As you can guess, normally, a body will balance the heat and cool. You can add or take off some clothing layers. Turn on the heat, or a fan. Drink iced-tea and eat watermelon, or drink hot chocolate and eat roasted lamb. We energetically balance our bodies all the time. In Max’s case, none of it helped. He just could not cool down and stop spontaneously bleeding. Why? He was deficient in his own internal cooling and moisturizing ability- called the yin energy in TCVM. Max needed his yin energy to balance the hot yang burning-up feeling he had. He just did not have enough internal cooling to manage to pull it off!
The yin What?
In TCVM, everything can be described in balanced terms of yin and yang. Yang is energetic, hot, fast, upward, strong, loud, summertime, teenage years, mid-day. Yin is quiet, dark, cool, solid (substantial), inward, night-time, old age, Winter.
How did we help Max decrease the heat and increase his internal cooling?
Max chills during his house call acupuncture
Max’s nose, eyelids and muzzle are 100% healed
First, we simply stopped giving him foods that increase heat in the body. Lamb, venison, shrimp, chicken. Especially chicken!
We added foods, Chinese herbal medicine, and acupuncture treatments to clear heat, boost cooling and moisturizing, treat pain, support the organ functions for detoxification and supporting normal balance and healing processes in the body. He became mostly vegetarian (like his humans), with specific foods and herbal formulas chosen to counter his particular imbalance.
I am not going to list his diet here because you need a licensed, experienced veterinarian who practices TCVM to do this right, the same way you need an experienced healer to help a women through symptoms associated with menopause. We learn from Max that TCVM can help in these seemingly hopeless situations. Reach out and find help from a TCVM veterinarian! In the Tampa Bay area, Dr Sandra Truli Springer would love to hear from you! (877-378-7854)
Doc Truli Helps Australian Cattle Dog Without Touching the Ear
Ever wonder if there is any hope at all for a pet who does not let anyone touch their ears? Doc Truli explains at VirtuaVet.com how it may be possible through Traditional Chinese Medicine to help an otherwise hopeless case. Go to Doc Truli’s Inspirational Pet Medical Story.
If you would like integrative care for your pet in your home, please contact Dr. Sandra Truli Springer today. She sees patients in house calls all over the Tampa Bay area. Phone: 877-378-7854 or email DrTruli@VetVMD.com
What is Illness in TCVM?
“I’m Getting Up! This is all I got…”
Our bodies understand and express a delicate precise balance of qi that we call health. When there is imbalance, stagnation, or misdirection, that is ill health, sub-optimal state of the being. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a practice that can identify these imbalances. Once identified, a precise treatment plan can start. A practiced veterinarian trained in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine works in this realm.
Imbalance
Imbalance can cause illness. For example, Mitzi is a red Chow Chow who grew up in Portland, Maine. She enjoyed cold winters, lots of snow, fresh fish from the boat, and very few trips to the veterinarian. She felt well and expressed her health with exuberance and joy for life. She told everyone about her games and invited everyone to join in whether they wished it or not (Chow in your lap!) When Mitzi’s mom experience a job transfer to Florida, everyone was excited about boating in warmer waters, diving in the Florida Keys and gently swaying palm tree sunset breezes. One week Mitzi broke out with a painful, frantically itchy red oozing crusted sore on the right side of her hip. What happened?
The friendly, fire personality dog who was cooled off and in balance in Maine, eating cooling fish, and enjoying herself, moved to hot damp Florida, stressed out and started eating convenience kibble while her family got settled into new jobs and a new routine. The imbalance in the excessive heat and damp, and the food causing heat and damp (kibble) caused her to break out in a “hot spot” (aka pyotraumatic dermatitis) Since they could not move, the family treated the hot spot and changed Mitzi’s food to a cooling fish diet and added acupuncture and chinese herbal medicines under the direction of their holistic veterinarian to help Mitzi deal with the imbalance of excess heat and damp on her body. These changes worked and she is happy today!
Stagnation
Sometimes a house is a barn…
Stagnation can cause illness. Anywhere there is pain, there is stagnant qi. Once the qi stagnates and is “stuck” in an area, you will notice pain or dysfunction in your pet. Randy was a 7 year old black Cocker Spaniel who had the misfortune of becoming injured in a car accident when he was homeless on the streets. The adoption group fixed his broken leg and he received painkillers, good food, and lots of love, but he still limped when he got up on the morning. His qi had stagnated in the acupuncture channels near the injury site and the pain did not let up. It was worse in the morning when he had been inactive for hours. Acupuncture moved the qi, brought pain relief and the stagnant qi never returned to bother him at his old injury site.
Misdirection
Misdirection results in illness. The systems in the body have a normal direction and flow of the energies they guide in the body. For example, the stomach system (like our physical stomach in Western medicine) is supposed to move food down and out of the stomach. If food goes up, instead of down, that is vomiting or regurgitation and is not normal. In Chinese Medicine, this is called Rebellious Stomach qi because the qi is moving up instead of down.
Another example of misdirection are inguinal hernias. The Spleen qi has an upward direction. Put simply, the Spleen-Pancreas system takes the digested food molecules and gu qi and causes them to disperse up toward the lungs and mix with the breath, with the qing qi (pronounced ching chee). Then the lungs has an outward umbrella-like energy flow to envelope and protect the body. If the spleen qi moves down, hernias (can) happen. Therefore, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, inguinal hernias are a spleen qi problem.
Doc Truli esconced in spare dog bed to perform Peke acupuncture
-Dr. Truli practices Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) in the beautiful Greater Tampa Bay area in Florida, United States. TCVM is a valuable component of an integrative medicine approach to holistic care. An integrative doctor, such as Dr Truli will advise you regarding Western medicine options, use diagnostic tools like x-rays and lab tests and also practice advanced medicine such as herbal, acupuncture, and medicinal massage which are currently taught in few veterinary curricula worldwide. Call 877-DR TRULI for an appointment.
Acupuncture in the comfort of your own (dog) bed! (green handle needles in his right carpus- wrist)
Acupuncture for Pets Talk Informative and Energizing
Yours Truli spoke on December 1st at the Patchworks Community Room at Nature’s Food Patch in Clearwater, Florida
“That was so much fun!” said Dr Sandra Truli Springer, VMD, (aka Doc Truli) after her second one hour free talk at Nature’s Food Patch in Clearwater, Florida.
The experienced house call holistic veterinarian presented almost two hours of questions and answer-style interaction about acupuncture for pets.
“We covered a brief history of acupuncture in humans and how animals like horses, pigs, and cows were important to China’s economy and so healing them was a priority,” said Doc Truli. “Then we discussed qi (pronounced “chee”, channels, acupuncture tools and medical conditions that acupuncture treats.”
Audience Question: What is Qi?
Acupuncture Gets Murphy Home 2 Days Earlier than Specialists’ Prediction
The Call for a “House Call” Comes In
Thanks for the treat!
“Is this Doc Truli?”
The phone signal was weak, but we could understand each other.
“Yes,” I said.
“My 9 week-old poodle puppy is in the intensive care unit and they are doing everything they can for him. I was wondering if acupuncture would help him,” asked the apricot teacup poodle’s mom. “Can you meet us at the intensive care hospital in 15 minutes?”
“I’ll meet you there,” I said. I hung up, started up the purrs-like-a-kitten (it doesn’t) 1999 faded burgundy Ford Explorer dog truck and headed for the overnight specialty hospital at 9:30 pm on a Saturday night. I am a holistic house call veterinarian. read more…
