What are the parts of a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medical Exam?
Four Examinations of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine
Tiny baby turtle after 20 days of rain in mid-Florida 2016
Tree roots and baby turtles look like Chinese pictographs after 20 days of continuous rain. Maybe the source of human writing skills mimic nature?
1 Observation
A healer trained in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) will be observing your pet from a first glance. Is your pet bright and happy? Is there a light in the eyes (good Shen?) Is your pet symmetrical? Pep in the step? Nice muscling and pretty, nice hair coat? Reasonable behavior for the circumstances?
2 Listening & Smelling
How is your pet’s voice? Purr? Bark? Is there gas and borborygmi (pronounced bore-burr-rig-meee?) Meaning how does the stomach sound? Does the skin smell? Do the ears stink? Does their mouth smell like a septic sewer?
3 Question & Inquiry
In people medicine, the diagnosis comes from the spoken history 75% of the time. Your observations and what you tell the veterinarian helps diagnose the problem. Chinese medicine asks some special questions that may be new to you: is your pet heat seeking or cool seeking? What time of day is worse for the cough or restlessness? Is the arthritis stiffness worse in cold weather or warm weather?
4 Physical Palpation
Every animal has Association Points and Alarm Points. They may be sore, weak, cavitated, bumpy or just different than other points indicating energy imbalances. The Association Points live along the back parallel to the spine. They parallel the nervous system and cleave mostly to the dermatomes. (What…?)
“Dermatomes are the areas of the skin or muscle that are serviced by any given nerve coming off a certain nerve root along the spine. Certain spinal nerves also innervate certain internal organs. The acupuncture Associated Points mostly correspond to these known connections on the nervous system,” says Dr. Truli.
The Alarm Points are even more precise. For instance, if the center of your ribs on your side aches when you touch it like someone punched you in the ribs while you were sleeping, depending on the exact position, you may have stagnation of qi in the Liver, Gall Bladder or Spleen meridians, as their Alarm Points all live along the ribs on the sides of the torso. A TCVM doctor can feel these Alarm Points and become alerted to internal problems before blood work or tests show a disease. Early intervention to fix a problem means gentle healing with less potential side-effects.
By Dr Truli
Dr. Truli is available for house call consultations in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Tampa Bay is a great place to plan a medical vacation for your dog and stay in at a world class beach while Dr. Truli helps your dog. Call (877) DR TRULI, (877) 378-7854.
Schedule an appointment toll-free 1 (877) DR TRULI | (877) 378-7854
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