If you Google supplements for dogs and cats, you will be bombarded with a flood of products. These products will claim to decrease anxiety, they will improve your pet’s coat, they will relieve arthritis pain, they will boost your pet’s immune system, they will make them itch less, they cure cancer, they will make a whole lot of promises…

Will they work? That depends.

I will say that other than joint supplements and probiotics, which benefit most pets in some way, most of the supplements on the market today miss the mark. Why? Because they are looking at treating a specific symptom instead of balancing the body. That is a very western perspective. Pick a symptom and treat it…. Western perspective.

When I discuss selecting supplements, I like to use the analogy of a football team. If I took the top players on each position in the NFL and put them on the field against the best team in the NFL(or Taylor Swift) they would probably not win. Why? Because a team is all about working together; and individuals, while exceptional, need a team environment and a really good coach to succeed. It is the same with supplements.

We should not look at supplements from a western perspective. Most of them are not meant to treat a specific symptom. They can. But they work better when they are on a team. It’s called a synergistic effect. Most supplements are derived from ancient formulas that used them in combination with others in a synergistic way to balance the body. Today, many supplement companies grab specific ingredients that treat a specific symptom; throw them together and sell them. They simply are not as effective when used in this manner.

There is a better way. A less expensive way. And a way that will benefit from synergy.

Let me give you an example. I recently had a geriatric patient come in for slowing down and pain due to arthritis for a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) exam and therapy plan. Previous treatments included NSAIDs, gabapentin and an over the counter online golden paste supplement that contained coconut oil and turmeric. The western medications prescribed are to relieve pain. The supplement promised to relieve pain. Yet, no therapy was working.

Our TCVM workup included a detailed medical history review, a thorough history of the pet, the pet’s habits, including, but not limited to, the pet’s personality type, sleeping, eating and exercise habits; and a full physical exam. It is beyond the scope of this particular blog to discuss actual patterns of imbalance. I will say that this guy was imbalanced. Very imbalanced. The pattern was identified. And we began to tonify deficiencies in his body and clear what we call excesses. He actually had a lot more deficiencies than excesses and needed some pretty intensive tonification of those deficiencies to balance his body.

His previous therapies were never going to work. NSAIDs and Gabapentin can relieve pain, they don’t tonify deficiencies within the body. Turmeric clears an excess condition called stagnation (pain), but that wasn’t his problem. Coconut oil was the only supplement that he was taking that tonifies deficiencies. And by itself, it just wasn’t enough.

As we began using acupuncture, a single herbal formula, and food (yes, food) to tonify his deficiencies, he got better. He was more energetic, he played more, his sleep was more restful. His life was greatly improved.

As people growing up in a western society, we see a problem and want a solution. No supplement should be looked at that way. We should be looking at an individual pet’s imbalances and balancing those. Easy to say, very hard to do. Because you first must recognize a pattern of imbalance. That takes years of study and practice.

Well, what if that online supplement works? Congratulations, you guessed right. You’ve got about a 20% chance of guessing correctly for most supplements (please realize that you probably are not using that supplement to its full potential). You’ve got an 80% chance of being wrong and wasting your money and time. Then take into consideration that, as a biological being, our imbalances change over time; meaning, a supplement that works today, may not be the appropriate supplement in 6 months.

Wouldn’t it be better if you had someone who can steer you in the right direction? Having someone to identify the pattern imbalances in your pet and identify supplements that will have a better chance of working? Instead of grabbing 10 different supplements; use 1 or 2 formulas that work synergistically to improve the overall performance of each supplement? To have a team that works for your pet?

That’s what we do… Every day…. Call and make an appointment. Find out what the team approach of acupuncture, herbal supplements, and food can do for your pet.