This episode should be titled From Hot to Not….. 2017 called and wants their terrible show back…. (Is it just me or has Mama June extended her 15 minutes of fame into several decades???)

Wait. Huh? Hot dog? Hot dog, as in the kind that goes on a bun? Hot dog, as in the kind that collapses after a walk on the cool floor by the water bowl? Or hot dog that gets up in the middle of the night panting? Or maybe a dog that has red skin and is extremely itchy.  Hot dogs are bad. All of them. (Although, cover the bun kind in chili and cheese and I will make an exception…)

This is the first in a three-part series on Hot Dogs.  First, I will discuss the difference between Excess Heat and Deficient Heat (Yin Deficiency).  The second part of this series will be how you, at home, can help with Excess Heat focusing on allergies and skin inflammation.  Part 3 will be discussing Deficient Heat and therapies.  What type of pet has each of these conditions (or both), what you can do at home, and why it is important to involve a veterinarian trained in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) to help you.  Both parts will address how food has a role in these conditions, and what type of foods can be used to help alleviate some symptoms.

I am going to focus on dogs, but some of the same reasoning may apply to cats. But may not.  Cats are special creatures that tend to not be able to fit into a one-size-fits-all box.  If you have a cat with an inflammatory condition, I recommend having them evaluated.  Cats should never be treated as small dogs.  They are, and will always be, cats.

We start with your pet’s innate personality. There are Yang dogs (more extroverted and outgoing), and there are Yin dogs (more introverted, more aloof or shy).  Yang dogs simply run metabolically hotter than Yin dogs (most cats are Yin, but there are a few Yang cats out there, too). If you have a Yang dog, with an extroverted personality, and you live in a hot environment (Ya mean like Texas???)….  It’s like putting Firestarter on an already burning fire…  Boom. Hot. Excess Heat.  In my experience, Yang dogs have the most problems with heat and inflammation.  Yin dogs (and cats), tend not to run as metabolically hot, and not have as many inflammatory problems. Do you have a Yang dog?  Then you have a Hot Dog…

Excess Heat can be explained as an 110° August afternoon in Texas. That kind of heat can be due to external circumstances. Summer. An overly hot, hot tub. Wearing a coat on a summer day (imagine wearing a fur coat on a summer day…) Sweat glands open, and that crystal clear pool looks, oh, so inviting. You will cool down quickly if you jump in. Or head into the nice, air-conditioned building. Or slurp an ice-cold frozen margarita, while munching on watermelon.  Or take that coat off (which BTW, dogs, can’t necessarily do).  This type of Excess Heat is simple and easily recognized.  It is also easily treated.  If you or your dog is getting too hot, you need to cool down. Please note that if you are hot, your dog is doubly so, due to their coat and internal body temperature.  And then there are the Brachycephalic breeds (smoosh face breeds) that can get into life threatening excess heat situations in temperatures as low as 75°. If your pet is not cooling down within 5 minutes of being outside, or having difficulty breathing, your pet could be having a heat stroke.  Heatstroke can be deadly in pets. I recommend urgent veterinary visits (emergency visits if after normal business hours) for a pet having severe Excess Heat that is leading to heatstroke.  But if you and your dogs are just a little hot.  Then cool down.  Simple.

However, Excess Heat can also be described as inflammation. This is a little more complicated, it’s more about what is going on inside your pet’s body than outside.  Excess Heat can be anything that causes the skin or any other organ to be inflamed.  Allergies, for example, are an excellent example of Excess Heat. In dogs (and some cats) allergies present as inflammation of the ears, paws, belly or perianal region.  If your dog (or cat) is itchy and scratchy, and their skin is red, they probably have inflammation. (They may also have a secondary infection, but that is a blog for a different day).  They may have so much inflammation (and/or infection) for a long period of time that their skin starts looking grey.  Normally pink skin that looks grey is called hyperpigmentation, and it is due to chronic inflammation (and/or infection).  It is not normal.  It is especially not normal for your dog to be itching all the time and depending on medication to control their itch or inflammation other than during allergy season (spring and/or fall).

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the treatment for Excess Heat is to clear it..  To balance the body back to “normal”. I know, I know, some of you are saying, yeah but then it comes right back….  I know!  Most of my patients are chronic allergy cases.  But there are some simple things you can do at home to help them.  And there are things I can do with herbs and acupuncture and focusing food on your pet’s individual needs that help them even more.   Read Part 2. I will go into detail how I combine western and eastern therapies to not only clear the Excess Heat but keep it as good as I can so that your pet does not have to be on long term medications to manage their allergies.

But before I can get into Excess Heat therapy, I need to discuss Deficient Heat.  Because they can look the same.  But they are very, very different.

Our bodies have a balance of Yin and Yang.  Think of Yin as our internal air conditioner, and Yang as our internal heater.  They should always be in balance keeping our bodies cool on warmer days, and warm on cooler days, but basically not too hot or too cold.

What happens if our Yin is not working well, or is broken?  Without the balance of Yin, Yang (heat) rises, and you get Deficient Heat.  The classic example of a Yin Deficiency is menopause.  Yin, which should be stronger at night, is absent; and we get Yang rising or a hot flash (especially at night).  Hot flashes can also happen whenever your body’s Yin needs to work harder but cannot, like when consuming processed carbohydrates or sugars (foods that are pro inflammatory).

What does a pet with a Yin Deficiency look like?  Yin Deficiency is when your older pet is hot most, if not all the time.  They can be heat intolerant.  Think of that dog that loves sitting on your lap but must get down and move to a cooler spot.  The severe Yin Deficient dogs seek cool surfaces like tile or wood floors (especially at night), they pant.  Look at their tongues, if your dog has a red dry tongue, they may be Yin deficient.  Yin deficient dog may drink more and urinate more.  And if you touch them, they are really, really hot.  Their ears are hot, their paws are hot.

Our pet’s normal body temperature is 2-3 degrees warmer than ours, but they should not feel hot.  Their coat should feel slightly cool, and then as we place our hand on their body, they feel warm (not hot) to the touch.  The tips of their ears and their paws should feel cooler than their body. (not a lot cooler, but enough to be noticeable).

Yin deficiencies are treated by tonifying their Yin.  This is where Traditional Chinese Medicine and western medicine really diverge.  There are plenty of heat clearing meds in western medicine (i.e. prednisone, apoquel, etc….)  But there are few western meds that actually tonify the yin. Melatonin is one, but it is weak and probably won’t help as much as you want it to.

Part 3 of this series will discuss Yin tonification.  Foods that help, and what you can do at home to help your pet cool down from the inside.

To complicate things, your pet can have both Excess Heat and a Yin deficiency.  But there are a few ways to tell the difference.  First, the younger your pet is, the less likely it is that they have a deficiency.  It’s not impossible, but most young pets are born with all the Yin they need for a long time.  It takes time (and a lot of stress to their Yin, like Excess Heat) to break the Yin or challenge the Yin.  So, Yin deficient pets are most likely older and have chronic problems.  Yes, older pets can have both issues, which is why it is best if you can utilize a professional trained in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine to guide you.

As always, TCVM is about balance.  TCVM practitioners use acupuncture, herbal therapy, food therapy and Tui Na (massage) therapy to balance.  In the next two parts I will touch on the difficulty of picking herbal therapies (and why you need that TCVM practitioner), but, also, what foods you can feed your pet that can help both Excess Heat and Deficient Heat.

Up next…. Part 2…  Let’s talk hot dogs, allergies and why the food they eat may be contributing to your dog being a Hot Dog….