Traditional Chinese Medicine and Feeding Your Pet

Everybody's heard of yin and yang, But what are qi, jing, and wei, and what do they all have to do with pet nutrition? According to veterinarian Cheryl Schwartz in "Four Paws Five Directions", quite a bit. She applies the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to companion animals. In very simple terms, qi is vitality, jing is inherited essence, and wei is the immune system.

In TCM, foods are divided into warm or cool; those that direct energy or fluid up or down, inward or outward; the tastes sweet, sour, spicy, salty, or bitter; and those that help various organ systems function optimally. There are slippery or sliding foods like honey or leeks that perform certain tasks.

Rice and corn are examples of sweet foods that aid digestion and the flow of qi. Salty foods are seaweeds, used to soften tumors or cysts. Lemon, a sour food, dries mucous membranes in the throat, stops diarrhea, and soothes the intestinal tract. Examples of pungent foods are garlic and onion, which promote sweating, stimulate circulation, and help digestion. They can help break up the mucus created by eating red meat or dairy products. Lettuce and celery are bitter foods that are good for the digestion. They help regulate bowel movements and can have a cooling or anti-inflammatory effect on the body. They are used for skin conditions that feel hot, itchy, scabby, dry, or bleeding. Topically applied cooled green tea is another bitter food that can lessen internal body heat.

The functioning of organ systems can be improved by applying specific foods in prescribed amounts. Barley, rice, chicken, eggs, ginger, and beef aid the spleen, pancreas, and stomach. The lungs and large intestine benefit by eating bean curd, cabbage, castor beans, mushrooms, corn, figs, garlic, honey, yams, taro, and licorice. Carp, chestnut, egg yolk, cinnamon bark, clams, duck, fennel, grapes, kidney, chicken liver, mutton, pork, salt, string beans, wheat, and yams nourish the kidney and urinary bladder. The liver and gallbladder can be treated with celery, leeks, beef liver, pork liver, plums, vinegar, and wheat.

Another element in foods, according to TCM, is its temperature or thermal nature: whether it's cooling, warming, hot, or neutral. The temperature of a food means the way you feel after eating it, both physically and emotionally. Warming foods are said to aid circulation and digestion and invoke a feeling of internal warmth after eating them. They're good for treating arthritis, for example. Neutral foods are the best balancers. Cold foods are represented by kelp, banana, raw foods, clams, and wheat, while hot foods are high fat foods, ginger, trout, venison, chicken, shrimp, salmon, and chicken liver.

The Chinese believe that every food has both yin and yang elements. Words that describe yin are relaxing, cooling, calming, moistening, introspective, dark, gentle, graceful, receptive, and yielding. Yang in contrast is tension, stimulation, warmth, dryness, strength, activity, and aggression. Yin is cool and cold, sour, bitter, and salty, while yang is hot and warm, pungent and sweet. Yin foods are salt and clams, and yang foods are salmon, lamb, and quinoa.

Foods can treat conditions of excess or deficiency. A dog or cat who is assertive, with a loud bark or meow, who is overweight, stocky, and overly muscled has a condition of excess. Conversely, if he is thin, quick, lithe, or dominant, confident, vocal, and wants attention he also has a condition of excess. When he is ill, he has high fevers that go away quickly. The best foods for excess are raw/yin foods. If they are in excess, dogs can be veggies as long as they are given vitamin and mineral supplements. But if an animal is thin or shy, she may need meat. A deficient dog or cat is shy, introverted, with a weak meow or bark, poor digestion, and is frequently ill. She may be overweight, soft and pudgy, with a sway back, or thin, with a slight bone structure and small muscles. Cooked foods to help with assimilation and increase qi are best. To clear conditions of excess, celery, greens, lima beans, and grains are given. To strengthen deficiency, oats, rice, buckwheat, beef, lamb, eggs, and sardines are best.

Foods also have the capacity to create either dryness or dampness. Dry conditions include dry, itchy skin, increased thirst, constipation, or a dry cough. Damp is indicated by a distended abdomen, swellings in the limbs, mushy stools, and a wet, chronic cough. To dry dampness, feed mackerel, amaranth, rye, celery, and turnips. To moisten dryness, feed pork, sardines, mussel, barley, potato, and string beans.

To further complicate matters, each food is believed to have an affinity for the direction, lifestyle and thermal quality that mimics each season. Feeding small amounts of food reflecting the current season creates harmony. For example, summer (hot) foods are black pepper and cayenne pepper. Fall (sour, sweet) foods are barley, clams, sweet potatoes, duck, and string beans. Winter (salty, bitter) foods are kelp, pork, and celery. Spring (pungent, sweet) foods are corn, garlic, kohlrabi, and leeks.

Meats are used to nourish muscles, blood, and jing. They provide flesh and substance, so overweight animals need less of it.

Chicken and turkey are both warming, are blood nourishers and have jing. Chicken nurtures the spleen, pancreas, stomach and kidney. Turkey contains tryptophan, which is calming, and is more yin than chicken. It's good for intestinal problems involving dryness, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation with blood.

Beef is yin, a blood and bone builder. It's sweet, and nourishing to the spleen, pancreas, and stomach. It's good for a thin, shy animal.

Liver builds jing, but it can cause constipation, abdominal swelling, and weight gain. It should be given in small amounts.

Lamb has jing, and feeds muscles, blood, bones, and organs. Eating lamb may increase insecurity and affect the kidneys. It's more warming than chicken, and should be used with caution with animals who run hot or overeat.

Rabbit meat is nourishing to jing. It contains both yang and yin qualities, but may create fearfulness and affect kidneys.

Venison is very yang, and great for a sluggish animal who gets cold.

Tuna and mackerel are both yin and yang, and affect the kidneys, spleen, and pancreas. They're good for sluggish animals with big bellies, moist lung problems, and arthritis.

Pork is cooling, and useful for inflammatory bowel problems with blood. Be sure to boil it and remove all fat.

Grains contribute qi, blood, and yin to the diet, and are more cooling than meat. According to Cheryl Schwartz, they should be the main component of dog diets and the major part of a cat diet. They nourish moisture in the body. Rice nurtures the center of the body, which includes the spleen, pancreas, and stomach. It is neutral and sweet. Brown rice hulls help clear the liver and gallbladder of toxins and are loaded with B vitamins, but may be hard to digest. Corn is sweet and neutral and nurtures the spleen, pancreas, and heart and ads the kidneys. If too much corn is in the diet, excessive energy may result. Barley is cooling, and helps the intestines, stomach, and the spleen and pancreas. It nourishes dryness and is sweet and salty. It's good for treating burning, painful urination. Wheat is cooling, calming, sweet, and salty, with an affinity for the liver, kidneys, and heart.

Vegetables are moistening, calming, and contain qi. Above ground they're considered both yin and yang. Their thermal temperatures are cool, while root vegetables are warmer and more meat-like. Both dogs and cats benefit from being given vegetables, although cats require smaller amounts.