Most people are familiar with Western medicine—it’s what you encounter every time you take your pet to a traditional veterinary practice. The pet has a symptom, and they get a medication. I refer to it as a “pill for an ill” medical practice. It’s what we’re accustomed to when we visit our own doctors: You present a symptom, and you’re given a pill. This approach might work well the first, second, or even third time, but at some point, you have to wonder why the problem keeps reoccurring (or gets worse).

In Eastern medicine, however, we not only address the symptoms to keep our patients comfortable, but we go further and seek to identify and resolve the root cause of the dis-ease. I specify dis-ease because I don't believe there is actually disease, I believe there is imbalance in the body resulting in dis ease.

Dis-ease results from 4 main things:

1. Deficiencies of essential nutrients.  An essential nutrient is that nutrient that the body cannot manufacture in sufficient quantities on its own. These essential nutrients must be suppled through the diet. Unfortunately, in our modern world, our diet is deficient because the farming practices have not been sustainable, they are not regenerative and result in the food growing in the soil being nutrient depleted.

2. Toxicities. Since World War II, 1942, there have been over 100,000 synthetic toxins developed and released into our food and water systems. For most individuals, there is a combination of deficiencies and toxicities occurring together.

3. Mitochondrial dysfunction. The mitochondria are the power houses that live symbiotically in our cells and our fur babies cells, producing the energy our bodies need to function and also providing communication with the microbiome (the organisms that live in and on us) telling our DNA what do express or turn off. When do mitochondria become unhealthy, it triggers, a cascade of biological system failures.

4. Trapped emotions. All dis-ease has trapped emotions.  The Chinese over 2000 years ago associated specific emotions expressed when there is imbalance in certain organs. As an example, an unbalance in the liver is associated with the emotion of anger. The kidney and bladder are associated with fear.  The lungs are associate with grief.