Q1 What are some common prescriptions for regulating the gastrointestinal tract?

Most gastrointestinal problems only prompt a visit to the doctor when symptoms such as acute vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of appetite appear. These symptoms can be caused by indigestion, bacterial infections, viral infections, or changes in weather. Common indigestion can be triggered by eating too much, too oily food, or food that is difficult to digest (such as large pieces of dental caries, cherry tomatoes, or guava). Treatment generally follows the principles of dialectical treatment, which can achieve good results.

◉The following are common diagnostic types and their frequently used prescriptions:

1. Food stagnation type: bloating, acid reflux, or foul-smelling stools. Treatment: Baohe Wan (保和丸). For simple indigestion causing food stagnation, bloating, or nausea, Baohe Wan with modifications of Jiao Sanxian (焦三仙) can be tried. Symptoms usually subside by the next day.
2. Mixed cold and heat type: Symptoms include stomach fullness or abdominal distension, with refusal to eat after only a small amount of food. Other symptoms include nausea, loose stools, or abdominal pain that prevents touch, resembling modern descriptions of acute or chronic gastric or duodenal ulcers. Treatment with modified Banxia Xiexin Decoction (半夏泻心汤) for food stagnation is very effective.
3. Spleen and stomach deficiency-cold type: Abdominal distension, sometimes mild and sometimes severe, prefers warmth and sleeps well, fatigue and weakness, poor appetite; mostly seen in elderly animals. Treatment is based on Lizhong Decoction or Houjiang Banganshen Decoction with modifications.
4. Damp-heat accumulation type: Symptoms include abdominal distension, nausea and vomiting, loose stools, scanty dark urine, and restlessness in the animal, which will seek out its owner. Key diagnostic features include a red tongue with a thick coating and a soft, rapid pulse. Treatment involves modifications of Wang's Lianpu Decoction.
5. Internal heat accumulation: Abdominal distension lasting for several days, or abdominal hardness and pain lasting for several days, or constipation; the animal will be restless and seek out its owner. The key diagnostic feature is a deep, forceful pulse. Treatment options include formulas like Chengqi Decoction. Note that this type of symptom can be seen in some cases of intestinal obstruction or tumors; it is best to combine this with X-ray, ultrasound, and blood tests to avoid delaying diagnosis.
6. Causes include bacterial infection, viral infection, and weather changes: often due to external pathogens, internal accumulation of cold, heat, and dampness, leading to abnormal function of the spleen, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine, resulting in disease.

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▶There are four main types of dialectical thinking:

① Dampness or summer heat: Stools are yellowish-brown with an unusually foul odor; urine is dark yellow. Symptoms include vomiting, nausea, abdominal distension, irritability, and thirst. Treatment should focus on clearing heat, removing toxins, eliminating dampness, and harmonizing the stomach with traditional Chinese medicines such as Phellodendron bark, Coptis root, rhubarb, patchouli, and bamboo shavings.

② Internal dampness due to cold: abdominal pain with borborygmus, loose or watery stools or vomiting. It is advisable to use traditional Chinese medicines that relieve exterior symptoms, dispel cold, strengthen the spleen, and eliminate dampness, such as agastache, perilla, cinnamon twig, atractylodes macrocephala, poria cocos, pinellia ternata, magnolia officinalis, and pericarp.

③ Indigestion: Nausea, vomiting, and a sour, putrid feeling. Stools are foul-smelling and difficult to pass; diarrhea relieves the pain. Treatment should include traditional Chinese medicine to relieve indigestion, soothe the stomach, stop vomiting, and reduce diarrhea, such as hawthorn, malt, pinellia, forsythia, poria, radish seed, agastache, and medicated leaven.

④ Epidemic toxin collapse: Sudden onset, thirst, fever, cold limbs, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weakness. Treatment should include detoxifying, regulating the middle jiao, harmonizing qi, and tonifying deficiency with Chinese herbs such as Codonopsis pilosula, Atractylodes macrocephala, processed Aconitum carmichaelii, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Cinnamomum cassia, Pogostemon cablin, Ziziphus jujuba, and Poria cocos.

Q2 How can gastrointestinal problems be diagnosed through traditional Chinese medicine?

Traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis for pets mainly relies on four concepts: observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation, collectively known as the "Four Diagnostic Methods," combined with physical examinations from Western medicine to explore the location of the disease.

1. Visual inspection: This involves purposefully observing a pet's appearance.
2. Auscultation and olfaction: This includes listening to sounds and smelling odors. It mainly involves listening to changes in the pitch, strength, clarity, and urgency of speech to differentiate the nature of the illness, whether it is due to deficiency or excess, cold or heat.
3. Consultation: This involves asking the owner or their companion about the condition and related information.
4. Palpation: This refers to the method of examining an animal's femoral artery by palpating it. Pulse diagnosis, also known as pulse taking, is a method of observing changes in the pulse to discern the strength or weakness of internal organ functions, and the deficiency or stagnation of qi, blood, and body fluids. Combined with Western medical physical examinations, it can help identify the cause of gastrointestinal problems and aid in the treatment of the underlying cause, as well as alleviating temporary discomfort.

Q3 Can we address pets' gastrointestinal discomfort by focusing on daily health maintenance?

Daily health maintenance does not usually encourage the use of nutritional supplements or special foods. We often tell pet owners to follow the following principles, especially when it comes to eating fresh food.

1. Do not eat food that has come into contact with dirt or is expired.
2. I don't eat things that are too big or too hard.
3. Eat less or avoid raw or cold food (just taken out of the refrigerator) or undercooked food.
4. Older people or those with poor gastrointestinal function should avoid trying new foods.
5. Do not eat excessive amounts of food.

Q4 Dietary care for the elderly or those who frequently suffer from acute gastroenteritis.

1. The food shouldn't be too oily. (The owner can check the consistency by touching the food first.)
2. Processed sweets, such as bread and biscuits, should be avoided.
3. Avoid eating hard-to-digest foods such as zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), rice cakes, glutinous rice balls, and nuts.

Q5 What should I do if my pet refuses to take Chinese medicine?

1. The powder is packed into capsules.
2. It can be hidden in chunks of meat or canned goods.

Q6 Are the Chinese medicines for pets the same as those for humans?

1. Almost the same.
2. Some traditional Chinese veterinary medicine formulas are modified according to the pet's constitution, such as Si Ni Tang.

Source: https://www.hotpets.com.tw/chinese-medicine/