Allergies and Skin Problems From the Chinese Perspective
A Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner will do a complete assessment before deciding what the individual dog’s imbalances are. But in general, allergies fall into the Wind category. Moving stagnant Qi and Blood will help relieve the Wind. Those dogs that develop warm and moist skin conditions such as hotspots will often be assessed as having Wind Damp Heat. Drawing the Wind from the body as well as drying and cooling it may relieve the dog’s allergy symptoms.
Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Approach to Allergy Diets
In western medicine, the dog’s diet may be changed to reduce exposure to food allergens. The Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner will also look at the energetics of the foods to determine whether they are aggravating the dog’s underlying imbalance.
For example, a dog’s hotspots or moist eczema would be worsened by the use of warming foods such as lamb and damp foods such as corn. Drying and cooling foods including pork and barley may be best in these cases. All meats tend to have some warming effect, so it is best to minimize the total amount of meat in the dog’s diet during allergy flare-ups. In addition, individual food sensitivities need to be taken into account when developing a Traditional Chinese Medicine based allergy diet.
