Traditional chinese veterinary medicine

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine, commonly shortened to TCM, has been a popular form of complementary medicine in the UK for many years. It is regarded variously as a valuable adjunct or alternative to allopathic medicine by some and as impotent quackery by others. The western use of medical TCM has recently expanded into an interest in veterinary TCM, with a number of publications and practitioners emerging to stimulate and maintain the market for this animal health system. Despite differing views on its efficacy, the developing interest in veterinary TCM is underpinned by thousands of years of veterinary practice in China, recorded in several, largely still untranslated texts.