Traditional Chinese Medicine heavily focuses on two forms of medical examinations: Tongue Diagnosis & Pulse Diagnosis.

Pulse diagnosis, in particular, can become an art form among masters of the craft - go to a talented human acupuncturist, and see how much they can tell about your body by just taking your pulse!

However, beginners often struggle to understand the concepts behind pulse diagnosis. The first book on pulse diagnosis (which dates back to the Han Dynasty, somewhere between 200 BC and 200 AD) is over 350 pages long!

So, how can animal acupuncture practitioners start giving great pulse diagnoses without reading hundreds of pages and practicing for decades?

In this blog post, I will introduce you to the secrets of pulse diagnosis taught in the Certificate in Animal Acupuncture (the AAA’s 12-month full Certification course in Animal Acupuncture). 

This is very much Pulse Diagnosis Made Easy!

1. Get Your Animal Ready

The pulse can easily be affected by short-term factors, so it is very important that:

• Your animal is as relaxed as possible. A stressed animal can have a higher heart rate, so let your animal (and yourself) settle down before you take the pulse.
• Wait 1 hour after a meal or exercise to take the pulse of your animal.
• Wait 15 min after drinking, urinating or defecating.

Traditionally, the best time to take the pulse is first thing in the morning, when Yin is calm inside the body and Yang (the masculine aspect) has not yet risen. However, this is not always possible!

2. Taking the Pulse Where It Is Practical

In human Chinese Medicine, the pulse is taken on the inside of the wrist at the radial artery, because this location is thought to be the ‘confluence’ of multiple factors & Organs of the body. 

This can give great information on the status of the internal Organs and Meridian Channels, but it can be quite difficult to apply to various animal species.

Instead, for animals, we take the pulse where it is practical:

• For small animals such as cats and dogs, at the femoral artery on the inner thigh (as in the photo).
• For equines, at the carotid artery on the neck (just above and lateral to the top of the sternum) or at the facial artery (inside the cheekbones).
• For cattle, at the tail artery, on the underside of the base of the tail.

Pulse diagnosis at the femoral artery in a cat

If you can find a pulse with your fingers on your animal, you are ready to go. It doesn’t matter much where it is!

3. Measuring Pulse Rate

The first thing I do when assessing the pulse is measuring pulse rate (this is quite similar to a Western medical examination).

Using my smartwatch, I measure the rate over 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get the beats per minute (bpm).

I then compare my results to a normal rate for the species:

• Cats: 120-140 bpm
• Dog: 70-120 bpm
• Horse: 28-40
• Cattle: 36-60

(Note, juvenile animals naturally have a higher heart rate)

Compare your estimate with the normal interval:

✅ If your rate is within the interval, your animal’s heart rate is normal.

❄️ If the rate is slower, in Chinese Medicine this indicates a ‘Cold’ condition (because Cold slows things down, such as with a frozen river). A ‘Cold’ condition means either a Cold pathogen attacking the body or the body lacking internal metabolic heat, hence ‘Cold’ develops internally. Within the theory of Yin & Yang, Cold is more Yin (‘passive’).

🔥 If the rate is higher, in Chinese Medicine this indicates a ‘Hot’ condition (because heat speeds things up). A ‘Hot’ condition means either a Hot pathogen attacking the body or the body lacking internal Yin substance, hence internal metabolic heat gets out of control. The most similar concept to ‘Heat’ in Western medicine is inflammation - which makes things red & angry. Within the theory of Yin & Yang, Heat is more Yang (‘active’).

The great thing about Chinese Medicine is that small deviations from normal are taken as important, which makes it a great preventative medicine.

• If you notice that your animal’s pulse is slower than usual, they may be developing a ‘Cold’ condition.
• If it is higher than normal, the animal may be developing a ‘Hot’ condition.
• Animals developing an infection can have either a slower (Cold) or faster (Hot) pulse.

If you are taking the pulse on your own animal, try to take the pulse at different times of day to assess whether your result is consistent.

4. Additional Aspects of the Pulse

Within the AAA Certificate in Animal Acupuncture, students also focus on assessing pulse depth (i.e. how deep one has to press to feel the pulse) and pulse strength (i.e. is the pulse strong or weak).

This can give even more details on the status of the animal, and by triangulating the combination of pulse rate, depth, and strength, one can get a pretty strong idea of what is going on with the animal (and look a little bit like a wizard to the animal owner!).

Recognizing and understanding pulse depth and strength takes a little more practice, and this is something we walk the students through within the AAA Certificate in Animal Acupuncture.

5. Using the Pulse in Acupuncture Practice

In Acupuncture practice, the pulse can be used in three ways:

• To formulate a diagnosis of the condition(s) affecting the animal, at the start of the consultation. The more accurate the diagnosis, the more effective the Acupuncture treatment will be.
• To test the effect of needling certain acupoints: after inserting the needle, the Acupuncture Practitioner judges whether the pulse has improved or not, to assess whether this is an important point for the animal (validating the diagnosis through the process).
• To assess the effect of the whole treatment: the pulse is taken again after all needles have been removed, to assess the immediate impact of the treatment.

The effect of the treatment can therefore be assessed in an evidence-based manner, pleasing the Western scientist within us!

With this, I wish you a happy practice with Pulse Diagnosis!

If you would like to use Acupuncture (including Pulse Diagnosis) to help treat animals, you can have a look at the Course Brochure for the Certificate in Animal Acupuncture. The Certificate in Animal Acupuncture is a 12-month, full-Certification course. Any animal lover can enroll in the Certificate in Animal Acupuncture as there are no course prerequisites.