Hannah Zulueta Your Dog’s Digestion: Bridging Eastern and Western Perspectives
What shows up in your dog’s gut often shows up in yours too
Healing rarely comes from picking one protocol and following it. It comes from noticing what actually mirrors between you and the dog in front of you, and letting both traditions tell you what they see.
The mirror I keep seeing
In my years working with dogs and their people, healing has turned out to be less about protocols and more about listening. As a consultation would wind down, something remarkable kept happening. The dog’s parent would quietly confess their own health struggles, and the two stories would echo each other almost exactly.
A woman whose dog suffered from chronic digestive issues would reveal her own battles with IBS. A man whose dog showed signs of Liver Qi stagnation would describe his own stress-induced digestive problems. A friend whose dog recovered from pancreatitis would flare up herself the moment things got stressful.
This idea of mirroring resonated so deeply that it became one of the reasons I went back to school for my Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine. What I kept observing in those consultations wasn’t coincidence. Our dogs, with their sensitivity and their bond to us, are remarkably attuned to what’s going on in our own bodies. Modern science is starting to understand what older healing traditions already assumed, that we exist inside fields of influence that move between us and the animals we live with.
Terminology
When we say “Spleen” in Traditional Chinese Medicine, we mean something different from the physical organ Western medicine identifies by that name. In TCM, the Spleen is a system of functions centered on digestion, energy transformation, and the distribution of nutrients through the body. Think of it as a network of processes, not a single anatomical structure. This is why TCM writes “Spleen” with a capital S, to mark the difference from the physical organ.
Ancient Chinese practitioners saw the digestive system as the center of Earth energy in the body, carried by the Spleen and Stomach. What they understood then, Western science has since confirmed in its own language: this system sits at the center of nearly everything else.
- Breaks down food into nutrients, what TCM calls the Spleen’s function of transformation and transportation
- Houses the immune system, echoing how TCM sees strong Earth energy as protection against external threats
- Hosts the microbiome, close to TCM’s own emphasis on harmony between different energies
- Eliminates toxins, mirroring how TCM sees the Liver working with the Kidneys, Bladder, and Lung to move waste out of the body
Spleen qi
Like fertile soil nourishes a garden, the digestive system transforms and transports what sustains life. When this Earth element is strong, there is vibrant health. When it weakens, TCM calls it Spleen qi deficiency, a pattern I see constantly in dogs with chronic digestive trouble.
A Maltipoo named Ella taught me this balance. In Western terms, she had Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Through TCM, she showed classic Spleen qi deficiency: loose stools, fatigue after eating, low appetite that was worst in the morning. Her tongue ran pale and swollen, telling the same story from a different angle, insufficient transformation and transportation of nutrients.
Two languages, one dog. The Western diagnosis and the TCM pattern were describing exactly the same thing.
If you want the fuller picture of how that one pattern actually unfolds, from a single rough night with food to what it can turn into over time, I mapped the whole thing in The Spleen Qi Continuum.
When disharmony happens
Just as Western medicine names its own imbalances, TCM sees patterns of disharmony too. One of the most common I’ve encountered is Wood invading Earth, when stress and emotional tension, governed by the Liver, disrupt digestion, governed by the Spleen.
Bodie, a German Shepherd with Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, showed me this clearly. Through a Western lens, his body couldn’t produce enough digestive enzymes, and his gut motility ran irregular. Through TCM, he showed classic Liver Qi stagnation invading the Spleen: symptoms that worsened with stress, bowel movements swinging between constipation and loose stool, a tendency toward anxious behavior. His case taught me how inseparable emotional and physical health really are, a truth both traditions land on from opposite directions.
Boundaries and sensitivities
Sometimes the gut’s community of microorganisms falls out of balance, what Western medicine calls dysbiosis and TCM might read as a disruption of the body’s natural harmony. Other times the gut wall itself becomes too permeable, leaky gut in Western terms, or a weakness in the Spleen’s job of holding appropriate boundaries in TCM terms.
Luna, a Labrador mix, brought food sensitivities into the picture. Her body reacted to certain proteins as if they were invaders. Western medicine named it immune-mediated allergy and non-immune-mediated intolerance. TCM read it as Earth element weakness layered with External Wind, showing up in both her digestion and her skin.
Healing is multi-faceted
Restoring balance means working through both lenses at once.
Dietary optimization. Foods that speak the body’s language while respecting their energetic properties: warm, easily digestible food for Spleen qi deficiency, cooling and anti-inflammatory food when there’s excess heat.
Targeted support, drawing on both traditions.
- Prebiotics and probiotics to rebuild microbial balance
- Digestive enzymes to help break down food
- Herbs that strengthen Spleen qi and harmonize Liver qi
- A fresh food diet that supports gut healing while respecting TCM principles
Stress management, especially where Wood is invading Earth.
- A stable environment to support Earth’s energy
- Gentle exercise to move stagnant Liver qi
- Quiet time for rest
- Whatever actually brings a dog joy and releases tension
Addressing what’s underneath, in both paradigms at once.
- Environmental load on the system
- Emotional patterns that show up physically
- How different organ systems or elements relate to each other
- The timing of symptoms, which often follows patterns TCM has been tracking for centuries
Coming back to harmony
When a dog’s gut health gets approached this way, something shifts. The symptoms that brought a dog to me, whether we call it IBD, IBS, EPI, or Spleen qi deficiency with Liver qi stagnation, stop being problems to solve and start being messages worth hearing. They tell us where qi is stuck, and food becomes how the body finds its way back.
I’ve watched dogs return to health this way, not by choosing one tradition over the other, but by listening to what both have to say.
As we support our dogs toward gut health, we’re often reminded of our own need for the same thing. Maybe that’s one of the quiet gifts our dogs give us, the chance to remember that healing isn’t only about fixing what’s broken. It’s about restoring the harmony that’s every dog’s birthright.
Want a plan built around your dog’s actual pattern
A consult starts with what’s actually showing up in front of me, not a template pulled off a shelf.
Book a consultAbout the author: Hannah Zulueta holds a Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute and is completing her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism at Pacific College of Health and Medicine.
Hannah Zulueta obtained her Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute. She is also studying for her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism from the esteemed Pacific College of Health and Medicine. If you’re as keenly interested in health for yourself, visit her website for human health: Satori Acupuncture and Herbs.
She resides in San Diego with her three dogs, Maggie, Orbit, and Mr. Higgins.
She is available for one on one consultations. She develops evidence-based recipes that meet both NRC and AAFCO nutritional standards while integrating the therapeutic food principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine into her formulations.
Additionally, you can find her sharing free content on Instagram.
