Gou Gu
StarCanis lupus familiaris Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms: Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758
Also known as: Kou Ku · Wade–Giles
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Bowel health
- Nerves & recovery
- Pain & joints
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Liver conditions
- Kidney conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Dispels Wind-Dampness and strengthens tendons and bones
Traditional Chinese Uses
Gou Gu (狗骨), Os Canis, is the bone of the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus (Canidae); the fore and hind limb bones are preferred, collected in any season, defleshed and dried in a ventilated place. It is acrid and salty in flavour and warm in nature, entering the Spleen, Liver and Kidney channels. It dispels Wind-Dampness and strengthens the sinews and bones, supplements the Kidney, invigorates the Blood and stops pain, and astringes sores and checks diarrhoea. It is used for Wind-Damp painful obstruction, aching and weakness of the lower back and legs, numbness of the four limbs, chronic diarrhoea, non-healing fistulous sores, and frostbite. It is given as a powder at 2 to 3 qian, or prepared as a medicinal wine at 1 to 2 liang.
Gou Gu (狗骨, dog bone) must not be confused with Gou Gu (枸骨), the Chinese or horned holly Ilex cornuta, whose leaf, bark, root and fruit form a separate plant drug used to nourish Yin, clear deficiency Heat and tonify the Liver and Kidney. The two names are homophones for entirely different substances, one animal and one botanical.
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Botanical Description
Gou Gu (狗骨), Os Canis, is not a plant but the dried bone of the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus (Canidae). The medicinal substance consists of the long limb bones, cranium or mandible of slaughtered animals, defleshed, boiled to remove residual soft tissue and marrow, and sun-dried; it may be used whole, broken into pieces, soaked in wine, or calcined to a friable white ash before pulverizing. Properly cleaned pieces are creamy-white to pale grey externally, hard and odourless, composed of the calcium-phosphate mineral matrix of vertebrate bone with residual organic collagen. Pungent, salty and warm, it dispels Wind-Dampness and strengthens the tendons and bones, being used for rheumatic pain and weakness of the low back and knees.
Domesticated animal reared throughout China and worldwide; not a wild-collected source.
Active Constituents
Hydroxyapatite and other calcium phosphates
Inorganic calcium phosphate mineralConcentration: More than half of the inorganic fraction, which is about 22 per cent of fresh bone
The mineral phase of bone. Orally it behaves as a poorly soluble calcium and phosphate salt, and in the gut lumen it binds drugs that chelate divalent cations. It is the constituent that underlies the traditional attribution of strengthening the sinews and bones, on the classical principle of treating like with like rather than on any demonstrated pharmacology.
Calcium carbonate
Inorganic carbonate mineralConcentration: About 10 per cent of the inorganic fraction
Acid-soluble carbonate that buffers gastric acid and liberates calcium ions on contact with stomach acid, the same behaviour as a calcium carbonate antacid.
Magnesium phosphate
Inorganic phosphate mineralConcentration: About 2 per cent of the inorganic fraction
Minor mineral component; contributes magnesium, which also chelates tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones in the gut.
Ossein (type I collagen)
Fibrous structural proteinConcentration: About 12 per cent of fresh bone
The organic matrix. Boiling in water or wine converts it to gelatin, which is what a bone decoction actually extracts; the mineral phase largely stays behind in the dregs. It is also the fraction that carries any allergenic potential.
Bone marrow lipid
LipidConcentration: About 16 per cent of fresh bone
Marrow fat, largely removed if the bone is degreased before use. It contributes nothing pharmacologically but is the fraction most likely to go rancid in poorly stored material.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Tiger bone (Os Tigris) and products claiming to contain it
Gou Gu occupies its place in the modern materia medica almost entirely because of tiger bone. China prohibited trade in tiger bone and removed it from the Pharmacopoeia in 1993, and dog bone and cattle bone were promoted as substitutes in Wind-Damp and sinew-and-bone formulas; the licensed replacement now marketed is an artificial tiger bone powder preparation. The substitution also runs the other way, with cheaper mammalian bone sold as tiger bone, so a product presented as containing tiger bone is either illegal or fraudulent, and frequently both. Panthera tigris is on CITES Appendix I and trade in its parts is prohibited.
Clinical note: Never dispense, import or recommend anything described as tiger bone, regardless of claimed provenance or age of stock. If a patient presents a purchased product claiming tiger bone content, treat it as a wildlife-crime matter, not a substitution question.
Levothyroxine, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, bisphosphonates and oral iron
Powdered bone is chemically a mixture of calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate and magnesium phosphate. Divalent cations released in the stomach form insoluble chelates with tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones and bisphosphonates, and calcium reduces levothyroxine absorption. This is a well characterised class interaction of calcium salts and applies to any mineral bone powder taken in quantity; the mechanism is established even though it has not been studied with this particular drug.
Clinical note: Separate bone powder from these drugs by at least four hours. In patients on levothyroxine, check thyroid function about six weeks after starting or stopping regular use.
Unregulated dog slaughter as a source of raw material
Dogs are not a regulated food or veterinary-inspected slaughter species in most of the jurisdictions where dog-derived drugs circulate, so carcasses do not pass ante-mortem or post-mortem inspection. The dog meat trade is a documented route of rabies transmission: rabies-positive dogs enter the trade, and butchers and handlers are exposed through cuts during slaughter and butchery, which is the basis of calls to restrict dog meat farming in Vietnam on rabies-control grounds. Quantitative risk modelling of the West and Central African dog trade reaches the same conclusion. Rabies virus does not survive drying and boiling, so a properly prepared decoction is not the exposure route; the hazard falls on those who handle raw carcasses and on the traceability of the supply chain.
Clinical note: Do not accept raw or home-prepared dog bone. There is no inspected supply chain for this drug in most countries, which by itself is a reason to prefer alternatives with Pharmacopoeia standards.
Food, slaughter and animal welfare law in the practitioner's jurisdiction
CITES does not apply: Canis lupus is listed on Appendices I and II, but the listing explicitly excludes the domesticated form Canis lupus familiaris and the dingo, so no CITES permit governs dog-derived material. The binding constraint is domestic food and welfare law, and it has moved recently. In May 2020 China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published the National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources listing thirty-three permitted species and excluding dogs, stating that dogs have become companion animals rather than livestock; Shenzhen and Zhuhai both banned dog and cat meat with effect from 1 May 2020, although there is still no national Chinese ban on consumption. South Korea enacted a Special Act in January 2024 prohibiting the breeding, slaughter and distribution of dogs for food, with the core prohibition taking effect on 7 February 2027 after a three-year phase-out; the penalties fall on producers and distributors rather than consumers. Taiwan banned consumption of dog and cat meat by amendment to its Animal Protection Act in 2017, and Hong Kong has prohibited slaughter of dogs for food since 1950. Dog bone is not in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia; it is a Zhonghua Ben Cao and local-standard item.
Clinical note: Establish the legal position where you practise before prescribing or stocking this drug. In several jurisdictions the supply chain that produces it is now unlawful, and in others there is no lawful inspected source at all. Substitute a Pharmacopoeia Wind-Damp and sinew-strengthening herb rather than sourcing this one.
Calcium supplements, vitamin D and thiazide diuretics
Regular use of a bone powder adds an uncounted calcium load on top of prescribed calcium and vitamin D. Thiazides reduce renal calcium excretion, so the combination of a thiazide, active vitamin D and an unmeasured dietary calcium source is the classic setting for hypercalcaemia. The calcium content of a herbal bone powder dose is not standardised and cannot be assumed small.
Clinical note: Count bone powder as a calcium source when totalling intake. Avoid in hypercalcaemia, primary hyperparathyroidism, sarcoidosis and calcium-containing renal stone disease, and check serum calcium if it is used regularly alongside vitamin D or a thiazide.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Gou Gu. Not a prescription.
Historical Texts
Ming Yi Bie Lu (Miscellaneous Records of Famous Physicians)
Han to Six Dynasties compilation, around the 3rd to 5th century CEBen Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), beast section, dog entry
Ming dynasty, 1596Zhonghua Ben Cao (Chinese Materia Medica)
Modern, 1999References
- Choi, Yoojin; Joo, Seola; Chun, Myung-Sun. A Legal Ban on Dog Meat Production: Political Decision-Making for an Ethical Community . Animals (2024) [DOI]
- Sung, Hanbit. Legal study on Dog Meat Ban Act and its challenges in South Korea . DALPS (Derecho Animal-Animal Legal and Policy Studies) (2024) [DOI]
- Quan, Nguyen Khoi; Taylor-Robinson, Andrew W.. Combatting rabies outbreaks in Vietnam: High time to enforce restrictions on dog meat farming, a key source of transmission . IJID Regions (2024) [DOI]
- Odita, Christianah Ibironke; Tasiame, William Kofi; Tekki, Ishaya Sini; Olatunji, David Idowu; Meseko, Clement Adebajo; de Jong, Ellen; Taylor, Dan; Pouzou, Jane. Quantitative risk modelling of human rabies in Ghana and Nigeria associated with West/Central African dog-trade . One Health Outlook (2025) [DOI]
- Ren, Shanwu; Jiao, Guangjun; Zhang, Lu; You, Yunhao; Chen, Yunzhen. Bionic Tiger-Bone Powder Improves Bone Microstructure and Bone Biomechanical Strength of Ovariectomized Rats . Orthopaedic Surgery (2021) [DOI]
- Fu, Yongsheng; Wang, Weiguo; Zhao, Minghua; Zhao, Jianpeng; Tan, Mingyue. Efficacy of the Chinese herbal medicine Jintiange capsules in the postoperative treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Frontiers in Medicine (2023) [DOI]
- Liu, Zhao; Jiang, Zhigang; Fang, Hongxia; Li, Chunwang; Mi, Aizi; Chen, Jing; Zhang, Xiaowei; Cui, Shaopeng; Chen, Daiqiang; Ping, Xiaoge; Li, Feng; Li, Chunlin. Perception, Price and Preference: Consumption and Protection of Wild Animals Used in Traditional Medicine . PLOS ONE (2016) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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