Knee osteoarthritis can be divided into primary and secondary types, but the etiology of these types is unknown. Animal experiments enable further exploring the pathogenesis and prevention of knee osteoarthritis. The related literature suggests that classic models can be divided into artificial induction and spontaneous modeling. The associated mainstream traditional Chinese medicine syndromes for this disease are kidney yang deficiency, blood stasis and cold dampness syndrome, which correspond to three modeling method . Animal models that combine these diseases and syndromes will be important for future research. These models, combined with the author’s practical experience in multiple modeling method , provide a review for reference.