Acupuncture

[Kfamr]

One of the vets I work with studies more natural practices, which is awesome because I'm able to watch just about anything they do on animals. He does acupuncture as well. I watched him one day do acupuncture on a dog who his owners were seconds away from deciding if it was time to let him go. This was months ago and the dog gets regular acupuncture treatments and is up running around like he was 5 years younger.


I was wondering if anyone has tried this with any of their animals or even yourself? From my 7 months so far at the animal hospital I've seen a drastic improvement it's made in most of the patients lives.


And the reason I am posting... I think I've convinced my dad to allow us to do acupuncture for Simba. When I spent the night at my parent's house, I realized just how bad Simba's mobility is. You can tell his mind is still completely there. He wants to sit pretty for treats, he wants to run around and play with Nala (who my parents say rarely plays anymore but I guess I got her that excited!) he just cant anymore. His back legs get stiff and he can barely move them sometimes. My dad has been giving him children's pain medication about once a month. He says he gives him one once a month, then he perks up for a couple days, then seems to be more sore a few days after.


I found out yesterday at work it would be around $50 a session after my discount, a lot less than I expected but I'm not sure if it will be too pricey for my dad. Simba has been going to this same office, just a different vet, for his entire life and now I work there. I'm going to see if we could arrange something else (maybe a way I can slowly pay it off or do extra things around the hospital.)


Anyways, any feedback would be awesome. I've never done something like this with Simba and I just don't want to see him in discomfort.

And if I completely bored you, here's a photo of my handsome man.

[Lilith Cherry]

When we were in China my husband had several sessions of acupuncture for severe arthritis pain in his spine. It worked wonders for him, gave him far better mobility and much less pain. I would say try it if you can manage the cost!

[Freedom]

I don't have any info, but it does sound like something worth trying!

I never thought about it for arthritis. My Marlin has arthritis and is on Adequan shots once per month, plus glucosamine and chondroitin daily, and a baby aspirin on some of his "bad" days.

I you do this for Simba, let me know!

[robinh]

Yes, yes, yes. If you can afford it, please consider trying it. We used it on my old dachshund Max. It worked wonders for him. He had immune issues and we were almost at a point of having to send him to the bridge. Our veterinary accupuncturist was wonderful...he gave us three more great years with Max.

After Max started going for treatments, he became a different dog. Gentle, loving and happy. I didn't realize that the pain he endured had changed his attitude so much until after the accupuncture treatments started.

I convinced my SO to go for accupuncture for his severe back pain after he saw how Max had been helped. Max had no preconceived notions that it wouldn't work, he just went. As he continued to go, he got better and better. Dick now goes for accupuncture once a month for his back pain...he's better too.

[anna_66]

I've never really heard anyone who's used it before, but after reading Robin's post I'd say go for it if you can afford it.
Poor man. I know how it is to see them deteriorate

Hugs and kisses to your sweet man.

[Alysser]

We did it twice or maybe three times with Sassy. I don't really remember it much. It worked for awhile, but eventually it became to difficult for even that too help her. I'll ask if you want more info on it. But right now, I really don't remember anything about it. I tried to erase that part of her life from my memory, her mobility was awful at that point.

[K9karen]

I've read that it does wonders for animals and humans. Maybe I should try it. There's water therapy too.

Kay, if you can arrange to pay it off, jump at the chance.

I love Simba, handsome boy. Poor boo-boo legs.

[pnance]

Savannah my 11 yr old cattle dog mix gets accupunture tx monthly and I've noticed a definate improvement. She was really starting to slow down and I originally thought it was her back. Xrays showed she actually had fairly severe hip dysplasia. I started taking her to the holistic vet I used when Nikka was sick with cancer, and within about a month she was running and playing with the other dogs at the beach again.

[Cincy'sMom]

I just took Spot to the vet today for his annual check up and becuase he broke a tooth. He has had arthritis setting in in his right knee for about the past year, but it has started to get bad enough we are looking into treatment for it. THe vet recommended a new treatment, laser therapy. It is essentially the next step in accupuncture, from what he was telling me. The ler does essentially the same thing, but can pentrate deeper and is even more effective. We are still debating it, and the cost would be about $200 for the first 6 treatments, but it sounds like it works really well. Might be something else for you to look into. The website is
www.k-laservet.com

[shais_mom]

I have taken Kylie (white cat) and Keegan both to our local holistic vet for chiropractic and accuPRESSURE treatments. Kylie actually went today for a chiropractic appt for the first time since 07.
My vet didn't due the accupuncture on either of them (tho she does do it) b/c she felt that they wouldn't be comfortable enough to hold still long enough for the treatment. I wish I could have it done for myself. I firmly believe it saved Keegan from having surgery on her acl's several years back.
I have had accupressure done before but not accupuncture.

My regular vet has the laser treatment that Amy mentioned and show a dvd on it in the waiting room.

[Edwina's Secretary]

My sister-in-law is a retired vet who now does acupuncture on horses and dogs primarily. She has done it on my brother for practice and I was shocked to hear him endorse it (he is a scientist who doesn't usually go for that sort of thing.)

I had acupuncture last summer. Some of the associated stuff was a bit too far out for me but I did get relief. I would recommend it.

[Medusa]

If there was someone locally who would do it on pets, I would've taken a couple of mine to have it done. I had it done a few years ago for my hands. They had lost almost all feeling and my fingers were beginning to curl. So my hands were becoming useless. It took 8 sessions, not in the least painful, and my hands were back to normal again. If it's in your budget, I'd definitely have it done on Simba.