Canine acupuncture...

[kom526]

I have an older, limping GSD with arthritis in his rear knees, the vet offered up acupuncture as a treatment option. Has anyone had their pet treated this way? If so, how did it work out? TIA

 

[Labs4Me]

I have an older, limping GSD with arthritis in his rear knees, the vet offered up acupuncture as a treatment option. Has anyone had their pet treated this way? If so, how did it work out? TIA

I've had acupuncture done on both my horses and one of my dogs. In every situation it's worked great! My dog was getting acupuncture for IBD about 10 years ago. Before that, he had been on Purina and Hill's prescriptive diets for IBD as well as loads of different meds. The switch from the crappy commercial diet to an all natural diet and acupuncture saved his life.

One of my horses has gotten acupuncture for major tendon and joint damage she sustained after she was attacked by a pit bull as a yearling. She had pretty severe damage from the attack and we thought she'd be permanently lame but the acupuncture really seemed to turn things around for the better. My traditional vet was a real skeptic until he starting seeing the results from the acupuncture. My horse was always so much more comfortable after the treatments. She's 4 now and stills gets occasional treatments but she's 100% sound!

 

[tikipirate]

Pardon my ignorance, but could you folks please define 'IBD' and 'GSD'.

Most sorry to hear about the pit bull attack upon your horse. I hold strong opinions about that breed, but will retain them, lest I earn red karma.

 

[Tonio]

I've had acupuncture and I've been very satisfied with it. But I don't understand how you get an animal to sit or stand still for the procedure. Some acupuncture points have little sensation while others hurt like hell. How does the acupuncturist handle a fierce Rottie or a high-strung horse?

 

[kom526]

GSD=German Shepherd Dog

My vet @ Three Notch (Dr. Feldhaus) would be doing the acupuncture treatments. I need to sit down and read the literature she gave me with my wife. Riley (GSD) has already had a TPLO done on his LR knee and that is where the problem is coming from. I don't want to put him through the surgery again but I don't want him hurting either.

Thanks for the input Labs!

 

[Labs4Me]

Pardon my ignorance, but could you folks please define 'IBD' and 'GSD'.

IBD is Inflammatory Bowel Disease. My Golden mix had a MAJOR problem with it! I used to be a vet tech and was the surgery technician when we did an exploratory on him (not fun!) and sent out tissue samples. When the vet opened him up his intestines were huge and red and pretty much bulging out of him. At that time he used to vomit and have diarrhea numerous times a day. He was so sick! He had gotten down to 32 pounds and now thankfully, 10 years later, he's back to 65 pounds.

 

[Labs4Me]

Most sorry to hear about the pit bull attack upon your horse. I hold strong opinions about that breed, but will retain them, lest I earn red karma.

Thanks. That was without a doubt the scariest thing I've ever seen watching my yearling being attacked over and over. It was so hard to stop the attack because he just wouldn't let go of her. It caused such an unbelievable amount of damage to her both physically and mentally. I had actually known this dog very well for about 8 years and still have no idea what triggered the attack.