Acupuncture News
News Archive
4-22-07
Vet Treats Pets with Acupuncture
By HUNTER SAULS, Bryan-College Station Eagle
NAVASOTA, Texas (AP) -- Sugarfoot was clearly a little agitated by the attention of a mysterious human. Already in pain from a sore back and tightly corralled in a holding pen, this 14-year-old pleasure horse with a braided mane wasn't in the mood for any funny business.
The horse would have been reassured to know that the woman working around him had his best interests at heart and that her ministrations would soon start to feel good.
Dr. Shana Buchanan, a Navasota veterinarian, is performing acupuncture to alleviate Sugarfoot's sore back. She also uses her treatments to ease the suffering of small animals such as dogs and cats.
After the needles are deftly inserted at points along the horse's back and legs, along with an injection of vitamin B12 and a pain reliever at the sorest spots, Sugarfoot's head droops and his ears turn back in contentment.
Sugarfoot's owner, Montgomery resident Catherine Price, first noticed something wrong with him during a ride. Thinking it was a hoof problem, she took him to a farrier, an expert in shoeing horses.
"When the farrier lifted his hind leg, it was obvious there was something else wrong," Price said. "Sugarfoot couldn't keep his back feet up, and nearly fell because it hurt his back so much."
Price took Sugarfoot to a veterinary chiropractor who couldn't cure his problem and instead suggested she try acupuncture.
As of Easter Sunday, Sugarfoot's fourth weekly treatment session, the horse was continuing to show improvement, as he had after each visit to Buchanan's clinic, Price said. The normally feisty horse is so mellow after a treatment that she believes he sleeps in the trailer on the way home.
Buchanan is also pleased with his response to treatments. "When I first saw Sugarfoot, this area of his back was so tender and tight I couldn't even get the needles in," the vet said while removing acupuncture needles from the horse's rump.
The procedure reduces the amount of medications needed for her patients, blending Eastern and Western medical practices, Buchanan said.
For instance, dachshunds are prone to herniated discs as they age and require a large amount of pain medication if they do. With acupuncture, Buchanan can reduce the amount of medication these dogs need so that they are not asleep all the time. Acupuncture also can be used in special cases where medicine alone cannot correct the problem.
Buchanan used a special kind of acupuncture on another equine patient with a dire problem. Half of the horse's face had caved in from muscular atrophy so the animal couldn't eat correctly.
The vet inserted acupuncture needles into the collapsed muscle on the horse's jaw and then applied a slight electric current to the needles. After multiple treatments, the muscles in the horse's face were stimulated and rebuilt until one side of the horse's face looked just as good as the other side.
"Everything we know in Western science is explained differently in Eastern medicine," Buchanan said.
According to Eastern medicine, energy flows through certain channels in the body, and there are points along the channel that can influence the flow of energy, she said. Throughout the years it's been passed down that acupuncture at these points helps energy flow unimpeded throughout the body.
"If you look at it microscopically, the major points that we know of are either nerve bundles or major artery and vein junctions," she said. "The points correspond with anatomy, and you can treat locally or systemwide. With Sugarfoot, I locally addressed a collection of charley horses and muscle knots. If you have stagnant energy flow, then you have knots, and the key is to help keep that energy circulating."
Acupuncture also has given Angel, a 22-year-old cat suffering from arthritis, a new lease on life. Angel, a Siamese cross, was a brownish color in her youth but has become almost completely white as she aged.
Starting with regular acupuncture treatments from Buchanan, Angel slowly began to recover from a lethargic, almost bedridden status. Angel has since become more mobile and her pain has diminished.
After seeing that the recent cold weather hadn't made Angel's arthritis worse, Buchanan decided to reduce her treatments to every five weeks instead of monthly. In Eastern medical thought, dampness causes energy to settle and the cold stifles the flow of energy causing pain, Buchanan said.
According to Angel's owner, Kathy Bowen of College Station, "Acupuncture has been tremendously successful with my Angel. It's priceless. With pets living longer, they face many health challenges we haven't heard of before. After Dr. Buchanan visited my pet, it's like years have been taken off."
Acupuncture is used on many animals, everything from lions and elephants to birds and "pocket pets" like ferrets, but it is used most frequently on dogs and cats, said Dr. Ed Boldt, executive director of the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society.
The society has been training veterinarians, including Buchanan, in acupuncture since 1975, and there are 800 to 900 veterinarians worldwide trained to perform animal acupuncture. Buchanan recalled that one of the lecturers during her certification by the acupuncture society had even used it to treat a dolphin.
In most states, veterinarians are not required to receive specific training before performing acupuncture, but most do, and animal owners are encouraged to seek out trained veterinarians if their pet may need the procedure, Boldt said. The American Veterinary Medical Association does not recognize acupuncture as a board-certified procedure because it awaits more research into the procedure.
Research is under way at multiple universities, Boldt said. "Becoming a boarded specialty is a long, arduous task, but we've been working with the AVMA," he said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
