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Acupuncture for Pets

Puppycow

Penultimate Amazing
Puppycow
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Pet acupuncture more popular as practice becomes more mainstream

The practice has become more popular as acupuncture for humans has become more mainstream, said Simon Flynn, executive director of the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture. This year, the nonprofit group has a membership of 800 veterinary acupuncturists, compared with about 200 a decade ago, Flynn said.
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There's an American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture. Sound's legit.

“There’s such substantial growth in veterinary acupuncture, and it’s driven by pet owners who had acupuncture and want their pets to have the same kind of therapy,” Flynn said. (Veterinary acupuncture was approved as an “alternate therapy” in 1988 by the American Veterinary Medical Association.)
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Approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Must be legit.

This raises the question: Do we have boundary issues with our pets? Perhaps. When we see a human trend on the rise, it’s a safe bet that a companion-animal trend will follow. Think: dog therapy, pet spas, organic pet food and yoga classes known as “doga,” for, yes, dogs and their human partners. (Please refer to the book “Barking Buddha: Simple Soul Stretches for Yogi and Dogi.”)
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Dog therapy? Organic pet food? Yoga for dogs? Sounds good to me!

Only for those who read through to page three is the grumpy old skeptic trotted out to give the other side of the story:

And of course, some critics say acupuncture is an unproven treatment, for both pets and humans.

“There’s actually no logical reason to believe that sticking needles into any human or animal can have the slightest influence on any disease and make hormones or antibodies behave differently,” said Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist who runs “Quackwatch,” a Web site that questions the scientific value of and research on everything from aromatherapy to St. John’s wort. “The most that can be hoped for is acupuncture can distract people and relieve some pain, but there’s not real evidence that this has practical value. And there’s just not enough studies on animal acupuncture, and why would there be?”

The American Medical Association takes no specific position on acupuncture, but says that “there is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies.” It says more “stringently controlled research should be done” to determine whether it is useful.

But Schoell and others who have used the treatment for their pets say they are convinced.
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So the AMA still thinks that more research needs to be done? Why? People who've tried it say it works! We have testimonials! ;)
 
But wait! There's more!

The Raw Food Diet for Pets

For years, raw food enthusiasts have touted the health benefits of uncooked food for humans. Now, some veterinarians and pet owners believe that a raw meat diet is best for pets.

Sharon Misik, an actress who adopted two Siberian huskies in 2008 from a pet rescue organization, is a believer. After adopting the animals, Ms. Misik and her husband, who live in Bradbury, Calif., spent thousands of dollars on specialized diets and trips to veterinarians to treat a mysterious illness that plagued their dogs, which had trouble eating and severe diarrhea and seemed perpetually sick.

When nothing else worked, she decided to try a raw food diet, even though several veterinarians discouraged it, saying it would expose her dogs to harmful bacteria. A holistic veterinarian encouraged her to start her dogs on a line of raw and freeze-dried chicken and beef foods made by Stella and Chewy’s, a Wisconsin-based pet food company.

The difference was immediate, Ms. Misik says.

“They were like new dogs,” she said. “They were happy and healthy, and their digestive systems improved dramatically. Since we started them on the raw food, these dogs have not been sick one day.”
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catsmate1 said:
:boggled: You stick Leonard with needles, he sticks you with his claws.
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I have to say, after the last time my cat got into a fight with me, my tennis elbow cleared right up. I now kick it around the house in the hopes that she helps me with my toe nail fungus.
 
Careyp74 said:
I have to say, after the last time my cat got into a fight with me, my tennis elbow cleared right up. I now kick it around the house in the hopes that she helps me with my toe nail fungus.
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I'm sure if you offered she'd gnaw the toe off for you. :)
 
Careyp74 said:
She is not a licensed doctor, so I am only going to trust her acupuncture abilities.
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It's twoo! My cat Suzy has only one hind leg, so she has to claw her way into my lap. Since she weighs 14 lbs, that requires a helluva lot of acupuncture -- and I've never felt better!

When she stops, that is. By the way, is acupuncture supposed to bleed so much?
 
Careyp74 said:
I have to say, after the last time my cat got into a fight with me, my tennis elbow cleared right up. I now kick it around the house in the hopes that she helps me with my toe nail fungus.
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Just go to the (real) quack. There are plenty of real drugs which will cure nail fungus - they just take as long as it takes your nail to grow out to finalise - about a year.

As far as acupuncture with pets is concerned, if I had stuck needles into any of the cats who have deigned to associate with me, I'd have spent an inordinate amount of time in A&E. It's not that they were violent: they were not that soft.

As far as raw meat for animals is concerned, my cats were too lazy to catch anything which wasn't suicidal. They were too well fed.

Mind you, one caught a squirrel once. She threw up half of it up on the back doorstep, and the rest on the front one. She also once caught a bat, and left half of it on my son's bedroom floor.
 
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Careyp74 said:
Acupuncture can help with that too, I hear it works miracles!
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Also: prayers, psychic surgery, Reiki, crystal healing, laying of hands, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropracty, homeopathy, herbs, vitamins, feng shui, and invasive vaginal ultrasounds.
 
Baloney said:
Also: prayers, psychic surgery, Reiki, crystal healing, laying of hands, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropracty, homeopathy, herbs, vitamins, feng shui, and invasive vaginal ultrasounds.
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As I see a commonality among your list items, the last one doesn't seem to be on the same plane. Is there a known woo factor with IVA?
 
Every time I have seen actual licensed vets doing acupuncture on their animals (even wild ones in a sanctuary) I want to kick the TV screen.

Obligatory poem/song:

I have a dog his name is Fido, I have raised him from a pup,
He can stand up on his hind legs, If you hold his front legs up.
 
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