In our surgery Paula Bentley mainly uses it for pain relief and musculo-skeletal or neurological problems such as osteoarthritis, back pain and paresis, and also for lick granulomas.
"I took an introductory course in Traditional Chinese acupuncture in 2006 and followed it with ABVA Western courses on chronic pain management and use in the geriatric dog, so I use a combined approach.
Over the years I have offered acupuncture as an adjunct to traditional veterinary medicine and have been delighted with some of the responses seen. I have regularly used it to cut down drug doses or in some cases of back/neck pain it has allowed me to withdraw medication. It is very useful in older arthritic animals that are on maximum doses too and owners often report a general improvement in demeanour. I have treated dogs, cats and rabbits and even the occasional guinea pig. It is also useful when traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatories cannot be used, for instance in gut ulceration or kidney failure.
Generally I start with three or four weekly treatments and then reassess to see whether to continue and if so at what interval.” Paula