When to consider acupuncture for your pet

Acupuncture is a healing modality that has been used for thousands of years in animals, mostly horses, and people. Acupuncture did not become widely used in pets until the 1990's. Although it's an eastern modality, more acupuncture treatments are done on pets in Europe and the US than anywhere else in the world.

How does it work? Some of the mechanisms are well understood. For pain control, acupuncture stimulates the release of the body’s own Endorphins, which is our own internal source of Morphine, and Enkephalins which is our bodies own aspirin. Painful muscle spasms are also lessened by modulating the nervous system. The way I explain this to my clients is that placing an acupuncture needle in a spasming muscle is like turning off a light switch. I can tell you from my own experience, that this feels great! The ways in which acupuncture helps the healing processes are less well understood. Acupuncture modulates Qi, which is energy that circulates through our body. Qi flows through channels, or meridians. By placing needles at specific points in these meridians, we can alter the flow of Qi and assist our body (or our pets bodies), in the healing process.

The decision to begin acupuncture includes several factors. The most important to me recommending it is, does it work?, and have I used this effectively in the past?. I have performed about 10,000 acupuncture treatments in the last decade. I'm always open to trying acupuncture for something new, but most likely, whatever your pet is experiencing, I've tried acupuncture for this before. As a general rule, I don't use acupuncture as often on young pets or for acute problems. For me, the specifics of your pet’s physical exam and history are extremely important in deciding if acupuncture can be of help.  Another factor to consider is your pet’s response to previous medications, or problems associated with specific medications. Cost is always a factor in considering treatments. A few hundred dollars may be a lot to pay for a case of simple urinary incontinence when an inexpensive medication may do the trick. On the other hand, an MRI that costs $3000 or more for a neurological problem that may not yield a diagnosis, is a lot to pay for a procedure that won't make your pet better.

Here are the conditions I treat with acupuncture: Neurological problems including disc disease, Degenerative Myelopathy, seizures, fecal and urinary incontinence and strokes, arthritis, bronchitis, asthma, inappetence, organ related disease like Liver and Kidney problems, and any night time problems.

The problems I usually do not try acupuncture on are skin and ear problems. Herbal medications, supplements and diet changes can very often be helpful with these problems.

As a general rule, I'll perform acupuncture weekly for 3 weeks and if we do not notice some significant change, we try something else.  

article written by:

Joe Whalen

Hyde Park Animal Hospital & Clinic

Companion Animal Hospitals

Leptospirosis

Chances are, when you have been to our clinic for your dog’s annual wellness care, we have either recommended or administered a Leptospirosis vaccine to your furry friend.  But what exactly is Leptospirosis, how does it affect dogs, and how can we best prevent it?   Let’s start with the fact that Leptospirosis (or Lepto for short) is a spirochete type bacteria that is transmitted through the urine of infected animals.  Some of the animals that can spread Lepto through their urine include raccoons, skunks, squirrels, rodents, opossums, and deer.  As you can see, we have no shortage of those animals in our yards and parks, so nearly every dog that comes to see us is considered “at risk”!  In turn, the infected urine can then contaminate ground water, puddles, and soil where it can potentially survive for months.

Dogs become infected when the bacteria enters their body through breaks in the skin or their mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth).  Some examples include getting contaminated soil in a wound or drinking or swimming in contaminated water.   After infection, some dogs do not get ill but those that do can display a wide variety of signs including fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, and gastrointestinal signs, but unfortunately some dogs progress to the hallmark signs of kidney and liver failure.  This makes Lepto a potentially life-threatening disease and not to be taken lightly!

Testing for this disease once a pet becomes ill involves a combination of bloodwork, urine, Lepto titers (which check the body’s antibody levels to an infection), and imaging of the internal organs through x-rays and ultrasound.  Treatment is aimed at supporting the affected organs and the patient while starting antibiotics.  This is best accomplished with hospitalization for IV fluids, anti-nausea medications, monitoring, and injectable antibiotics.   Fortunately, the Lepto bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics and typically a combination is used to both clear the blood infection and eliminate the bacteria from the kidney.  It is worth noting that even though we can kill the bacteria, the patient’s overall prognosis depends on the degree of organ damage and response to treatment.

However, the best treatment is prevention, and thank goodness we have vaccines for the most common strains of Leptospirosis.  They can be started as young as 12 weeks of age and initially are a series of two vaccines given 3-4 weeks apart.  It is boostered annually thereafter.  Unlike many of our viral vaccines which can produce an immunity of up to 3 years, Lepto is a bacteria and durations of immunity longer than one year have not been able to be established.  So that annual booster is a must!
Recently, at our Mt. Prospect Hospital, we have had a couple of positive cases of Lepto that were late on their annual vaccines.   After consulting with veterinarians at the vaccine manufacturer, we have started recommending re-boostering if your dog is more than 6 weeks late for their annual booster.  This ensures they are protected for the strains in the vaccine and allows the manufacturer to back their guarantee on the vaccine.

If you have any further questions, please ask our team or visit http://www.cdc.gov/leptospirosis/

article written by:
Dr. Jessica Smith
Companion Animal Hospital Mount Prospect