Acupuncture for dogs

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tamsinkb

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Has anyone had experience of acupuncture for dogs ? It has been suggested by a vet friend for Bruce, my spangle who has been suffering with shoulder issues for a few months. I'm normally willing to give anything a try (for me ) as long as it does no harm, but I would struggle to have acupuncture myself and for some reason this is making me reluctant to let the dog have it (irrational - I know!!)
So.......any experiences - good or bad..... I know I should give it a go but need convincing for some reason :/
 
An interesting question. I've never really thought about it. If you google, "Canine acupuncture", there's a useful article written on the subject. The upshot of it is, that there are practitioners, here in the UK. It would be interesting to hear if you make any progress. Good luck!

Alec.
 
Had an excellent experience with it for my old collie who was arthritic, gave her a fantastic last summer able to enjoy walks and fun again. It doesn't work for all dogs but if it does then it can make a huge difference. She was not hurt by the needles at all and sat with them in for about ten minutes a time! She enjoyed the extra fuss attention and treats from me and her vet during treatment. She was on three legs going in and four coming back out!

I wasn't at all sure but at that point willing to try anything to help her. Vet told me he learned to do it because he had suffered from a bad back and it was only thing that had helped him!
 
A few years ago I attended a lecture where they discussed acupuncture and it seemed to really work on the dog that they used for demonstration.
 
My mum's old GSD had acupuncture for arthritis. It looked horrible with the needles sticking out of her, but she didn't mind at all, in fact she was quite wary of the vet normally and she actually just settled down at his feet whilst the needles were in. I do think she improved after treatment too, and became more active.
 
Thanks for the replies so far - a friend of mine has it for her back and says it doesn't hurt and is really good for pain relief, so I know I should give it a go for Bruce. He's back to the referral vet next tuesday to check progress and if he agrees I'll book him in for some acupuncture. (I will just have to avoid looking at the needles!)
 
Obvious silly question, feel free to throw things at me, but has he had x-rays?
They might not reveal anything of course (my friend's dog was sporadically hopping lane and then fine again and nothing got to the bottom of it, all x-rays of shoulder/elbows/spine/legs/hips were fine) but best to rule it out :)
 
CC - he's had x-rays and an MRI covering his entire body except skull! The referral vet has medicated the shoulder joint, which has helped alot, but he is left with residual muscle pain and spasm which (I hope) can be treated by physio and possibly acunpuncture. I also hope the vet says he can be bought back into some sort of exercise......... no exercise for 4 weeks for a normally over active spangle has been a testing time for both of us!!
 
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