arthritis and acupuncture

Hi :wave:

Mr Bigwig ( who is a Frenchie ) is now 6 and half years old and extremely proud of the fact !! Unfortunately he has developed arthritis in his back legs and this has got progressively worse over past year or so. He has very little muscle tone on his back end now. He has recently started having Cartrofen injections and also takes Metacam. There is a risk with taking the 2 together, but at his age its worth taking the risk if it helps him to stay mobile and pain free.

A week ago he went and had an acupuncture session. I discussed it with vet beforehand and we thought it might be of benefit to him. We were hoping to get him to a point where he would not need the metacam and have wider intervals between the cartrofen jabs. After the treatment he went home and had a little sleep and then he was on power mode around the garden. However, the following day he was quite poorly, in pain and unable to walk . He had a Cartrofen jab on the next day ( Weds ) and by Thurs he was able to walk again. Fri and Sat he couldn't walk and his joints were very sore, so I started him back on Metacam. Sun he was a little more mobile, but by Mon he was off his feet again. I spoke to vet and we decided not to give another acupuncture treatment. She was honest enough to say that she didn't know if the acupuncture was responsible for his mobility problems, but said he might have had a bad reaction to it. She said she has never encountered this reaction before with acupuncture. It also possible that the mobility problems are just part of his overall condition and would have happened anyway, without any acupuncture. But, he has never had days before where he could walk and then not walk and felt so poorly. He had another Cartrofen on Tues and is now back to how he was before the acupuncture, weak and wobbly but able to walk about. Vet has agreed that we will continue the injections on a as needed basis, probably every 2-3 weeks, instead of the recommended course of 4 weeks and then a break.

I was just wondering if anyone has heard of rabbits having a bad reaction to acupuncture ? I feel rather bad, because in trying to help him I may have made him worse.

Also, are you aware of anything else Wigs could try for his arthritis and/or to help with muscle tone ? I asked vet about EMS and Laser therapy, but she felt that they would not be beneficial to him.

Poor Wiggy is having a bad time with his legs and he also has a very nasty middle ear infection, that we have been treating for a couple of months. It is slowly responding to anti-biotics. He is SUCH a hero about me injecting him every day and pouring copious quantities of liquids down his ears 3 times a day. He just sits there and lets me do what I need to do and never objects, even though the ear cleaning must be unpleasant for him

Thanks in advance.

Hiya! :wave:

I used to work at a surgery where the vet used acupuncture and most patients would be very sore for the first couple of days after the initial session, even the next 2 or 3 they would be sore for at least a day in some cases. It progressively would ease off each session and gradually the benefits would be seen. We only treated cats and dogs at that time though.

My own dog had arthritis for many years and the last 2 years or so he had acupuncture weekly/fortnightly with great success. The first week after his first session he was so sore and his legs were alot worse than ever before but then it eased and after the next session it was a much shorter period of being stiff and sore and as above, improved with each session.

Has your vet been practising acupuncture long? Maybe she could speak to a more rabbit acupuncture, experienced vet for their thoughts on it?

Hope that helps. :wave:

i have no experiance with the use of accupucture in animals but i know from my own that the symptomsn were worse following the first treatment than they had been prior to it but steadly improved after the second and sucsessive treatments.
hope he starts to feel better soon.