Bunny pin cushion

Here are a couple of pictures of Muppet having his acupuncture this morning, if anyone's curious to know what it's like.

First - midway through having 11 needles attached:



Second - resting in his carrier waiting for the needles to work their magic:



He has 11 needles in all:
* one in his head
* a pair at his shoulders
* two more pairs further down his spine
then you cant see in these photos
* a pair at his pelvis (above his tail)
* one in each knee.

He managed to keep nine of them in today. That seems about normal, one or two do normally drop out cos he fidgets. In the carrier he was 'digging' in his towel so that loosened one of his shoulder ones.

Gosh thats different! What is having the treatment for/ How long has he been having it? Is it working? How does he react?

Sorry for all the questions its not something I have thought of in rabbits before

He has cervical spondylosis (literally a pain in his neck - his neck vertebrae dont have nice spaces between them anymore) and he stopped eating cos it hurt him to swallow. He had a steroid injection just over four weeks ago (as metacam wasnt working) and that's calmed the inflammation and made a HUGE difference. But steroids arent good for long term use in rabbits so I thought we should try other methods of pain relief.

Today was his third session of acupuncture - they're every 10 days or so. He tolerates it really well: I dont think the needles bother him at all, it's the being held still he doesnt like :lol: I think we're aiming for five to six treatments to start off with and then see how it goes.

I cant say for sure how much difference it's made, but I do think it's helping. Two weeks after the steroid injection he was "mostly OK": pretty cheerful, needed some encouragement to eat but getting there. At the moment, two more weeks later, he's fully back to normal - he eats well, he's lively, he zooms round the garden.

(It costs £30 a session though. Muppet's not insured but I gather most insurance companies will pay for acupuncture. All animal acupuncturists have to be fully qualified vets too, not just anyone. www.abva.co.uk if you're interested)

Aaaaw bless him, if it works as well as it has for my Fibromyalgia hopefully he'll be feeling a lot better soon

wow that's great to hear, I've every faith in natural medicine be it for humans or animals. My mum has had acupuncture for 2 years and it has worked marvels with her panic attacks, confidence and even has helped her get over her fear of flying.

I hope Muppet continues to improve

xx