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Experiences of pet acupuncture?

Santa

Wise Old Thumper
:wave: I am considering whether it would be worth trying acupuncture on my cat Milly to help her arthritis/spondylosis, and I was just wondering if anyone else has tried it for their bunnies/cats/dogs etc and if so, whether you found that it made a difference and how quickly? I emailed my vet earlier to ask whether she thinks it would be worthwhile and if so, how do we go about arranging it, so obviously I will take her views into account.

In the meantime, I'd be grateful for any info/thoughts/experiences on animal acupuncture that anyone has :D
 
:wave: I am considering whether it would be worth trying acupuncture on my cat Milly to help her arthritis/spondylosis, and I was just wondering if anyone else has tried it for their bunnies/cats/dogs etc and if so, whether you found that it made a difference and how quickly? I emailed my vet earlier to ask whether she thinks it would be worthwhile and if so, how do we go about arranging it, so obviously I will take her views into account.

In the meantime, I'd be grateful for any info/thoughts/experiences on animal acupuncture that anyone has :D

We have had it on several buns (mostly for that exact problem) and have generally found it very helpful. Our vet trained in animal accupuncture.
 
We have used it a lot for our bunnies generally with good results. I feel too Ill to go through it all now but message me later if you want any specific info and I will answer when I can x
 
i used it regularly with my old dog tyke (who we sadly lost 3 years ago) for his arthritis.

my vet is trained in it, tyke was on rimadyl but we decided to try acupunture as well. she statrted him off on just a few minutes with a low dose of electrodes(?) and i didn't notice much difference. we started to increase the time etc and she also took time to relax him before hand with some hands on relaxing massage which i must admit i was skeptical about but it really seemed to work.

the following day it always left him shattered but after that you could really see an improvement. he had larger doses but less often as time went on.
i think he had it for about a year before he died of old age at 15.

last year we found out another of my dogs Sidney had an inoperable bone tumour in his front shoulder joint. this in turn put extra weight on his back legs also suffering with arthritis and he was a large dog.
he was on all kinds of medication from rimadyl to tramadol, i was told at the time he had as little as 2 weeks to live.
i statred him on acupunture weekly and again i could see improvement. we had 3 and a half months before we lost him in january. those 3 months were happy, seemingly pain free extra months i cherished and i think if it hadn't been for the acupuncture we might not have had that time.
 
Muesli had 6 sessions of acupuncture with a trained acupuncturist at our vets, to help his arthritis. I think it made a big difference to him by the end, he certainly seemed more lively and in less pain, fewer wee accidents as well. He also seemed to be holding himself slightly differently too. The vet said that he tolerated it really well - my OH used to take him and said it made him really chilled out while he was actually having it done (although he is generally quite a chilled little man anyway, he is a tolerant bunny and will sit still for a vet, unlike some of our others ;) ). I wouldnt hesitate to take him back for another course in the future if I thought he needed it again.
 
We've had 5 cats on acupuncture- 2 at the moment, with varying degrees of success.
Spice did very well on it, there was a gradual improvement, she was just a pain at the time because she wanted to clamber all over the place which would displace the needles.
Misty like the acupuncture sessions and fell asleep during them, the effects were less obvious but she was definitely more comfortable.
Smudge ( who was a feisty girl) lay down on the table and tolerated the needles very well, she had the most extreme improvement- she slept solid for 24 hours and was like a kitten again.
Pudding is like Spice was, but can now jump from the bed to the window and you can feel muscle has built up along her spine.
Daisy has only had 3 sessions and is showing less improvement, but she does have a deformed rib cage but she is more confident jumping onto the bed since beginning the acupuncture- she also just lies on the table with her head in your hand.
Deli the dalmation also got acupuncture and it was a great help to her spondylosis.
Bruno, our collie/ lab, is now on it and I do not see a great improvement with him yet but we will see how he goes.
It can take 2-3 sessions before you see any effects and it doesn't work for every animal, but I would use it especially for cats to try and avoid the use of Metacam.
 
Thanks so much everyone, this is all really helpful and positive. Hopefully there is a good vet nearby who can do it. Milly is already on metacam so it may be a little tricky to see big improvement without starting to withdraw the metacam, so I guess how and when to try doing that will be something I will need to discuss too. Thanks for your help, I feel greatly encouraged that it is worth a go :D
 
I don't know who you're insured with but petplan cover the cost for my friends dog but only if certain people do it. I think if the vet does it it's covered but if it's not a vet it isn't or something like that.
 
I don't know who you're insured with but petplan cover the cost for my friends dog but only if certain people do it. I think if the vet does it it's covered but if it's not a vet it isn't or something like that.

It has to be a trained vet that does it, it's illegal for anyone else to do it
 
Milly won't be covered by her insurance as she is on a 12-month policy and she has had the arthritis for about 3-4 years.

A quick google suggests there do seem to be a few vets around here who do it, one of whom I have heard good things about from a normal 'vetty' point of view, so it will be interesting to hear from my vet what/who she suggests. I've also found the association of british veterinary acupuncturists (something like that anyway) which lists various members...most of the local ones aren't listed, but I guess it's a voluntary association where you pay your £80 to get listed in their directory rather than it necessarily indicating a higher quality of service?

Those of you who have it done somewhere other than your own practice (my vets don't do acupuncture), how does that happen - does your vet do you a referral just like any other referral? I think the tricky thing with Milly is going to be working out at what point to withdraw the metacam and how quickly, as presumably you need to do that at some point to see if the acupuncture is helping, but equally I don't want to leave her in pain!
 
The physio and acupuncture vet I use both had forms that my vet needed to sign to give consent. We have always continues with Metacam during acupuncture. I think you would get the best effect by using them together
 
I have never had a cat on Metacam long term, mainly due to the issues cats generally have with developing kidney failure and the fact that Metacam is contraindicated for this. Obviously if it came to a point where the cat was either in pain we could not control or risk it I would but will always try acupuncture first. I did read a study that found that something like 80% of cat over 12 have arthritis, so many go untreated until they are quite stiff.
 
Milly won't be covered by her insurance as she is on a 12-month policy and she has had the arthritis for about 3-4 years.

A quick google suggests there do seem to be a few vets around here who do it, one of whom I have heard good things about from a normal 'vetty' point of view, so it will be interesting to hear from my vet what/who she suggests. I've also found the association of british veterinary acupuncturists (something like that anyway) which lists various members...most of the local ones aren't listed, but I guess it's a voluntary association where you pay your £80 to get listed in their directory rather than it necessarily indicating a higher quality of service?

Those of you who have it done somewhere other than your own practice (my vets don't do acupuncture), how does that happen - does your vet do you a referral just like any other referral? I think the tricky thing with Milly is going to be working out at what point to withdraw the metacam and how quickly, as presumably you need to do that at some point to see if the acupuncture is helping, but equally I don't want to leave her in pain!

I'll be interested to hear which vets do acupuncture. As you know, I've tried out a few (although not for acupuncture).

I wouldn't have thought you'd need a referral. You would just get the acupuncture vets to get a copy of the notes sent over.
 
Thanks Liz - the aim with Milly would be to try and reduce - or ideally stop - the metacam due to the kidney damage it can cause in cats. I know this is also a risk in bunnies but I think the risk is far higher in cats due to them lacking the liver enzyme necessary to break many drugs down. So it's interesting to hear that you continue it and find it works better alongside, so this will no doubt be something to discuss with the treating vet.

I have never had a cat on Metacam long term, mainly due to the issues cats generally have with developing kidney failure and the fact that Metacam is contraindicated for this. Obviously if it came to a point where the cat was either in pain we could not control or risk it I would but will always try acupuncture first. I did read a study that found that something like 80% of cat over 12 have arthritis, so many go untreated until they are quite stiff.

Yes that's exactly my worry. At the moment she definitely needs it, we tried reducing the dose a while back and it was obvious that she got much more uncomfortable very quickly. What has sparked my thoughts this time is that a recent x-ray showed that her spondylosis has become much worse and is now affecting virtually every vertebrae. I really would like to see if there is another way of controlling her condition which doesn't carry the same long-term risks. Milly has 6-monthly blood tests and so far these have always been fine fortunately, but I'd still rather explore other avenues before it's too late.

Sarah - a quick google search suggests that Kat (one of the bunny vets) at Spring Lodge does acupuncture, and there are 2 vets at Edgewood vet group in Maldon who do it and also Ark vets Colchester...(not to be confused with Ark vets Goodmayes!) There are also a couple in Bishops Stortford and Rivenhall who seem to be stand-alone acupuncture referrals rather than doing it as part of their job at a practice. The Rivenhall one seems to be based at Paton & Lee equine vets but says she does acupuncture for small companion animals so maybe she just rents space from them. I will await Sam's response and see what she suggests!

Interestingly - and perhaps on a tangent and only of interest to Sarah - I read on Spring Lodge's facebook page that they have just started doing their own emergency out of hours on Sat/Sun during the day from their Witham clinic. They must be running alongside Vets Now who are still based there over the weekend for everyone else, but it looks like popular demand from their own clients has led to them running their own daytime weekend emergency clinics!
 
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Lots to choose from, then! I've only tried one of those surgeries. Hopefully Sam will be able to point you in the right direction.
 
Interestingly - and perhaps on a tangent and only of interest to Sarah - I read on Spring Lodge's facebook page that they have just started doing their own emergency out of hours on Sat/Sun during the day from their Witham clinic. They must be running alongside Vets Now who are still based there over the weekend for everyone else, but it looks like popular demand from their own clients has led to them running their own daytime weekend emergency clinics!

Oh that's really interesting! Mainly because I was considering trying the Gt Notley practice, being local and all....
 
Sorry I forgot we are talking cats here as it's rabbit chat, I completely agree with the issues with Metacam and cats
 
Sorry I forgot we are talking cats here as it's rabbit chat, I completely agree with the issues with Metacam and cats

Yeah, I wasn't sure where to put it, and decided that this was probably the place I'd be most likely to get an answer, even though I'm talking about a kitty :lol::lol: (sorry mods)
 
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