Acupuncture for Bunnies

I was watching 'This Morning' the other day and the was a section about acupunture for pets and rabbits, the rabbit they had on actually had it done on tv on the top of her head. It was meant to calm her as she was very hyperactive so her owner said and by all accounts had really worked.

Its £40 a session roughly and needs to be done weekly they said really, it also is meant to be good for arthritus and joint pains etc.. i thought it seemed a bit mad at first but hey, if it helps!

Any experience, thoughts on this?

I used to work at a vets that did acupuncture and have to say it did seem to work,especially for dogs with arthritis. Have to say I have never seen it done to a rabbit though and I don't think my buns would sit still while someone stuck needles in their head! MInd you neither would I :lol:

Oooh, I seen that too and meant to post about it, lol!!!!! :lol:

Did you see the rabbit flinch?

My old GP used to practice acupuncture and alternative medicines as well as the usual stuff. I've never had it, but my mum did, she'd had pains in her arm and hand and the acupuncture made them a lot less painfull.

She's very cynical about things like that, she didn't believe it was going to work, so if it works on her then it wouldn't surprise me if it worked on animals!!

I don't think I'd try it to calm my animals but would maybe try it for arthiritis: one of my rats had that when he was old and even with medication he still seemed quite stiff sometimes.

I too, would be VERY wary of this.
£40 a session, and needed once a week too! That's £160 a month for something that's not really provable. Very nice little earner in my eyes. I'm definately in the wrong job! (Maybe I'll develop psychic powers and become an "animal communicator" too )

I would have to say I'm a skeptic. All these sorts of things rely on the placebo effect, which are not going to work on animals.

I saw one experiment where a guy had acupuncture to help him give up smoking, which he had failed to on numerous occasions. With the acupuncture he managed to give up, and stated how it made him feel great.

The only problem was that the "acupuncture expert" was in fact the guy from the local Chinese resturant who was randomly poking him with needles, pegs and other random objects.

I saw one experiment where a guy had acupuncture to help him give up smoking, which he had failed to on numerous occasions. With the acupuncture he managed to give up, and stated how it made him feel great.

The only problem was that the "acupuncture expert" was in fact the guy from the local Chinese resturant who was randomly poking him with needles, pegs and other random objects

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roflol!!!! me being a HUGE sceptic (my granny is a practicing reiki healer :roll: I really struggle when she tries to convert me!) find that last bit just too funny!

cazza269 said:

I saw one experiment where a guy had acupuncture to help him give up smoking, which he had failed to on numerous occasions. With the acupuncture he managed to give up, and stated how it made him feel great.

The only problem was that the "acupuncture expert" was in fact the guy from the local Chinese resturant who was randomly poking him with needles, pegs and other random objects

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roflol!!!! me being a HUGE sceptic (my granny is a practicing reiki healer :roll: I really struggle when she tries to convert me!) find that last bit just too funny!

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oooh, I've always wanted to try reiki!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Laura my gran charges roughly £60+ a session...so far she claims to have cured a mans cancer, given a woman twins, amongst other minor miracles....this being the main reason I cant be doing with listening to her chat!! :roll:

cazza269 said:

Laura my gran charges roughly £60+ a session...so far she claims to have cured a mans cancer, given a woman twins, amongst other minor miracles....this being the main reason I cant be doing with listening to her chat!! :roll:

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LOL :lol: The salon by us does it for £20! I have never done it cus I don't really have any problems that I think reiki could solve!!! :lol:

I must admit I am usually a skeptic but of late for some unknown reason Iv become more open to things like alternatives and reiki in particular.

I really dont know why but something about healing and natural forces being used to help us really appeals to me, a lady on here PM'd me when I had all the trouble with Pip and she offered to do some reiki healing for me and him and it just seemed like the nicest thing of her, Pip healed well and whether this is down to that or nursing I dont know, maybe a combination; but even if it is all untrue isnt it nice that people think mentally it works as it makes people believe in the power of natural healing.

I do realise there are some people who take advantage of this as a money making scheme but that happens in every area of life, I cant think of anything people dont exploit these days and generally people only pratice what they believe in.

I would agree that if someone finds that something helps them, then great! Go for it.

I would just urge people to truely think about what benefits they are going to get if they are handing over large sums of money, and just how the person receiving it can justify their claims.

Seeing as this is about acupuncture, I dug out this article which I think is a fair and balanced view:

"A controlled study found that electroacupuncture of the ear was no more effective than placebo stimulation (light touching) against chronic pain [3]. In 1990, three Dutch epidemiologists analyzed 51 controlled studies of acupuncture for chronic pain and concluded that "the quality of even the better studies proved to be mediocre. . . . The efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain remains doubtful."

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http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html


Now just don't get me started on "clairvoyants" :evil: :evil: :lol:

Apparently you can use Reiki and other forms of alternative therapy on animals too. Never tried it myself but I reckon there could be a big market out there for this kind of thing.

We have had Reiki Healing given to a bunny who was at deaths door in the past when all other options failed. We were very sceptical but prepared to keep an open mind, and try it.
I have to say that the results were quite remarkable, the bunny improved for the first time in a year, and completely relaxed out when the healing was done. Camilla had never relaxed like this before, and although it could be argued that she could have improved anyway, we do not feel that way, as it was observing her reactions to the healing as it took place that were very interesting.
The placebo affect does not apply to animals, and there are many documented accounts of Reiki Healing working well in both animals and humans alike.
I do not think it is a miracle cure but it certainly helps unblock channels in the body.
My Mum was a Physiotherapist who learnt Reiki and Acupuncture, and having helped rehabilitate Stroke patients for over 30 years, she found that if given very soon after a stroke, Reiki and Acupuncture seemed to speed up the healing process (this may be that it helped calm and relax the patient so enabled healing) but you cannot dismiss these things completely, especially if you have not experienced a session of Reiki or Acupuncture yourself.
Many Doctors are now referring people to pain clinics to have treatment with acupuncture and I know several people whose lives have been turned around with this treatment when all else has failed.

Adele said:

Reiki and Acupuncture seemed to speed up the healing process (this may be that it helped calm and relax the patient so enabled healing) but you cannot dismiss these things completely, especially if you have not experienced a session of Reiki or Acupuncture yourself.

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Ah, wondered when you'd spot this one Adele

I certainly do not dismiss such things, I try to keep an open mind, but I'm afraid I am yet to be convinced. :?

I am possibly willing to concede that acupuncture might have some effect on pain, but if so, then I would put this down to purely a physiological effect of nerve's being "overloaded" or some such thing, rather than some mystical energy pathway.

Reiki on the other hand I just cannot put any credance in at all. You have told me yourself of your own experiences in this Adele, and as I have said, I am really happy that you have found something that helps you.
However, for every anecdote of success with Reiki, I also hear stories of people who have had it done with nothing to show for it. Interestingly it is the skeptics who find it does nothing, further enforcing my belief that it is all placebo based.

I hope I am not offending anyone with my views, I am just trying to be honest about how I feel about such practices. In the end though they are just my views, and I know there are many advocates of such things on this board. I, personally, remain to be convinced.

hey Jeremy, no offence taken, you are entitled to your own views
I agree with a lot you are saying , the bit I do not quite agree with is the bit where you say it is with the sceptics that Reiki seems not to help.
Well, I was totally sceptical myself to the extreme, and I take a lot of convincing that somethings works that cannot be scientifically proven (as I have a scientist type background on which PROOF forms a bit part).(sorry to be a contrary Mary here :roll: :roll: :!: :lol: :lol: )
However, although I cannot say Reiki is is a cure there is something that cannot be explained.
Conversely, Reiki or acupuncture cannot be disproved, so we have a stale mate :!: :!: :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Interesting subject though :wink:

I think the interesting one with accupunture is when vets use it on animals. I don't think the placebo effect works on dogs so it's interesting when owners report that they see an improvement in their pets condition. For eaxmple, dogs with artritus that seem more mobile after treatment.

The trouble is it's quite difficult to measure things like this and often its used along side other treatments so it's probably going to remain one of those unknowns for awhile yet.

Tam

As much as I feel reiki is not for me, I think my one major concern with these things is that it can appeal to people who are in desperate circumstances, as I had said, my granny has worked on a few people suffering from Cancer, a few of these people decided to give up on medical treatment in hospital etc, and my granny felt it was perfectly ok not to tell them that this may be very dangerous indeed. That is where the danger lies, I think that these therapies can be usefull but should always go hand in hand with the recommended medical therapies/drugs etc

also when my granny trained to become a reiki healer, she did the reiki course first, started treating people, and only THEN did she sit her human biology exams, so was basically working on the body with no clue how it worked!! These training schools need to make sure their students are properly trained and in the know before letting them lose, needless to say my granny and I had very interesting chats on this, lol

cazza you raise some interesting points too
I agree wholeheartedly that Alternative medicine should be used alongside conventional medicine, I think they can complement one another well
Conventional medicine does not treat the whole body/ person :?
I do not like the phrase alternative medicine, I prefer to say complimentary medicine :wink:

I worked in an NHS 'pain clinic' a few years ago part time. It did acupuncture and it seemed to work wonders for some people, it was very interesting.

adele and emma, thats exactly my thoughts! these things work well when working alongside each other, my mum has longterm backpain, and has been warned that she needs to ease off the painkillers as she will definatly need to up these later on in life so things like acupuncture etc are being tried with her other treatments, this to my mind is the best idea, and as Jeremy said I think that the relaxation side of these treatments and what they do chemically to the brain is what helps a great deal.

also while pregnant with both kids, I decided no drugs, but yes hospital
have to say I managed this (and quite enjoyed the experience) but it only felt right as I had the hospital staff and experts there on hand if need be