Pet acupuncture

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

TD's dog has arthritis of the spine, and apparently it has become quite painful to him.  Vet has him on meds that seem like it is alleviating most of the pain for him and pilling him is disgustingly easy.  I'm only used to pilling cats, with the battle to get a pill down their gullet.  Put the pill in a piece of meat and the dog happily takes it without a thought....stupid dog!

Anyway, one of the vets in the practice does acupuncture on animals and I am wondering if it may help the mutt.  One of the meds that he's on is prednisone, and that has given him an insatiable appetite such that it has become a battle to keep him on his normal diet.  Gaining weight will not be good for his arthritis and since the vet said to take cues from him as to how much exercise to give him, he's not getting long walks if he does not feel up to it.  I'd like to the prednisone, but it is obviously helping him so need to find something that will be as effective as a replacement.

Has anyone done this?  Have you found it effective?

[mollyanna58]

No personal experience, but I have a client who swears by it for her dogs. 

[Bonny]

DH and I have friends who did it for their cat. Husband (our CA atty) was VERY skeptical. He now admits he was SO wrong!

Try it for a while. I would think after 3 or 4 sessions you'll know whether it's working or if you're wasting your money.

[bookkeeper]

We fed our dog with hip dysplasia a dog food with glucosamine chondroitin. I think it was Science Diet. We had to buy it from the vet at that time. Made a huge difference.  Our golden retriever did not want to get off the pillow and after 3 days of the medicated food, was back to her old moves.

Sorry, I know nothing about acupuncture.

[Abby Normal]

You might look into water therapy too.   It works just like it does for people.  Nothing like a nice warm swim.

[dannylion]

My friends with two elderly arthritic dogs swear by acupuncture.  They say it seems to help relieve the pain significantly.  They also give the dogs green-lipped mussel supplements.  It's supposed to be good for doggy arthritis.  

Sending good thoughts that you can find something to help the poor sweetie feel better.   

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Off to the vet this afternoon. I've got a lot of things that I need to discuss with him, but we ran out of prednisone yesterday and the change in him overnight is remarkable. He is displaying almost all of his old symptoms (and driving me NUTS).

I have also heard about using glucosamine chondriotin, so that is another question I need to ask the vet. If we can change to that and acupuncture, and only use the prednisone for times where he is really hurting, that could help.

I think water therapy is out. Dog HATES water. Hell, my cat likes water better than the dog!

[Abby Normal]

Glucosamine is great.  I give it to my dogs as soon as they reach "middle age".  But you have to buy good stuff because of they absorption rates.

Since you're dog hates water-  that is what doggie swim lessons are for.  

[CarolinaKat]

Mar 11, 2014 13:56:14 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

Glucosamine is great.  I give it to my dogs as soon as they reach "middle age".  But you have to buy good stuff because of they absorption rates.

Since you're dog hates water-  that is what doggie swim lessons are for.  

Glucosamine is great up to the point you realize your Aussie throws up aroud 30 mins after ingesting it EVERY.TIME.

It did wonders for the elderly Pomeranian though

[Abby Normal]

My aussie isn't old enough for it yet.  But she has some serious food hang ups, so I have no doubt that she'll simply refuse to eat it. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The mutt has very few food hang ups, so getting it down him is not going to be an issue. Hopefully, it isn't something that will make him hurl though!

He's a German Spitz, looks like a Pom on steroids, or a long haired Shiba Inu. Getting a butt wash when he soils himself is a fate worse than death for him.

[dannylion]

The green-lipped mussel supplements are supposed to be a natural source of glucosamine chondroitin.  My friends get it in the form of chewy tablets made especially for dogs, and the dogs seem to love it.  They think it's a treat.  I've taken care of the dogs and have given them their meds, and they seem to keep it down with no problem.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

As the mutt has arthritis of the spine, it is not the same sort of joint that glucosamine is effective for. So it looks like this will have limited use for him.

I did get some information on acupuncture and laser treatments. The vet said that both of these could help him, so need to discuss which we want to try first for him. The past month since he's been on the prednisone, he's put on a 1 lb. Vet said that he does not want to see him weigh any more than 26 lbs, he weighs 24 right now so he's ok but this is something we've got to watch. I asked about other anti inflammatories and he told me that there are others, but they are rough on the kidneys, liver or gut and right now he's on a very low dose.

So has anyone used laser treatments? The means of action is that the laser increases blood flow to the area and alleviates inflammation. I guess it has biological plausibility (a lot more in my brain than acupuncture, but am willing to keep an open mind about it too).

[Abby Normal]

How old is the dog?  If he's older, I wouldn't worry too much and use the prednisone.  It's hard on them, but better than being in pain if you are just talking pain management to the end.  If it's a younger dog, then I probably would consider trying the acupuncture or laser to see if it helped.  I wouldn't want to leave them on the prednisone for long term use.

But you can add bulk to their food by adding some veggies or canned pumpkin.  It adds some volume without a lot of calories and may help satisfy his appetite. 

[Bonny]

Mar 11, 2014 18:09:00 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

How old is the dog?  If he's older, I wouldn't worry too much and use the prednisone.  It's hard on them, but better than being in pain if you are just talking pain management to the end.  If it's a younger dog, then I probably would consider trying the acupuncture or laser to see if it helped.  I wouldn't want to leave them on the prednisone for long term use.

But you can add bulk to their food by adding some veggies or canned pumpkin.  It adds some volume without a lot of calories and may help satisfy his appetite. 

MIL feeds the spoiled (I know, redundant) corgis canned pumpkin. Nothing like cleaning up pumpkin poop on a cold winter morning...

[kittensaver]

Long term prednisone is VERY hard on the kidneys and liver - especially the liver. And all it really does is mask the symptoms, it does not address the underlying problem(s). And yes, I "get it" that masking symptoms/symptom relief can be important to living and functioning comfortably. Once you start long-term pred you'd better be "in it" for the long haul, because taking an animal off it causes a kick-back in the pain syndrome that is really horrible for the animal

Acupuncture is a non-chemical option. It works by stimulating pressure or trigger points to give the body a kick-start to doing the inbred/innate healing it is naturally designed to do. It helps a LOT of people, and a lot of other people get nothing from it (there's a reason why there are so many healing modalities out there - not everyone responds to everything). Same with dogs - a quick internet search will show you about the same success rate as with humans.

It can't hurt to try for 3 or 4 sessions. If you see an improvement, great! If it doesn't help then move on to something else until you hit the "thing" that works for him.

[Abby Normal]

We've never had a problem with "pumpkin poop".  But we've added it to their regular kibble and only like 1/4 to 1/2 cup.   

But funny- because my MIL also has spoiled corgis.  They get ice cream when someone has a birthday...

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The mutt is spoiled rotten, both the animals are!  We have been fairly careful with his diet, but recently we have taking back his pre wash privileges!  He used to get the dregs of whatever we had for dinner, but no longer as it does not sit well on his stomach.  Results in lots of butt washes!

We are going to try one of these types of treatments.  I know that prednisone is not great for him, but he has done a 180 since on it.  We ran out yesterday, knowing we had an appointment at the vet today.  Just one day without has made him a miserable doggie today.  If he tolerates it, then I am not about to remove it from he arsenal of pain meds unless we have something that will satisfactorily replace it.

Mutt is around 10-12 years, not a young dog.

I'm thinking that trying to bulk out his diet with veggies may not be very successful, but we can try.  I remember bringing him back a piece of pizza during one of the days we were in Seattle while I was ill (day full of doctor appts).  He ate around the green peppers, mushrooms and olives.  Crust and sausage were satisfactory, of course.  He went back NS revisited the veggies several times until he realized tht no more of the good stuff was coming his direction, then very reluctantly ate them.

[Abby Normal]

Stay away from green peppers, onions and such. Try carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, or even jicama.  Try prepping them different ways too.  Steam some, or raw shredded or chunked.

Apples are good too.  You just have to find what they like and how they like it. 

[bookkeeper]

My last golden retriever could clean up a plate of table scraps and spit out every last green pea back onto the plate.

What a talent!

[Deleted]

growing up we had a dog who could eat mashed potatoes and avoid the peas mixed in

[sunshinegal1981]

Patients taking daily prednisone must be tapered off of it.  It's not safe to discontinue it abruptly.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Mar 12, 2014 10:26:50 GMT -5 sunshinegal1981 said:

Patients taking daily prednisone must be tapered off of it.  It's not safe to discontinue it abruptly.

The dog is taking the lowest dose that is available, I asked about this yesterday.  So no way to taper him off of it. 

We've decided to try the laser treatments to see if these help, just waiting for the vet to call with the results of whether or not we need to increase/decrease his thyroid meds.  Goal is to get him off taking the prednisone regularly and just use it for breakthrough pain , mainly because of his ravenous appetite while he is on it.  This morning, he got his dose of prednisone and he is a MUCH more comfortable doggie.

Hopefully, when the weather is warmer and less wet, it will help as well.

[Deleted]

Get a rice cooker and make a pot each day. Give him a cup or two mixed in his food with a little bit of olive oil. Add a raw egg to make it sticky tasty if you are feeling nice. Makes the food more filling and is non irritating.