"...Then I watched, surprised, as Stephanie inserted a dozen needles in Orson's back, shoulders, neck, and legs. Within minutes, he was lying on his back snoring, feet in the air, tongue nearly hanging off the table. I had rarely, if ever, seen him so relaxed... "

- John Katz, on his first time he took his collie to a holistic vet in Vermont for acupuncture. He has a great new book, "Katz on Dogs: A Common Sense Guide to Training and Living With Dogs,"

Watch a video of what vets have to say about acupuncture and see how it is practiced on dogs. Don't worry, there's nothing to make your teeth crunch

 
 


HOW CAN aCUPUNCTURE HELP?

By Karin Serejski

Many animal owners and lovers are not aware that natural care and holistic health treatments are available for their pets, and that they can be very effective in a variety of conditions.

Complementary medicine approaches and treats a being as a whole rather than viewing and treating the illness as a separate entity or agent of its own, and aims at finding and addressing the cause of the discomfort or disease while also aiming at alleviating any pain or discomfort. While Western medicine can provide wonderful symptom relief and can slow down the process of chronic diseases, complementary medicine can offer the possibility of treating the chronic diseases at a deeper level of the organism. Modern and holistic medicine are in fact the best complements to one another and should by all means, be used together, with the consent of both parties. Complementary medicine is above all preventative and works with the body to promote health and normal function. It does not interfere with medical drugs. It has even been shown to even help diminish the side effects of the more toxic drugs such as those used in chemotherapy. Complementary veterinary medicine can also offer hope when conventional treatment has failed, or is unable to offer any chance of a cure.

Anyone working with a committed holistic practitioner will often experience and enjoy a deepening of the physical, mental and emotional bond they have with their animals.

So then, what is acupuncture and how can it help? Acupuncture is a 4000-year old Chinese medical system of techniques used to enhance and restore the flow of vital energy (qi/chi) throughout the body. Qi is that energy that pulses through all things, whether animated or not. Qi is a type of subtle energy that permeates our environment and in the Chinese model, qi energy is absorbed into our skin via portals of entry on the skin. These portals are formed by the acupuncture points, which in turn are inlets along specialized meridian systems which run superficially and deeply below the integument to underlying organ structures. Through 12 pair of meridians, qi flows into the bodily organs to provide life-giving sustaining energy. Acupuncture consists in the fine needling of a number of these carefully selected points in order to elicit desirable therapeutic changes and results throughout the body. The stimulation of these points causes a release of histamine and other neurochemicals. This release in turn brings about pain relief, stimulation of the immune system, muscle and tissue relaxation, and alterations in blood vessels, which ultimately results in a decrease in clinical signs. I commonly use animal acupuncture to treat allergies and autoimmune deficiencies, arthritis, dysplasias, digestive and intestinal ailments, intervertebral disk diseases, musculoskeletal problems, neurological disorders, as well as various organic malfunctions. Acupuncture also helps decrease the side effects of chemotherapy (as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and lethargy) and can also be used to keep comfortable those for whom western approaches are not an option. This form of medicine is above all preventative. It is best used on animals who are just beginning to manifest symptoms.

The primary focus of complementary alternative medicine then is prevention of disease by total health promotion. Holistic methods are gentle, efficient and ultimately, cost-effective. They are based on promoting wellness and reduce the need for drugs and surgeries. They increase the animal’s length and quality of life and offer alternatives for many illnesses that have no allopathic answers or for animals for whom surgery or drugs are not an option. In addition, anyone working with a committed holistic practitioner will often experience and enjoy a deepening of the physical, mental and emotional bond they have with their animals.

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Karin Serejski is a Licensed Human Acupuncturist in the State of Maryland. She graduated with a Master’s Degree in 1998 from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, in Columbia, MD. She became a Certified Animal Acupuncturist in 1999.

While acupuncture remains her main treatment approach, she has continued on studying additional holistic modalities. In 2000 she became a Master/Teacher of Usui Reiki and in 2004 a Level II practitioner of Karuna Reiki. Karin offers her Reiki services both to people and animals and volunteers in the Oncology Unit at “Holy Cross Hospital” Silver Spring, MD.She also became a Certified Flower Essence Therapist in 2000 and prepares flower formulas both for people and their animals.

Karin Serejski invites you to continue on reading about complementary alternative medicine on her website www.holisticpets.net. You can also call her at (301) 221-3412.