Disc Disease, Acupuncture Is As Effective As Surgery

When discs are suddenly herniated most dogs experience intense pain. A study published Aug 31, 2011, by doctors from the Orthopaedic Department, East Chamber, Beijing Military General Hospital, Beijing 100026, China showed that effects of acupuncture treatment were comparable to the effects of surgery.

Which Dog Breeds Are Predisposed to Develop Disc Disease?
There is a high incidence of ruptured discs in dogs with chondrodystrophy or those with long backs and short legs:
• Beagle,
• Bichon Frise,
• Chihuahua,
• Cocker Spaniel,
• Corgi,
• Dachshunds,
• Lhasa Apso,
• Miniature Poodle,
• Pembroke Welsh Corgi,
• Pekingese,
• Pomeranian,
• Pug,
• Tibetan Spaniel.

Disc Disease also occurs in large breed dogs, but is more often a slow compression of the disc than a rapid injury. Large-breed dogs prone to develop disc disease are the:
• Dalmatian,
• Doberman Pinscher,
• German Shepherd,
• Great Dane,
• Labrador Retriever,
• Rottweiler,
• Siberian Husky.

If your pet is one of these dog breeds, take steps to prevent disc disease. If disc disease occurs and you cannot afford surgery, have your holistic veterinarian treat your pet with acupuncture.

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Senior Dogs & Arthritis, Roscoe the Rescued Rottie Shepherd

Roscoe has a great story. He is a geriatric 120-lb Rottie-Shepherd rescued through PAWS in Point Roberts, WA, two years ago. These last two years may have been the best in Roscoe's life; he is no longer tied up in a yardand he receives delicious food and love. But, like many seniors, he has developed mobility issues.

Proprioceptive Placing
When Roscoe first came to us, he did not know where his feet were in space. This is called proprioceptive placing (PP). With dogs like Roscoe, we can flip the feet over and they will stand on the back of the foot.

Pain Causes Stiffness
Roscoe also had pain over his hips and had stiff legs. When dogs have stiff legs, it’s because they have stopped bending their knees and ankles and elbows and wrists. Arthritic joints don't hurt when they aren’t moved, so dogs like Roscoe walk stiffly.

Metacam
To help with stiffness & pain, Roscoe's vet put him on the most commonly prescribed Canadian pain medication for arthritis, Metacam. Because Metacam doesn't improve the joints, Roscoe wasn't getting better. Fortunately, his family brought him in for holistic veterinary treatment. And, the fun started.

Holistic Vet Help for Arthritis
For dogs with severe musculoskeletal pain, there are plenty of changes we can make in diet, medications, supplements and therapy. First, we changed Roscoe’s diet to best reflect the natural German Shepherd diet, increasing the vegetables, fruit, and meat he received. We recommended increased fiber, such as cabbage. We recommended increased Omega 3 fatty acids, such as Missing Link, and recommended weight loss.

Acupuncture and Soft Laser Therapy for Arthritis
At his first visit, Roscoe received acupuncture. His back was very sensitive and only a few needles were tolerated. We used the soft laser to stimulate points that were too sensitive to needle. By the second acupuncture treatment, Roscoe was very comfortable receiving needles and soft laser therapy. We began electroacupuncture. By this time, Roscoe's proprioceptive placing had returned and he knew where his feet were in space. He was swimming with delight in the warm salt water pool.

Adequan and TCM Herbs for Arthritis and Pain
We started a series of Adequan injections. Adequan is given twice a week for 3 weeks then once a week for 4 weeks. We recommended a Traditional Chinese Herbal formula called Invigorate the Collaterals (Xiao Huo Luo Dan Wan). Invigorate the Collaterals reduces severe, persistent pain, reduces muscle spasm and helps with nerve compression and osteoarthritis, especially of the hin dlimbs. It moves, tonifies and transforms "phlegm."

Moxa for Arthritis & Pain
The family began using moxa to warm acupuncture points and extend the benefit of his treatments in clinic. Moxa is an herb rolled into a cigar shape. The herbal cigar is lit with a match and held near acupuncture points to warm them. It is also used along the back to relax the epaxial muscles.

Happy Dog
Using acupuncture, soft laser, herbs, Adequan, moxa, and therapeutic swimming, we're able to bring the joie de vivre back to Roscoe. You can see by the expression on his face that he is happy. I believe that like all rescued dogs, he is truly grateful for everything his family has done for him.

We cannot make Roscoe live forever, but we can give him an excellent quality of life for as long as he is with us.

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Pain in Dogs & Cats, Knee and Back Pain

Knee and back pain are the two most common problems I see in practice. Knee pain is caused by patella luxation, ruptured cruciate ligaments, partial ACL tears, osteoarthritis. Back pain is caused by any limb injury that throws the back out of alignment, hip dysplasia, lumbosacral stenosis, and disc disease. Dogs & cats also have back and knee pain if they have bone infection, Lyme’s Disease, or joint infections.

Among the pain-relieving approaches we provide these dogs & cats are conventional medications, warm, salt water swimming, massage, herbs, and acupuncture.

Just this month, another study showing the effectiveness of electroacupuncture in relieving back and knee pain was published in Brain Research by doctors & scientists from the Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland in the US and the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200001, P.R. China.

I use electroacupuncture (EA) on many of the painful dogs & cats. Like most acupuncturists, I’ve found that pets with chronic pain often respond best to low frequency EA (10 Hz). The benefit of low frequency electroacupuncture is what Meng, Li, Xin, et al showed in their research. They found that electroacupuncture of 10 Hz is even better than electroacupuncture at 100 Hz at producing opoids that relieve pain.

When we use electroacupuncture, we generate opoids within the dog & cat. The opoids bind receptors in the pet’s body and provide a natural pain relief. Thus, pets that cannot use NSAIDs such as Meloxicam or Rimadyl because of poor kidney function, bleeding ulcers, or because they have elevated liver enzymes can receive significant pain relief.

For details on this study, which was electronically published ahead of print publication, check Pub Med, PMID: 21872220, or go to the Aug 7, 2011, issue of Brain Research for the article:The effects of opioid receptor antagonists on electroacupuncture-produced anti-allodynia/hyperalgesia in rats with paclitaxel-evoked peripheral neuropathy. Meng X, Zhang Y, Li A, et al.

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Acupuncture Treats Pain--Decrease in Neuropathic Pain with Acupuncture

There is research showing many different types of pain are helped by acupuncture, including pain that’s aching, piercing, sharp &; stingy, and deep and slow. There is also a type of irritating numbness & tingling pain called neuropathic pain that is helped by acupuncture.

 

A study just published by a British group suggested that neuropathic pain is improved by acupuncture. In this study, patients with neuropathic pain caused by chemotherapy were treated with acupuncture. An amazing 82% of the patients treated by acupuncture improved. Patients were treated for 6 weeks using PC 6, ST 36 or LV 3.

 

How is this information helpful for pet families? We can assume that pets have pain as often as humans, even though they are often better at disguising their suffering than we are. We can assume that just as humans have neuropathic pain, pets have neuropathic pain. For example, dogs &; cats with the following conditions may experience neuropathic pain:

• nerve impingement,
• lumbosacral stenosis,
• dislocations,
• diabetic neuropathy,
• chronic B vitamin depletion,
• small bowel intestinal overgrowth,
• inflammatory bowel disease
• chemotherapy
• diabetes.

Because dogs and cats usually respond to acupuncture in the same way that humans do, we can hope that a high percentage of dogs and cats with neuropathic pain to benefit from acupuncture.

 

The study will be published this month in Acupunct Med. 2011 Sep;29(3):230-3. Evaluation of acupuncture in the management of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Donald GK, Tobin I, Stringer J. Complementary Therapy Service, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Wilmslow Road,
Manchester M20 4BX, UK; graeme.donald@christie.nhs.uk.

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ACL Injury in Dogs, Treatment includes Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula Benefit Hips & Knees

Anterior Cruciate Ligament ACL) injuries are the most common sports injury in dogs. The ligament can become weakened over time until it is completely shredded, or the ACL can have one gut-wrenching tear.
When the ACL is completely torn, dogs are toe-touching lame. The knee isn’t stable when the ACL is damaged and dogs don’t want to put their weight on the injured leg, so they just touch the foot lightly to the floor.

Because the anterior cruciate holds the upper leg bone (femur) squarely over the two lower leg bones (tibia and fibula), when the ACL is torn, the upper and lower bones slide back and forth damaging knee cartilage. White blood cells (WBCs) rush to the knee and it becomes swollen and warm. The tiny enzyme packets released by WBCs pit the cartilage and over time, the inside of the knee looks like a fireworks test kitchen.

If the ACL injury is minor, the treatment is rest and quad and biceps muscle strengthening. Swimming these dogs and slowly building muscles is ideal.

If the ACL injury is major and the ligament is completely torn, the best treatment is surgery. When the family chooses not to have surgery, some pets will also benefit from slowly swimming to build muscles around the knee and increase stability provided by external structures.

Dogs with ACL injury also benefit from a series of Adequan injections and from the herbal formula Benefit Hips & Knees( Xiao Chai Hu Jia Qin Jiao Tang). Benefit Hips & Knees has been used since the time of Christ, that is 2000 years because it is so effective.

In addition to helping dogs with ACL injury, Benefit Hips & Knees helps dogs with
• Intervertebral disc disease (IVDD)
• Hip dysplasia
• Hind limb paralysis due to disc disease.

Benefit Hips & Knees contains bupleurum root, Chinese red ginseng, gentian root, skullcap root, pinellia, licorice root, dried ginger and red jujube fruit. This combination of herbs expels pathogens, stops nausea and vomiting, generate Chi to give the limbs more strength.

If your pet has an ACL injury, bring it into WaterWorkz for swimming, Adequan, and Benefit Hips & Knees. When your dog is so sore it walks with toe-touch lameness, it will appreciate everything you do for it.

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Dogs & Cats Get Herbal Help with Four Marvels

In a previous Caring for Pets discussion, we looked at all the bone & joint & muscle conditions that benefit from Four Marvels, from arthritis to gout, and now, let’s consider all the other pet illness that Four Marvels will help.



Four Marvels helps pets with
• anal sac infection
• bladder problems & cystitis
• chronic ear infections (fungal otitis externa)
• chronic skin infections from allergic dermatitis to pyoderma
• Cushing’s disease due to pituitary tumor (not adrenal)
• degenerative myelopathy
• epilepsy
• foot infections or pododermatitis
• IBD and colitis
• immune thrombocytopenia
• lymphoma
• pancreatitis
• vestibular syndrome
• vomiting
• weakness

The brain can benefit from Four Marvels just as the body can. Pets with behavorial problems that benefit from Four Marvels are
• aggressive when confined
• characteristically bullies


Pets benefit from Four Marvels whenever the illness or mental problem is characterized by heat and moisture. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), moisture can range from tissues in the body being too wet and sticky (damp) to tissues having been thick and sticky for so long that they solidify (phlegm). Thus in TCM, a pet has a problem with moisture (damp or phlegm) if it has lipomas, round abdomen, masses, bladder crystals or stones,

Pets also benefit from Four Marvels whenever the illness is characterized by heat: red, warm swollen, hot, or stinky.

Some pets have only heat conditions; some, only damp conditions, but when pets have both heat and damp conditions is when they really benefit from Four Marvels.

Where in the body your pet develops heat & damp depends upon genetics, diet, & environmental exposures. For esample, if your dog or cat doesn’t drink enough water, the heat & damp is seen in bladder infections or bladder stones. If your pet has a genetic tendency to develop skin disease, such as Schnauzers & Spaniels do, we see seborrhea. In the bully breeds, including Old English Bulldogs and Staffys, we see skin fold infections (pyodermatitis) and feet infections (pododermatitis).

Ask your holistic veterinarian for herbal help if your pet has any heat/damp condition and it will be able to benefit from thousands of years of research and experimentation in herbal medicine.

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Dog Lameness, Herbal Help with Four Marvels

Four Marvels is the most commonly prescribed herbal formula for pets with all sorts of health problems, including lameness. Four Marvels has been around for over a thousand years because it treats so many conditions.

Examples of pain and lameness conditions benefiting from Four Marvels:
• arthritis
• gout
• infected joints
• knee pain
• leg pain
• low back pain
• muscle spasm
• numbness
• swollen feet
• weak limbs with muscle atrophy

Although Four Marvels is available from many sources, I use only Chinese medications that have met North American good manufacturing practice standards. Two trusted companies providing Four Marvels are Kan Herb in California and Natural Path in Edmonton. The herb is available as tablet, liquid and powder. What a blessing.

In a future Caring for Pets blog, we’ll discuss many other pet conditions that can be helped with Four Marvels.

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Lameness in Dogs due to Lyme Disease

What signs of illness in your dog suggest Lyme disease? LAMENESS, and fatigue, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. Humans report headaches, dizziness, numbness, muscle and joint pain, and it’s likely that dogs also have these symptoms. If your dog has nonspecific lameness that doesn’t improve with rest, ask your holistic veterinarian for doxycycline and herbs to boost the immune system.

Lyme disease is carried by ticks and is spread when the ticks’ mouth parts penetrate the dog’s skin. Ticks attach to dogs to suck their blood and obtain the nourishment they need to mature to nymphs and adults.

After attaching to the dog’s skin, ticks release anticoagulant secretions from their mouths that keep the dog’s blood flowing. Along with these secretions come tiny little bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, that cause the disease we call Lyme’s disease.

We can prevent the spread of Lyme disease by removing ticks before they have time to attach strongly to our dogs, that is within 12 hours. We can use topical medications, such as Frontline or Advantix, to repel or kill ticks and prevent disease transmission.

If the tick attaches and transmits Lyme bacteria during its feeding period, some dogs have effective immune system that attack and eliminate the bacteria, but many dog’s have immune systems that are easily fooled by the bacteria. Borrelia has a sneaky method of evading the immune system—it hides within white blood cells, the very cells that the immune system uses to kill the bacteria. The unsuspecting white blood cells transport the bacteria throughout the body, and the bacteria flourish when they are transported to joints or to the brain and nervous system.

Fortunately, there is a treatment for Lyme disease, the antibiotic doxycycline. Doxy is given twice a day for up to 3 weeks. Pets taking an antibiotic like Doxy should also take a probiotic to replace the good bacteria in the gut that are inadvertently killed. The beneficial gut bacteria help make vitamins and fatty acids; if they’re wiped out by the nonspecific killing action of the antibiotic, pets are at risk for developing chronic diarrhoea and malnutrition.

How do we know if a pet has Lyme disease, because dogs can be lame for many reasons--get a blood test. Recently, improved tests to identify Lyme infection were developed by Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) at the College of Vet Medicine. The new test helps clarify whether an animal is infected, and if so, for how long it has been infected. The test can also distinguish between an infected animal and an animal that has antibodies to Lyme disease because it was vaccinated. Veterinarians can send serum or cerebral spinal fluid for testing to AHDC. http://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu or phone, 607 253 3900.

When I treat dogs with Lyme disease, I use Benefit Hips & Knees (Xiao Chai Hu Tang) from Kan Herbs or Open the Liver Channels, which is Xiao Chai Hu Tang with Turmeric. These herbal formulas help the immune system, give the pet more energy, and strengthen the liver & adrenals. Pets with deep-seated pathogens like Lyme disease strongly benefit from Xiao Chai Hu Tang in either formula.

Our pets have the best opportunity for healing when we combine both conventional medicine’s antibiotic and holistic medicine’s herbal formulas. Why have a pet needs that is lame, has headaches, and feels poorly when there are effective antibiotics and herbs available.

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