Northlake Animal Hospital takes a holistic and comprehensive approach to pet healthcare because we understand that there’s more than one way to improve the wellbeing of your furry friend. As part of our wide range of services, we are excited to provide dog acupuncture therapy to bring balance to the health of your pet.
Acupuncture is a practice of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) which uses needles inserted into the skin where nerve bundles and blood vessels come together. This treatment focuses on restoring energy balance and promoting full-body healing.
Dog acupuncture therapy helps activate the body’s natural pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory substances with little to no side effects. By inserting needles into the shallow layers of the skin, we can help improve tissue blood flow, oxygenation, and remove metabolic wastes while relaxing tense muscles.
There are some minor side effects, but they are rare and mostly negligible. The most common effects are tiredness and occasional soreness the day after the therapy.
Your first appointment will always involve an in-depth conversation about your pet’s health and what your health goals will be. Since this is a holistic treatment, rather than targeting symptoms, we focus on your pet’s general health and bringing wellness to the entire physical system.
After we have discussed your wellness goal, we will conduct a comprehensive examination before diagnosing the condition and creating a treatment plan. The next step is to proceed to the dog acupuncture session which typically lasts between 20-30 minutes. However, when we include the preliminary interview the entire appointment lasts about an hour.
Pet owners tend to worry about how their pets will react, but most animals tend to remain calm during the therapy. We distract them by having them enjoy some delicious popsicles during the session and they’ll hardly notice the needles.
Although some pets just come in for a single session every week, the condition will determine how many treatments your pet will need. As the health of your pet improves, less treatment is necessary.
The number of conditions that can be alleviated with dog acupuncture is quite extensive, however, some of the more common conditions include:
Although it can take several appointments to see the results, most pets feel them immediately. If you want to help your pet feel better than ever, bring them over to Northlake Animal Hospital for a dog acupuncture session today!
