Acupuncture helped a cute puppy article - Animal acupuncture? Hey, it works

Animal acupuncture? Hey, it works

Posted: November 13, 2014 - 6:15pm

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When Max the Shih Tzu began suffering symptoms of a possible stroke, Dr. Andrea Cecur, left, successfully treated him with acupuncture needles. Tom Higley, right, said Max seemed like a new dog after the treatments.

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By JON MARK BEILUE

Tom and Brenda Higley were willing to do about anything to help their baby. About seven weeks ago, Max started walking sideways and would curl his back in weird fashion. He quit eating. Doctors were baffled.
“I thought, ‘What in the world is wrong with this little guy?’” Tom said.
Max wasn’t saying. Being a dog — a Shih Tzu — might be the reason. He is 5 years old, a rescue dog the Higleys got from Midland three years ago.
One veterinarian, Dr. Pat Chase, ruled out poisoning. Tom guessed it might be a stroke. She concurred. Chase suggested Max be taken to the vet hospital at Oklahoma State to be sure. The Higleys were willing to do about anything.
But, wait, Chase said. First, maybe take Max to see Dr. Andrea Cecur in Umbarger. She does acupuncture on horses and dogs.
“I said, ‘Wait, do what now?’” Tom said. “I didn’t know what to think.”
He’d tried acupuncture in the 1970s to quit smoking. Acupuncture might help Max kick the habit if he had one, but a stroke?
Acupuncture on a dog from someone who also does this on horses? OK, where’s the camera? Sounds like a rerun of “Green Acres.” This has to be a practical joke.
“A lot of owners are surprised,” Cecur said. “They never thought acupuncture applied to animals. Sometimes they’re kind of skeptical, but they’ll try it because they’re willing to do whatever they can to help their animal.”
Cecur is the lone employee at Harmony Veterinary Services. Her office was at one time a package store — this is, after all, Umbarger — a furniture store, and a cowboy church.
She is not your average local veterinarian, inasmuch as she hails from New Jersey and went to Ohio State. She bounced around the country as a vet and working for the USDA until landing in Umbarger in 2004.
That came on the heels of a year studying animal chiropractic care in Illinois and animal acupuncture at Colorado State, making her the only vet in a 300-mile radius performing acupuncture on horses, dogs, and an occasional cow.
So, how many acupunctured animals in her practice?
“Oh, goodness, I have a drawer full of files if that helps,” she said. “Hundreds.”
Most of the dogs, like dachshunds, have back pain or arthritis. Horses are often performance-related to their backs, buttocks or necks.
Acupuncture needles stimulate nerves and blood vessels that relate to parts of the spinal cord, which then relate to muscle, bones and other organs. The ancient Chinese method can bring pain relief, relieve inflammation and swelling, and bring the body back to balance.
An average dog, Cecur said, requires 15 to 20 needles from a quarter- to half-inch deep at specific points for 20 minutes. Horses require around 30 needles, some of which are 3 and 4 inches long for the back and buttocks.
Humans can sort of brace themselves and get ready for needle insertion, but don’t dogs start yelping and horses start kicking at the idea of turning into a porcupine?
About 98 percent of dogs and horses have no issues, Cecur said. They might jump a little bit, but they’d take it better than I would.
“She’s kind of a dog whisperer,” Brenda said.
Her slightly skeptical husband took Max to see Cecur in early October. He sat down Max, who staggered around like a drunken sailor on shore leave. She put Max on a table while Tom held his head.
Cecur talked to him quietly and began to rub her fingers all over him — Max, not Tom — and inserted eight needles in the dog’s lower back and eight in his upper back and neck.
And Max? He went to sleep.
Twenty minutes later, well slap me silly, but Max was put on the floor, began walking straight, poking his nose where he shouldn’t, and then started trotting.
“I said, ‘My God, look what’s happened,’” Tom said. “It’s almost like a new dog.”
If Higley was surprised, Cecur wasn’t. She said about “80 to 85 percent” of animals treated with holistic wellness respond favorably.
When Higley told Chase about the recovery, she told him her own animals had been treated by Cecur with similar results.
Max has been to four follow-up treatments, and when I saw him Tuesday, he could be fitted with a shirt with an ‘S” and a red cape.
“It’s just amazing,” Brenda said.
Acupuncture for animals — who knew?


http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2014-11-13/animal-acupuncture-hey-it-works