Alternative Vets Ease Pets' Pain

Americans seek holistic care for their animals, too
By Jacqueline Stenson

Lola's first experience with acupuncture came a year and a half ago after all other attempts to get her hind legs functioning normally had failed. Lyme disease had left the 150-pound black and white Great Dane with stiff joints and weak muscles that made it hard for her to get around.

ANTIBIOTICS HELPED but did not prevent the long-term complications. Lola’s veterinarian said major surgery was the only option.
       Around that time, Lola’s owner, Elizabeth Santander, an interior designer in Chappaqua, N.Y., saw a news program in which Phillip Raclyn, a veterinarian with the Alternative and Complementary Veterinary Centers of New York, was discussing the benefits of acupuncture for dogs with arthritis and other ambulatory problems. “I decided to try it,” says Santander, who herself, a fan of a type of therapeutic touch called Reiki, is no stranger to alternative medicine. “I had nothing to lose at that point. Even if it did nothing to help her, it couldn’t hurt her.”
       But acupuncture — an ancient Chinese technique in which very thin needles are inserted into the body in an effort to counteract supposedly harmful blockages of energy that flows through the body — did help, Santander says, along with vitamin supplementation and some Chinese herbs. “Within the first couple of sessions, this was a completely different dog,” she recalls. “She had more energy. Her whole demeanor changed.”
       Then in July, eight-year-old Lola suffered a stroke. She is currently undergoing more acupuncture — complemented by conventional treatments, such as steroids — to speed her recovery. And again, Lola is improving.
       
A RECENT BOOM
       Like Santander, a growing number of pet owners are opting for the nontraditional medical path for their animals, according to veterinarian Randy Kidd, president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association in Bel Air, Md. “In the last three to four years, we’ve seen a tremendous boom from consumers,” he says. “People are seeing good results with alternative medicine on themselves, and they want the same thing for their pets.”
       Membership in the group, founded in 1982, is 800 and growing, and circulation of its quarterly medical journal, which offer articles and research findings on alternative therapies for animals, is also increasing, Kidd says.
       The interest in holistic pet care has even prompted a few veterinary schools to add short courses on acupuncture, homeopathy and other unconventional therapies.
       For the most part, dogs and cats are the typical patients of holistic vets. But alternative therapy is also being used on rabbits, horses, various exotic pets, some birds, lizards and even the occasional cow, Kidd says.
       Experts say holistic care for animals works best when used in the same manner that seems most effective for humans — as an adjunct treatment to help ease the pain of chronic diseases such as arthritis and cancer and for musculoskeletal conditions like back pain.
       The most commonly used and most effective treatments, says Kidd, are acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, herbs (such as echinacea, red clover, grape root, dandelion root and hawthorn) and nutrition therapy.
       Other treatments, like massage, are growing in popularity. In Loveland, Colo., for instance, a company called EquiTouch Systems teaches a 150-hour course on horse massage therapy to trainers and breeders. Adrian Mazlum, who helped start the business five years ago, says course attendance doubled each year for the past two years.
       Why massage a horse? “For the same reasons you do it for football players, because they’re athletes,” says Mazlum. Like athletes, horses get stiff sore muscles that benefit from a good rub. Massage also helps prevent injuries in the animals by increasing their range of motion, he says.
       
WHERE’S THE PROOF?
       As is largely the case with alternative therapy for people, large well-controlled studies of holistic therapies in animals also have yet to be completed.
       So in the absence of scientific proof, how does anybody know these therapies work? After all, you can’t ask Fluffy if she’s feeling better.
       Many practitioners say experience alone is compelling enough evidence. “If an animal acts better and walks better, that tells me that he is better,” Kidd says. What’s more, animals are not susceptible to the placebo effect. In other words, unlike people, they don’t walk into the doctor’s office with any preconceived notions about whether their therapy is going to work. They don’t get better because they think they are going to.
       Even traditional vets acknowledge that some forms of alternative therapy may be beneficial, according to veterinarian Richard C. Swanson, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association in Schaumburg, Ill., which two years ago issued guidelines on the use of alternative and complementary treatments in veterinary medicine. “There is evidence that acupuncture is probably effective for certain conditions” such as chronic pain, he says, and that chiropractic seems to help small animals.
       
BARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE
       But the group is concerned about the use of untested therapies by untrained practitioners. “Alternative and complementary therapies are relatively new to veterinary medicine, and our concern is that they are used by veterinarians who are well-versed in their use so that no harm is done,” Swanson says, pointing out that particular therapies, such as herbal supplements, may be toxic.
       In addition, he stresses that alternative therapies should not be used in place of proven medical therapies. So if an animal has bacterial pneumonia, he says, it needs antibiotics, not aromatherapy.
       “Alternative and complementary therapies should be used after conventional medicine has been attempted or in addition to traditional veterinary medicine, but not in place of it,” Swanson says.
       His group recommends that people interested in holistic pet care seek a trained veterinarian who has undergone additional training in alternative therapies. Alternately, Swanson says, a conventional vet can refer a client to an alternative practitioner with whom he will then coordinate care.
       Kidd agrees that alternative care should be used in conjunction with traditional Western care to be most effective. “If, in an unfortunate event, your dog’s been hit by a car,” he says, “you don’t want to call for an alternative practitioner.”