NorthBay biz explores the world of complementary veterinary medicine and sheds some light on some North Bay businesses that are making animals’ well-being their top priority.
Once thought of as “nontraditional,” “alternative” or, in some cases, “Eastern” medicine, the terminology preferred by most practitioners today is “complementary.” But all of the names are misnomers, since not all complementary treatments came from the Far East, and they’re generally not considered an “alternative,” or replacement, to conventional medicine but rather something to use in addition to more standard treatments. What’s more, some of these modalities were in use thousands of years before today’s standard medical practices, making the term “nontraditional” obsolete. In fact, most complementary medicines have not only been used a very long time (at least on people), but have also been scientifically proven to work.
“I don’t like the word ‘alternative,’ because it suggests you’re going to be turning your back on one section of medicine to exclusively practice another,” says Dr. Grant Miller, doctor of veterinary medicine and certified veterinary acupuncturist who practices out of Petaluma-based Sonoma Marin Veterinary Service. “I like ‘complementary,’ because I believe there’s a lot of room for both kinds of medicine—the Eastern medical approach, which encompasses acupuncture, herbs and physical therapy, and the Western medical approach, which we’re more used to, which is X-ray, ultrasound, ‘take this drug and call me in the morning.’ I think both segments have their strengths.
“I’ve heard veterinarians say, ‘I don’t believe in acupuncture,’ which is funny, because the word ‘believe’ isn’t something that’s really relevant to medical practice,” says Miller. “[Acupuncture] is scientifically proven to work. We know several things about what it does physiologically to animals, and so the word ‘believe’ is very strange to me. It’s like saying, ‘I don’t believe in penicillin.’”
Get to the point
One complementary treatment that’s been widely used on animals in the United States for well over 30 years—and that’s had a lot of documented success—is acupuncture, a technique of inserting and manipulating fine filiform needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes.
“One of the benefits of acupuncture is that it treats the whole body,” explains Miller of the treatment that was first used on people in China thousands of years ago. “If you have one specific problem—for example, a horse with a gastric ulcer in its stomach—acupuncture doesn’t just treat that, it treats the whole body. It’s a holistic approach.”
Dr. Miller says acupuncture can be especially useful for chronic issues such as arthritis, back pain, stomach ulcers and gastrointestinal disorders, although it can be tried on anything in the body with a decent response.
“There was a horse that had an ulcer on its eye; the eye was scraped,” says Miller. “That’s called a corneal ulcer. The horse wasn’t getting better, and they were doing all the medications—all the antibiotic eye medications, all the anti-inflammatory medications. Then I did acupuncture, and the next day the eye was open and visibly better. It wasn’t completely healed, but it was certainly moving in the right direction.”
From releasing muscle tension to sore backs and wither problems (the wither is the high point of a horse’s back), Jeannette Derammelaere, owner of Novato’s Rocking J&R Ranch, started using acupuncture 30 years ago on the recommendation of a veterinarian. “It’s miraculous to see how it immediately releases tension,” says Derammelaere, who’s used the practice both for her clients’ horses and for her own horse, which is schooling at the grand prix level. “One of my clients’ horses had TMJ [temporomandibular joint dysfunction, a disorder of the jaw joint] and needed relief. He received acupuncture one time and hasn’t had symptoms since. It helps tremendously.”
Just relax
People have long known the therapeutic benefits of massage for sore and achy muscles, tension and overall stress relief, so it seems a natural extension to offer the treatment to animals that are experiencing the same kinds of maladies.
“There are three main categories [of client],” explains Kay Lafranconi, a certified small animal massage practitioner, Level 1 Reiki practitioner and owner/operator of Yountville-based Belly Rub, a pet massage business that services Napa County and parts of Sonoma County. “Some people have a relatively healthy dog but just want to keep them healthy and keep their joints limber. Not everybody can exercise their dogs as much as they want, so it helps keep them limber and more flexible.
“Then there are dogs that are going through rehabilitation, where the massage therapist works in conjunction with a vet or animal care provider. The third category is performance-and-agility and service dogs. They’re athletes—they’re running and jumping and really using their body a lot—especially performance dogs. If they get stretched and massaged appropriately before and after a competition, it really affects how tight their turns are and it really helps them recover faster from a workout.
“Of all those categories, the one that’s most prevalent are the older dogs. They’re the ones that have arthritis, and it becomes more apparent to people when their dog is older that they’re suffering physically and need some relief.”
And how do the dogs respond to a relaxing massage? Apparently, most enjoy it as much as their human counterparts.
Swim in it
Veterinarians are also increasingly recommending other complementary treatments, including hydrotherapy, which is essentially the same thing as physical therapy for people.
“Another [complementary treatment] that’s really growing in popularity is rehabilitation therapy, which is really the same thing as physical therapy for people, but in veterinary medicine we’re not allowed to call it that,” says Dr. Nancy Kay, a staff internist at the Rohnert Park-based VCA Animal Care Center who’s a board certified specialist in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, recipient of the American Animal Hospital Association 2009 Animal Welfare and Humane Ethics award and author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life (www.speakingforspot.com). “One of the methodologies uses an underwater treadmill. It looks like a big aquarium that you fill with water to whatever level allows for non-weight-bearing exercise and strengthening. That’s ideal for a dog recovering from knee surgery, for example. It’s a great thing for dogs with arthritis in their hips or dogs recovering from back surgery, because it strengthens muscles without weight bearing exercise.”
While rehabilitation therapy doesn’t diagnose or treat illnesses, it does help support the animal’s overall health.
“I have patients I’m treating for particular diseases that are older, large breed dogs that are really stiff and have difficulty getting around,” says Kay. “And because of other issues—maybe they have a stomach problem already—we don’t want to use things like doggie Advil or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. For them, I encourage acupuncture or get them on an underwater treadmill, and it’s given dogs that were having a hard time getting around the ability to run on the beach and resume a much improved quality of life.”
Exploring the possibilities
Reasons people seek out complementary treatments for their pets can vary from getting a recommendation from a friend or a referral from a veterinarian, having exhausted the possibilities offered by Western medicine or experiencing success with complementary treatments on themselves.
“Generally, the type of clientele I have are people who’ve tried the more mainstream medical approaches,” says Miller, “and they haven’t worked for them. So, generally, it’s a chronic issue, like an animal with a chronically sore back, arthritis, glaucoma or gastric ulcers. People come to me and say, ‘We’ve tried everything in the “normal,” Western-based sense, and it hasn’t worked. Could we give this a try?’ Acupuncture can work for these kinds of things. It’s always worth a try.”
At the same time, Dr. Miller makes sure pet owners know they need to be patient and not expect immediate results. “In general, acupuncturists warn people that it’s not an instant process,” he says. “Even though you do get some instant results, it’s better to try three or four sessions and really give it time to work.
“People who’ve been raised in a Western-based medical society are used to taking a pill, 45 minutes later getting a result and then having the pill wear off. People are also used to having a bunch of side effects as a result. Acupuncture is different. It works gradually over time, and the results aren’t always like fireworks.
Oftentimes, they’re gradual. But the good news is, you’re teaching the body how to fix itself and, as a result, you’re not going to see as many side effects.”
If you’re looking for a complementary medicine practitioner, your best bet is to get a referral from your veterinarian. In fact, practitioners in certain disciplines (like acupuncture) aren’t legally allowed to work on animals without a vet referral—although this regulation is rarely enforced.
“I’d certainly say anyone looking for alternative healing for a dog or a cat should do their research and use caution,” says Dan Cartwright, owner of Napa-based Good Dog! Dog Training and an expert in animal behavior with more than 35 years’ experience as a professional animal trainer. “Because anybody out there could be calling themselves a therapist but are really just after the money.”
Even though most of these animal services aren’t regulated by state governments, there are ways to ensure you’re using a reputable practitioner. Foremost among these is the referral, but you can also look for the appropriate initials after their name, indicating that the practitioner has completed the relevant coursework and received certification from a reputable school specializing in the specific treatment of animals.
“This is a very progressive veterinary community,” says Kay. “There are more and more sources available for veterinary acupuncture. What I really encourage people to do is to see someone who’s taken and passed the courses specifically for veterinary acupuncture, rather than someone who’s practiced human acupuncture and is just starting to work with animals. There are specific courses people can take in veterinary acupuncture, and ideally, you’d want them to be certified, meaning they’ve taken and passed those courses. There are two ways to become certified in acupuncture: One is under the auspices of the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, in which case the initials after the veterinary’s name would be CVA [certified veterinary acupuncturist]; the other is through the CHI Institute, and the initial after the person’s name would be TCVM [traditional Chinese veterinary medicine]. The initials you’d look for after a practitioner’s name who provides rehabilitation therapy is CCRP [certified canine rehabilitation practitioner].”
“I think it’s going to become more popular, but I think the proof is in the pudding,” says Cartwright. “When you start seeing positive results with these complementary medicines, word of mouth is going to spread, people are going to talk about it and that’s going to promote itself.”
With more and more research being done on the success of some of these complementary treatments, more articles being printed in mainstream medical journals, more veterinary acupuncture training programs being flooded with students and more veterinary practices offering some of these services in-house, it appears the proof has already been found. This should result in a lot more tail-wagging and purring here in the North Bay.
