Saturday, August 9, 2008

Veterinary Acupuncture



In an earlier post we told you about how a company in Japan is using acupuncture on fish to soften them up before they die. Did you know that acupuncture has other animal uses besides fish hospice care?

Acupuncture has been practiced in both animals and human beings for thousands of years in China. The earliest equine acupuncture book, “bo le zhen jing” (Bo Le's Canon of Veterinary Acupuncture) is believed to have been written by Dr. Bo Le in Qin-mu-gong period (659 B.C. to 621 B.C.). Equine treatment protocols using acupuncture were well documented in this textbook. Since then, acupuncture remains a significant part of mainstream veterinary medical care in China. (Chi Institute)

Modern American TCM students will tell you they feed their cats and dogs herbal remedies for diarrhea, vomiting and anxiety with great results.

Veterinary acupuncture has been around for years in the United States (see the seminal work in English, Four Paws, Five Directions), but Huisheng Xie, pictured above doing acupuncture on a horse, seems to be taking it to the next level. His Chi Institute in central Florida offers a Masters Degree in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine to licensed veterinarians, in addition to the CEU's he already offers.

Ask your veterinarian if they've been trained to practice acupuncture on animals. It might save your little one lots of pain and suffering, and save you a lot of money in medications and surgery bills.

Update: take a look at this discussion board thread about a dog getting acupuncture.

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