Acupuncture

[Walliered]

Please give me your thoughts on acupuncture for you Greys. Da Vid is still hurting after the back surgery (almost 8 weeks). He is still on pain meds. He still cannot lay down on anything hard like the floor. He still WHINES in the middle of the night and sometimes during the day. I have not had a full night's sleep since the surgery. Not whining, just a fact. So, I made him an appointment for acupuncture. I take him next week. The only think I ask of the doctor is to allow me to stay with him. If the answer is no, we are out the door. I will never leave him again just because some tech says "he whines, therefore you should stay in the waiting room".

[Burpdog]

I've never had an alternative vet say leave the room. Is this vet CHI certified?

 

Acupuncture will help.

 

Push come to shove, bring him here -- he can stay awhile and see my vets.

[philospher77]

I used acupuncture on Trinkett towards the end when her back and hip were bothering her. They never asked me to leave the room, since the needles need to stay in for 10-15 minutes and they don't want the dog to move during that time. Moving makes the needles hurt. Vets like doing acupuncture on greyhounds, since all the landmarks are so easy to see! The techs used to love getting to monitor Trink, since she would just lay there, so it was really easy for them. And it did seem to help her a lot, probably the most out of the alternative therapies I tried. There was a time or two when she yelped as the needles were placed, which, according to the vet, meant that she really needed them in that area, but most of the time she was perfectly fine with them being placed, removed, the whole experience. On the other hand, this was a dog who "objected" to the vet manipulating her broken leg by lifting her head off the ground, so pretty stoic.

[Remolacha]

I am glad you are taking him, I believe it will help. I have used it on two of my hounds, with very good results. The vet should expect you to stay with him during the treatment, if they say anything else, bye-bye!

[Walliered]

I have never been to a holistic vet before. I just know what the techs said before taking him back for hydrotherapy. We are not going back there and the surgeon has not called me about not returning. I don't think his tech told him about our conversation because she does not want me to repeat what she said about "not giving a .... whether Dr. Holcombe referred us back to them or Charleston. Like I said the surgery was very good (I guess), but the nursing care was not.

[DaisyDoodle]

There are some meds that will make dogs whine. After eight weeks, I would consider discontinuing the meds for a few days to see if that helps. When does the whining occur? If when getting up and down, then I'd assume discomfort. Otherwise, I'd suspect it's a side effect of the medication. What pain meds are you using?

 

I have used acupuncture for my dogs and it works. I've never been asked to leave the room for acupuncture. Who is going to hold the dog still for 15-30 minutes so the needles stay in? Daisy does let out the GSOD when she gets acupuncture, which freaks out the poor vet, but she (Daisy) gets over it after a minute.

 

I get acupuncture too. It works for lots of different things. It's just amazing; I love it.

[Walliered]

I took him off of his meds twice. Vet watched him for a while and she said to put him back on it twice. He is chewing his rear toe nails off. He is licking his back hips. His back legs shake. He can hardly lower his self to his bed. He cannot lay down on anything hard (like the floor). He whines during the day and every few hours at night. It was a horrible experience for him staying for 12 days after surgery. I should never have left him (and will not again). He would have died if I had left him longer. He is on tramadol 1-3 every 8-12 hours and Gabapentin every 12 hours. He was on hydrotherapy for 6 days and I had enough crap. My regular vet is checking out a hydrotherapy center in Hilton Head, S.C., but in the mean time she suggested the acupuncture.

[Burpdog]

Makes me sad you've gone thru this.

 

I wasn't kidding -- if this doesn't work out, we can work something out for him.

 

Acupuncture should help a lot. I prefer CHI certified.

[Wonder]

I bring Passion for acupuncture. I am in the room with her when they put the needles in and the entire time until they take the needles out. I've never heard of a vet not allowing a owner to be in the room like you have had happend.

[Burpdog]

Is he still in pain?

 

Try the tamadol every 4 hours (1 to 1 1/2 pill) instead of 8-12 hrs.