I recently wrote an article on treating your dog for arthritis using acupuncture and Chinese medicine. I included 4 Dos and 4 Don'ts when considering acupuncture for your pet, there are even some things you can do at home to help your furry friend feel younger again! Check it out!
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I recently did an interview with Sara Calabro of AcuTake about treating pets with acupuncture. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to share with all of you some of the work that I get to do! I hope you enjoy the interview and feel free to ask me any questions you might still have!
I didn't write this article, but I couldn't have done a better job of answering these commonly asked questions!
I find that pets really come to love acupuncture and look forward to their appointments. If you have any further questions about pets and Chinese medicine, feel free to ask! If your pet is in need of some acupuncture, schedule an appointment with me today and start seeing them get back to their old selves!  You did it! You voted Thrive Acupuncture as one of Portland's Top Dog Businesses for the third year in a row!
Portland is definitely the place to be to work with wonderful pets and their truly caring owners. I'm very lucky to get to work with both people and their pets, helping them to feel their very best! Thanks for helping to share the word that pets can really thrive with Chinese medicine too!  Every year Portland's Spot Magazine holds a competition for Portland's Top Dog Businesses. These are businesses that are pet-centered You guys did such a great job helping secure second place for Thrive Acupuncture in the "Holistic Wellness Practitioner" category, and it's that time of year again!Please go to Spot Magazine and enter "Thrive Acupuncture" under the "Holistic Wellness Practitioner" category to let Portland know who your favorite pet acupuncturist is! And in case you had any doubts about pets enjoying their treatments, check out this video of Benny getting acupuncture for post-operative knee pain!  Auricular acupuncture, acupuncture that is done in the ear, is a common system for treating almost any health complaints. It's most known for its use in treating drug addiction, but it can be used for so much more! Even the military is starting to use it to help ease PTSD and pain.
Auricular acupuncture is considered a microsystem. Much like reflexology (which is also a micro-system - of the foot), the entire body is reflected in the ear. Take a look at the picture above. If you use your imagination, you can see the human figure. (The picture I chose even has a skeleton superimposed to help with those of us with a little weaker imagination skills ;) ) The ear lobe represents and treats the head, the middle ridge of the ear treats the spine and the deep part of the ear near the ear canal treats our internal organs. I've used the ear to treat many conditions, including assisting with weight loss, addiction, quitting smoking, back pain, labor pain reduction, stress reduction, anxiety and depression. I've even used it to help a cat with cancer who had no appetite and hadn't eaten, except when force-fed, for almost 2 weeks. I needled his ears and within 10 minutes he was scarfing down a bowl of canned cat food! In addition to needles, we have what are called "ear seeds." Ear seeds can be an actual seed (often a mustard seed that has been treated so it won't sprout) or a tiny metallic ball that is placed on the point in the ear and then held in place with a tiny band-aid. The benefit? They're a great way to extend your treatment between appointments! Yep - feeling stressed? Press on your ear seeds to help even your mood. Experiencing back pain? Press those seeds! For an over all pick-me-up, feel free to massage your ears! It may look a little silly, but you'll be having the last laugh when you're feeling reduced stress and increased energy!  Spot Magazine has tallied the votes for their Annual Top Dog Awards!
Thrive Acupuncture was voted Second Best Holistic Practitioner in Portland. And because first place went to an animal massage practitioner, that makes Thrive Acupuncture the Top Pet Acupuncturist in Portland! I'm super excited about the exposure this will bring, so that even more people will know that acupuncture is a great therapy for our pets, too! Here's to happier, healthier pets and their people in 2011! Here's the List of Spot Magazine's 2011Top Dog Businesses  Portland is one of the pet-friendliest cities in the US and Spot Magazine's Top Dog Competition helps highlight Portland's best pet-friendly businesses! The competition is by popular vote, one vote per person, please.
You can do your part to help - vote Thrive Acupuncture as one of Portland's Top Dogs! It's pretty easy, here's what you do:
This is video of Benny getting his bi-weekly acupuncture treatment. Benny had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL. Unfortunately for Benny, this isn't the first time he's required this surgery. LAST spring he had the same injury and same surgery on his OTHER knee! With Acupuncture and Chinese herbs, Benny healed extremely quickly from his surgery last year. He was walking on it with very little limping after only about a month. The usual recovery time is around 3 months! Here's what Bridget, Benny's treat-hander-outer, had to say about Benny's surgery recovery last year: "Two of my dogs are prone to orthopedic injuries, and both of them have had to have major surgeries to their knees. I took them to Thrive acupuncture because my human family has had great outcomes from Becca Seitz's acupuncture prowess. I was concerned that my husky mix and my pit bull would both be weird about the acupuncture needles. Becca was able to put them at ease, and needle them without stressing them out. Imagine my surprise to watch my big dog just fall asleep right after the needles went in. Both Benny (the husky mix) and Olive (the pit bull) experienced faster healing times and much less post-surgical pain than is typical. They were able to go off of their pain medications very quickly. I was expecting them to have long recoveries, and both of them were walking normally within a month of their surgeries. This is just unheard of. Big thanks to Becca Seitz and Thrive Acupuncture for making my dogs' post-surgery experience much less painful for them. You saved our summer!" Hope you enjoy this video of Benny's latest treatment! (Provided by Bridget Pilloud, Benny's treat-hander-outer) PS I hope you don't fall asleep watching it - I promise you, there are no dog attack scenes! ;)  This is Toby. He's coming to see me for arthritis. He's 16 years old - he looks GREAT for his age, right?
People ask me, all the time, HOW I do acupuncture on pets. Don't they move around? Do they bite you? Do you have to anesthetize them? Nope! Just look at Toby! He hardly even notices that the needles are in! Some dogs will lay down and fall asleep. Some do move around (and this is fine!). My main goal (aside from making them feel better via acupuncture and herbs, of course) is to make sure that they're comfortable and unstressed when they come visit me. A stressed animal is preventing the acupuncture from working to its full potential, so keeping a relaxed environment is KEY to speedy healing. Stay tuned for video of my buddy Benny who's being treated for post-surgical pain in his knee, and you'll see just how relaxed most dogs are during their treatments! |
