Happy National Cat Day, especially to my cat patients from the Oregon Humane Society!  These lovely ladies and gentlemen have all found families to share their national holiday with!

​Make sure to give your feline friend a snuggle today (unless they're the sort to gouge your eyes out from that kind of attention - maybe just blow them a kiss ;) )!

Thrive Acupuncture is now, officially, a volunteer for the Oregon Humane Society, offering Chinese medicine to shelter pets in need!

When I was working at OHS while going through acupuncture school, this had been a HUGE dream of mine and now it's come true! I can't even tell you how excited I am - excuse me while I gush about it some more!

Meet Joey (#171359), my very first OHS patient!  He's a basset hound/Australian shepherd mix who is a sweetie pie!  He's 8 years old and is super stiff, so OHS is sending him to Thrive to get some acupuncture to reduce his inflammation and stress.  Joey was a perfect gentleman during his treatment, and even drifted off for a bit while the needles were doing their magic.  Such a lucky guy, and a lucky acupuncturist :)

It's time again that the International Academy of Animal Acupuncture (IAAA) needs cat and dog volunteers to receive free acupuncture treatments!  Through the IAAA, we teach licensed acupuncturists how to safely and effectively treat animals using Chinese medicine.  Our students will be finishing up their clinical training March 13th through March 15th.

All of our students are licensed acupuncturists who have already been practicing acupuncture on humans for many years and they will be supervised by myself and two other acupuncturists with a combined animal acupuncture experience of over 70 years!

The appointments will take place at the Canby Grove Conference Center in Canby, OR.  If you're available and would like for your pet to receive a free acupuncture treatment, please follow the link below to choose an appointment time that works for you!

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity. 

Please sign up for a free Animal Acupuncture Appointment! 

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps: 
1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/Qy73rQ 
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot) 
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy! 

The Holidays, while a fun time, are also super stressful. It takes a lot of scheduling and coordination to make celebrations happen!  

Acupuncture is a fabulous way to destress so that the holidays can actually be enjoyable!

Thrive Acupuncture will be open Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve mornings so that you can get one last acupuncture treatment in before  each of these busy days - schedule now before you miss out on a spot!

And don't forget, those of you with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), the funds in your account go away at the end of the year.  You can use your FSA funds for acupuncture

I know this blog has been a bit neglected for a while, but every time I sat down to write something because I knew that I should, nothing would come out.  A large part of that was because I was spending a huge amount of brain power writing my book Small Animal Acupuncture Point Locations.  

I began writing it when I had been asked, yet again, what my favorite dog point location textbook was and I just didn't have an answer.  Every book I looked at either wasn't detailed enough in the location description or were actually incorrect.  The answer was always "There isn't really anything out there!"  I was frustrated.  So I started writing.

I've been working on this book since my youngest was a baby, and she's now almost 5, so it's been a bit of a project!

Thanks for bearing with me while I finally got my book out into the world and I promise to keep up on my blogging from here on out! ;)

Oh, and for any of my acupuncturist-readers who want to learn how to locate acupuncture points on cats and dogs, you can purchase my book here!

Turmeric is a spice commonly used in Indian cooking.  Think of all those nummy dishes that have a yellow hue to them - chances are that yellow was obtained using turmeric.

Turmeric is an herb that's related to ginger, and like ginger, has Chinese herbal medicinal properties.  In Chinese medicine, it goes by the name Jiang Huang and is used to "move the blood" which means, biologically speaking, that it has antiinflammatory properties.


We use turmeric in Chinese medicine to assist with some of the following health concerns:

• Chest Pains
• Abdominal Pains
• Menstrual Pain
• Amenorrhea
• Muscular Pain
• and Pain and Swelling due to trauma

In western herbology, turmeric is also helpful for use with:

• Cardiovascular function
• Digestive function
• Heart health
• Immune System
• Joint and Muscle health
• Liver function

So with such a useful herb being right at your fingertips (or at your nearest grocery store!), here's one of my favorite ways to use turmeric:

Turmeric Milk Recipe

8oz Almond Milk (or your milk/milk substitute of choice)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Honey
Optional 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, or my favorite "Pumpkin Pie Spices"

Gently warm milk on the stove.
In your mug, combine the spices and honey
Once the milk has been warmed to your preferred temperature, add it to your mug and thoroughly mix together, making sure to leave no clumps.

I've been drinking Turmeric Milk instead of my usual coffee or hot chocolate recently.  It totally satisfies my cravings for sweet and rich and creamy without the added sugar, and let me tell you, that is NO EASY FEAT.  In addition, I've noticed that my sinuses have been less swollen from my allergies!  Bonus!

Today is National Cat Day!

Did you know that cats love acupuncture, too?

The first question I always get about cats and acupuncture is, "I knew you could treat dogs, but you can treat cats too? How do you manage that? Aren't they scared?"

Now, don't go telling this to all of my dog patients, but I'm actually more of a cat person! From working at the Humane Society in the cattery for 5 years, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve to make friends with my cat patients.  And to be honest, once you make friends with a cat, they're easier to treat than some dogs!  Imagine trying to put needles in that happy, wiggly dog - cats lie there nice and relaxed - the perfect patient!

Some common conditions that I treat in cats are:

• Arthritis
  
• Manx Disorder
• Skin Allergies
• Chronic Upper Respiratory Diseases
• Upper Respiratory Allergies
• Feline Herpes

You may notice that most of the diseases listed above are those that aren't easily treated using biomedicine, so if you find that your feline friend is experiencing any of them, schedule an appointment today!  Acupuncture is a fantastic tool for reducing your kitty's discomfort!