¿Alternative Medicine - Also for Animals?
Gunila Pedersen
Every time I open a magazine I can see it is clear that the market for alternative medicine is growing fast, and more and more people are interested in natural treatments as they mostly give fewer second effects than the ”normal” medicine. But I don’t think a lot of people are aware that in the veterinary world we are also getting to use these treatments, in my case for example veterinary acupuncture. The principles of acupuncture are based on disease being a symptom, showing the body is out of balance. The way acupuncture solves this, is to puncture certain points throughout the body, following lines called meridians, with special needles. The first acupuncturists in China healed both animals and humans over 5000 years ago, only later the veterinary acupuncture started to differentiate from the human acupuncture, and the first documented case was Zhao Fu ( 974 – 928 before our time) who treated a horse for heatstroke!!
Nowadays acupuncture is used on all domestic animals, and in the clinic we find most animals actually like it. Normally, the animal doesn´t even feel when the needles are being put in, and tend to relax after a while. Often it´s easy to see when the treatment is over, because the animal starts getting restless, it´s meridians have had enough! Some people ask how we can find the points, considering all the fur, but it is actually a mistake to shave the hair off, as the points are small depressions you as an experienced acupuncturist can find by letting your finger slide over the body following the meridians. The thing I really find interesting about acupuncture, is not so much the lack of secundary effects, but more the fact that the animal is treated as a whole.
Often, both human doctors and vets treat a specific symptom, say, an eccema, but fail to get to the bottom of the problem. Maybe the cause is to be found somewhere completely different from where the symptom is showing (the skin), and maybe the animal has got more symptoms relating to the same problem, only the owner has failed to notice. It is therefore important, if you want to try out acupuncture on your animal, to find a professional, as anyone can look up the perfect point to stop the animal from scratching, but it takes years to find out WHY it is scratching… This really goes for any other treatments as well, like for example plant medicine, as just because it is natural doesn´t mean it´s innocuos
- PEDRO_HIERBA
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