by Claudia Tietze

Created on: November 22, 2010

Everyone seems to have their own ideas of whether or not acupuncture for pets works or doesn't. From personal experience, I can tell you that acupuncture for pets not only works, but often times saves you money in the long run. Acupuncture can be performed on all animals from dogs and cats to horses and ferrets. Acupuncture is the art of placing very thin needles in some key points to help align the natural energy of the body.

Enter Tiny Timmy. Timmy is our cat who we rescued from an extremely bad situation. He was in the middle of a severe reaction to harmful flea and tick spray found in almost any store across the United States. He could hardly keep his head up, was having seizures and trembled. The vet did not think he would live through the weekend, but he surprised everyone. He not only survived, but thrived! Timmy had a certain determined to live look in his eyes, and we decided as long as he showed the fight to live, we would help him any way we could.

Timmy still has neurological damage from his exposure and his vet bills went into the thousands rather quickly. It seemed every few weeks we were at the vet for one thing or another, from detoxing his body, to seizures, to seeing a kitty neurologist because the vet did not want to risk neutering him before he was checked by a specialist due to his condition, to an apparent blockage where his small intestine was producing feces and it was unable to pass by itself which was discovered when he deposited a large amount of blood on our kitchen floor. Each traditional vet visit ran anywhere from $180 to $900, depending on the tests, lab work, medications and treatments. We were soon swimming in debt. We felt we had reached the end of what traditional veterinary medicine could offer Timmy. On the suggestion of our wonderful regular vet, we began to seek an acupuncture provider.

In Timmy's case, due to his exposure to the toxic pesticides in flea and tick products, he is highly chemically sensitive. Often medications and treatments from our traditional (and fantastic) vet made him worse, inviting a whole host of new issues. We had done all we could for him through traditional channels. We needed to find a solution that catered to him as an individual with his sensitive system. 

We had heard about acupuncture helping several dogs and cats who were paralyzed from various trauma. After his last issue with his intestines, we gave it a try. It was expensive. The initial visit was over $100 and each treatment

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