What You Can Expect From Veterinary Acupuncture Acupuncture is known to have good therapeutic effect in a wide variety of animal diseases. Although pain moderation is an important application in veterinary acupuncture, it has much wider applications. It is generally considered to be beneficial for most functional disorders. It is also efficacious for numerous structural disorders as well. Besides therapy, acupuncture is useful in clinical practice as a diagnostic aid. Many clinical conditions can be differentiated and localized with the use of manual examinations or instruments. What to expect at the time of treatment Ordinarily, pain and discomfort associated with acupuncture treatment is conspicuously absent or minimal. In fact, there is typically far less discomfort associated with an acupuncture treatment than with an ordinary vaccination or hypodermic injection. Occasionally, there is a brief moment of sensitivity as an acupuncture needle penetrates the skin in certain sensitive areas. Once the needles are in place, most animals relax. Some will even fall asleep during treatment. The duration of a treatment may vary from ten seconds to 30 minutes. For many conditions, patients are treated one to three times a week for four to six weeks. A positive response may be noticed after one or two treatments. In some cases, improvement may not be observed until the fifth or sixth treatment. The following are examples of some of the clinical conditions where veterinary acupuncture may be appropriate. Gastrointestinal disorders: esophageal hypomotility, gastritis, rumen atony, gastroenteritis, colitis, megacolon, rectal prolapse, chronic idiopathic diarrhea or vomiting. Respiratory problems: rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis epistaxis, bronchial asthma, chronic coughing, pneumonia. Neurological disorders: trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral nerve paralysis, nystagmus, vestibular syndrome, torticollis, nondegenerative myclopathies, epilepsy, stroke, deafness, coma. Musculoskeletal disorders: chronic degenerative joint disease, intervertebral disc disease, spondylosis, spondylothesis, hip dysplasia, disunited anconeal process, tendonitis, sprains, muscle spasms e.g. trapezius spasm. Reproductive, endocrine, and metabolic disorders: ovarian cysts, dystocia, retained placenta, uterine prolapse, mastitis, udder edema, milk fever, hepatitis, jaundice. Immunosuppressive and allergic disorders. Dermatologic disorders: lick granulomas, sensory nervodermatitis, allergic dermatitis. Urinary disorders: incontinence, cystitis, urine retention. Emergencies: cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest. CALL: 1-310-375-6914