Healing touches

Alternative treatments gain in popularity with veterinarians

Henry lay quietly on the mattress, listening to the women talking above him. For the last month, arthritis had crept steadily up his leg, to the point where every painful step looked more like a stumble.

"He'll run after a tennis ball, but then he'll limp back," said Dana Bailey, who had accompanied him to the clinic. When she bent to gently stroke Henry's head, he responded with a few frantic thumps of his tail.

Bailey, a Whitefish veterinarian and Henry's owner, had discovered a tumor in his right front leg a few weeks earlier. Lab tests and X-rays showed nothing, leading doctors to believe the "mostly black Lab" was suffering from nothing more serious than arthritis.

Pain relievers alone weren't helping, so Bailey brought Henry to Calm Animal Clinic in Kila to see if fellow veterinarian Barbara Calm could help him with acupuncture. Calm, who practices conventional medicine as well as offering acupuncture, chiropractic and herbal treatments, had already successfully treated Bailey's other dog more than once.

"I thought these guys would be a good experiment," Bailey said. "If it goes well, then I can recommend it to more patients. So far, I'm impressed."

Acupuncture and other alternative veterinary treatments have gained popularity in the last decade. Ten years ago, just 6 percent of pet owners had used alternative medicine to treat their animals, according to a survey by the American Animal Hospital Association. In 2003, that number had jumped to 21 percent.

When veterinarian Rick Myers graduated from Colorado State University in 1989, complementary treatment wasn't taught in school.

"You didn't even hear about it," he said.

Now, the college offers a one-credit elective devoted to non-Western treatments used in veterinary medicine. Veterinarians who've been practicing for years can receive training through other venues.

"I think it has become more popular," Myers said. "They're starting to actually offer continuing education (in complementary medicine) at veterinary conferences."

Popularity aside, some aren't convinced alternative treatments are effective. Art Otto, who has been a veterinarian for 31 years, says he believes some are more credible than others.

"I agree with chiropractic and acupuncture. I believe they work," he said. "I don't have a lot of faith in this point in homeopathy."

Homeopathy claims to treat a disease with minute doses of a substance that would, in a healthy person or animal, produce symptoms similar to the disease being treated. Because the doses are so small, Otto says the practice doesn't make sense to him - but that doesn't mean it doesn't work, he added.

"Someone could possibly school me on it and show me," he said.

Myers, too, thinks there are some limits to alternative treatments but believes they have their place. And sometimes, the animal just needs time to heal, he said.

"You've got to ask yourself, too, sometimes even with regular medicine, did they get better on their own?" he said. "Sometimes I think all we do is guide them along and let Mother Nature do the healing."

Daniel Savage, who has been a veterinarian for 18 years, agreed.

"Often rest will do as much for an animal as anything," he said. "The body is capable of healing itself. It's going to get better anyway, many times."

Still, many pet owners want to feel like they're taking a proactive approach, he said. This is where alternative treatments may come in, giving people more treatment options.

Acupuncture is one of the most popular choices. Calm says most of her patients find the procedure relaxing.

Henry certainly did. He lay still on the mattress while Calm slowly put tiny 30-gauge needles in various points in his body.

"You can tell he really doesn't mind it," she said, petting the dog, who looked like he might fall asleep. A few minutes later, with Bailey still stroking his head, he did doze off.

Dogs and cats comprise the bulk of her patients, but since her certification by the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society in 1999, Calm has worked on other animals as well, including horses and a pet rat. She's even used acupuncture to clear up a chicken's chronic sinus infection - a single needle fixed the problem, she said.

But needles, spinal adjustments and herbs aren't the only alternative options available to pets. Wendy Haagerup, a veterinary technician at Calm Animal Clinic, is an equine sport therapist and graduate of the British Columbia College of Equine Therapy. Most of her work involves massage.

Massage can benefit all kinds of horses, she said, from a pleasure trail horse to a high-end eventing horse. Age makes no difference, she added. Young and old horses alike benefit from massage.

"Horses who have arthritis - pasture ornaments, as I call them - they move, but some of them aren't athletic any more," she said. "It helps them become more athletic, because they're more comfortable.

"It's also good for young horses, because they're like kids, and they're 100 mph all the time and they're constantly getting in wrecks."

While some therapists use mechanized help, Haagerup prefers working with just her hands.

"I find that I can feel things with my hands better than I can with a machine," she said. "I can be far more in tune with the horse and be more effective. My hands don't require batteries, and they never break down. My hands aren't loud or invasive, and I can work as slowly or quickly as I need to."

Sometimes, however, especially in some of the thick muscles in a horse's neck or hindquarters, machines can help relieve tension at a deeper level. Pat Young, equine physical therapist, uses a variety of processes to treat her patients, including cold-light lasers and trigger-point therapy, both of which are designed to release deep-muscle spasms.

Young has worked on horses all over the country. Most of her patients are either competitive or old, and benefit from the improved range of motion she says her therapy provides. But she has also been called to treat other equine problems.

"I believe that a lot of horses who are kind of labeled as tough to ride, or they buck or they have a poor personality, that many of these horses are in

pain, and when that pain is relieved, their personalities change," she said.

About a year ago, Young worked on a pony that had the reputation of crow-hopping and running away with its rider.

"After two treatments, they were just so amazed that this pony was just the sweetest pony in the world," she said.

No matter the patient, Young insists on working with clients who have had their horses examined by a veterinarian.

"There is so much that can be done by the veterinarian, and then I can see what I can do with physical therapy," she said. "It's just like a human physical therapist: They want the patient to have seen a doctor."

Haagerup agrees.

"I absolutely think you have to work with the vet," she said. "It's a complementary thing; it's not a replacement for veterinary care at all."

Finding ways to complement her conventional practice is why Calm began investigating alternative treatments in the first place.

"For me, I wanted to be able to offer something beyond traditional medicine to help my patients," she said. "Because we get frustrated when we use everything we can that's within our means and it's not enough, so more tools are better. And that's what acupuncture and chiropractic are - they complement conventional medicine. I don't believe they replace it."

After about 20 minutes, Henry's needles were ready to come out. Calm and Bailey helped the dog stand up. His tail wagged frantically, and though he still stepped gingerly, his limp was noticeably improved.

Sometimes treatments are immediately effective, Calm said. Other times, a patient might need to come in a few times. And sometimes, even a combination of treatments isn't enough.

"Sometimes it doesn't help," Calm said. "That's hard, but at least they know that they explored one more avenue that they hadn't before. You want to try everything when you have a pet that you care very much about."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.