Clinical western Veterinary medicine is ideal for a wide variety of pet ailments, such as broken bones, infections, and endocrine diseases. But when it comes to the long-term care of elderly veterinary patients, and to pets with chronic diseases, western medicine doesn’t always have a solution, or sometimes even a treatment. Sometimes animals can’t tolerate certain pharmaceutical medications or suffer intolerable side-effects. And some owners may prefer a more holistic and supportive approach.
At Balboa Pet Hospital, we can offer Integrative Medicine, which combines the modern Western approach with Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. We are proud to be associated with three veterinarians you can book these appointments with Dr. Starfinder Stanley, Dr. Emilie Ravn & Dr. Kerstin Dilchert. They use eastern treatment modalities in combination with western medicine to speed healing and improve the health of their patients. For patients with arthritis, geriatric weakness, incontinence, paralysis, intervertebral disc disease, cancer, seizures, allergies, and a long list of other chronic health problems, Integrative Medicine can be an ideal solution.
How it Works
The goal of acupuncture treatment is to guide your pet’s body to heal itself. Acupuncture has many effects on the body, including encouraging blood circulation, stimulating the nervous and immune systems, and generating the release of pain-relieving anti-inflammatory hormones.
During a typical acupuncture session, hair-thin needles are inserted into the body in special spots, called acupuncture points, which run in pathways called meridians across your pet’s body. Stimulating combinations of different points can create different responses in the animal’s body. Most conditions will respond best to a series of acupuncture treatments, which are repeated on a weekly, every-other-week, or monthly basis depending on the condition and the patient.
In most cases, animals tolerate the needles remarkably well, and once they have had a few sessions, some animals actually fall asleep because of the calming effects of the treatment.
There are a number of ways that Dr Stanley may choose to stimulate the acupuncture points during a treatment session.
- Dry Needle Technique – which is the classic acupuncture you may have experienced yourself. Hair-thin needles are inserted into points and left in for 10-30 minutes.
- Aqua-acupuncture –which involves giving injections of medications or vitamin B-12 into the acupuncture points for extended stimulation.
- Electrostimulation – which uses low-level electrical current at various frequencies flowing between acupuncture needles to stimulate the points.
An Alternative Medical Option in San Francisco
Traditional Chinese veterinary medicine isn’t a substitute for Western medicine, but rather a great complement to the practice. Each type of medicine fills in where the other has shortcomings, making our veterinary practice more complete. If your pet is suffering from chronic health problems that Western medicine just isn’t resolving, don’t despair, there are more things that we can do to help! Give our office a call at 1-415-752-3300 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Stanley. As an independent practitioner, Dr. Stanley is only available in our office on certain days, so please call and we will arrange an appointment as soon as possible.
Dr. Stanley is a certified TCVM trained veterinary acupuncture practitioner and he works with all small animals. He is available to support the more traditional therapies offered at Balboa Pet Hospital and is scheduled regularly for both traditional veterinary consults and acupuncture, etc. All of our Veterinarians consider every aspect of an animal’s life and recommend a variety of traditional and alternative therapies to diagnosis and treat of your pet’s condition. A few of the conditions that may benefit from this type of therapy are: Pain Control, Arthritis, Hospice Care, Allergies, Liver & Kidney Disease.
If you are interested in supplementing your pet’s treatment and exploring these treatment options, please advise our friendly Client Service Representatives or Technicians so that we can schedule you on a day that Dr. Stanley is working.