Episode 9 – Can Acupuncture Help My Pet with Dr. Keri Levinson

Did you know acupuncture can be used for pets? This relatively new treatment in veterinary medicine supports a wide variety of medical problems, from acute to chronic conditions, such as pain, osteoarthritis, chronic cough/respiratory conditions, and gastrointestinal, immunologic, and neurologic conditions (paresis/paralysis) as a result of acute injury, general aging, or chronic disease.

Dr. Keri Levinson is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist through Chi University and is excited to use this treatment to help restore balance and heal animals who are suffering. In this podcast, she talks in depth about what acupuncture is, how it benefits companion animals, and why it should be used for both sick and healthy pets.

What You’ll Learn?

How Dr. Levinson became certified.
How acupuncture benefits companion animals.
Why acupuncture should be used as a preventative treatment.
How old an animal needs to be to receive acupuncture therapy.
What a client can expect for their pet during the first acupuncture visit.
How she manages pets who are anxious.
How many treatments are needed before any benefits are seen.
How to set up an appointment at Partner.

[Music]

Narrator:

Welcome back to “Did You Know,” a podcast by Partner Veterinary. In this series, we explore all things veterinary medicine and all things Partner. In each episode, we answer some of the most common questions that we’re asked, from HR to emergencies and everything in between. If it happens at Partner, we’ll cover it.

Did you know that acupuncture can be used for pets? Partner’s own Dr. Carrie Levenson is a certified veterinary acupuncturist, and she provides this service at our Frederick location. Listen in to learn more about what acupuncture is, how it benefits companion animals, and why it should be used for both sick and healthy pets.

[Music]

Dr. Levinson:

“My name is Dr. Carrie Levenson. I am a veterinarian, and I got started in the veterinary profession from a young age, more so after college. I always knew I wanted to be a vet when I was very little, but I took my time exploring different careers, and then I think it was pretty solidified in my early 20s that this is what I wanted to do. So I worked as a veterinary assistant from a young age, and then I went to vet school. I am actually the Urgent Care Veterinarian. I’ve always worked predominantly ER, so I will still see ER cases, but my main focus is urgent care.”

Jen Mellace:

“And why did you choose Partner?”

Dr. Levinson:

“So I was looking for a new opportunity at the time, and I really, really liked Partner’s model. I also really liked that it was an all-female owned company, and I also really like that it’s non-corporate. So I do feel like I can still talk to the CEO of the company. I feel like I can create more change easily, and also I just work with a very amazing group of people. I think to have a job you like is pretty amazing, but I think more so it’s definitely who you work with that makes that job enjoyable. So I’m very lucky in that aspect.”

Jen Mellace:

“Yeah, that makes a big, big difference, and we have a good team at Partner. Dr. Levenson, you also do acupuncture at Partner. How did you become involved in practicing acupuncture and how did you get certified in that?”

Dr. Levinson:

“I was more so interested in it because before I went to vet school, I was dealing with a dog – his name was Winston – and he became acutely paralyzed, and surgery was not an option for him. So I was looking into alternative methods like rehabilitation therapy, and I also got really immersed in acupuncture. By the time I was in vet school, I actually had one of my mentors – she was certified in acupuncture and she went through the Chi University. So she was very interested in getting the Chi University affiliated with where I went to school, St. George’s in the Caribbean. So we worked closely alongside them, and they actually came to us to do the wet lab portion, which was learning the acupuncture needles, and then we did online modules.”

“What I really like about the Chi University – there’s many different programs that offer acupuncture, specifically veterinary acupuncture – but what really drew me to this program is they focus more so on traditional Chinese veterinary medicine. So in traditional Chinese medicine, they aim to treat the whole body rather than a specific disease, and what they do is they say they restore balance within the body. So they are aiming to treat the root cause of disease.”

“I also really… it’s important to understand that while acupuncture is a treatment modality, it’s actually one specific treatment modality under an umbrella of multiple modalities with traditional Chinese medicine. So acupuncture is one, and then within acupuncture, there’s different forms of acupuncture, and then there’s herbal medicine, there’s diet like food therapy, and then massage therapy or pressure point therapy.”

“I just think also like in today’s society, we’re so fixated on an immediate fix, so we always are used to immediate satisfaction with everything in our life, including our health. And I think that while there is a place for Western medicine and medication and surgery, that’s not always the best option for some patients, and I do think that it’s essentially another toolbox we can use in our treatment modality, and it’s something cool that we get to offer outside of Western medicine.”

Jen Mellace:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s… you always hear that humans go for acupuncture and massage, but it seems like it’s a little less common with dogs and cats, and so it’s nice that we’re now able to offer that to clients.”

“I do think a lot of people don’t even know that acupuncture is something that we offer for veterinary medicine, so I do think it is a very new thing that we’re introducing, but it’s very, very useful.”

“So along that line, how does acupuncture benefit companion animals?”

Dr. Levinson:

“Acupuncture is one specific treatment under traditional Chinese medicine, but basically, the concept is that it uses stimulation or it stimulates these specific anatomical locations – so places on the body along these, I call them channels or highways of energy. In Chinese medicine, they call them meridians, and you stimulate these points along these meridians with very tiny, tiny gauge needles, and ultimately the goal is to restore balance and heal the body as a whole.”

“And coincidentally, these points are located in areas where there are high density of free nerve endings. There’s a ton of studies out there that show the benefits, like the scientific benefits of stimulating these points, so they’re not just like random points we’re picking on the body – they are actual scientifically proven to have some type of purpose. And ultimately what they do is they help with pain relief by stimulating release of endorphins and serotonin.”

“So during my treatment, I may choose a local point to the troublesome area, but I’ll also choose different points – like you saw with your dog – like I’ll choose a point near where the patient is affected, but I’ll choose an entirely different area on the other end of the body to help balance out whatever’s going on in that animal. So it is really about the balance, you know. You aren’t just fixing one local point, it’s about complete… the whole of the animal or the whole of the body.”

Jen Mellace:

“Yeah, because our body is a system of checks and balances, so once something is disrupted, then you start to see the domino effect of everything else that’s secondary. So you want to make sure you’re balancing everything.”

“Does the pet need to be sick, or can acupuncture be used as a preventative treatment?”

Dr. Levinson:

“It absolutely can be used as preventative treatment. I will say I actually prefer that because they’re coming to me when they’re not so sick, so I have the ability to kind of optimize their quality of life a little bit better, but obviously I can get very sick animals and I will still treat them. So it’s really for any stage of life from young to old.”

Jen Mellace:

“So then that was my next question – was can an animal at any age receive acupuncture?”

Dr. Levinson:

“I’m going to be really transparent – I’m probably not going to do a session on like a young eight-week-old puppy that’s bouncing around. I mean, anything’s possible, so what I learned is, especially during my course, that there are multiple types of acupuncture treatments. So for a timid or anxious dog that will not tolerate sitting for a full 20 to 30-minute session with needles in place, they may be a better candidate for something called aqua-acupuncture, which essentially is a fancy term for where we inject a small amount of vitamin B12 or saline into the acupuncture point itself. And then the goal is that it’s still stimulating the point, and it’s even stimulating the point after they leave the treatment, and sometimes I’ll do it even after a full session just so that they have that on board.”

“But we also get very, I guess, crafty with how we handle patients. Like some patients really like food or treats during their session, and I also do find that after like two or three sessions, they kind of get a rhythm. They’re like, ‘Okay, this is what I’m here for, I’m used to this, I will sit and tolerate this better.’ So it’s all just kind of a gradual process.”

Jen Mellace:

“Well, and I recognized that when I had Remy in for acupuncture treatments. You know, the initial one gave him lots and lots of peanut butter. He was a little apprehensive, but by the second, you know, third appointment, he had settled in more so.”

“So that leads me to my next question – what can a client expect for their pet during their first acupuncture visit?”

Dr. Levinson:

“So it’s definitely going to be different than your routine appointment. They’re typically an hour long, and what I’ll do is I’ll send like a pre-appointment questionnaire to the client to have them fill out prior to their appointment and whatever their current medical history is, the current medications they’re on, diagnostics, their official diagnosis. However, this pre-questionnaire is going to be more in-depth and it may ask a little bit of far out questions than what you’re used to.”

“So I really get into like what is their typical personality, what are their sleep patterns through the night, if they’re waking at certain times I want to know those, what is a typical day like for that patient, and then also more importantly, what are the goals, you know, with going to acupuncture – what are they hoping to achieve with this.”

“During the appointment itself, I will perform like a typical what I call an Eastern exam. So they focus more on tongue and pulses, so they’re going to look at more subtleties within the tongue color, if it has a certain coating to it, and then also really feeling, like taking time to feel their pulses because they’ll have certain qualities that we were not really trained on from Western medicine, but it does tell you a lot about that individual animal, and it’s really important in kind of formulating an individual treatment plan.”

“The other thing I do always talk to clients about is just kind of what to expect and managing their expectations. This is something that’s meant to be used in conjunction with everything else that they have, so if they’re getting a certain type of medication, I still want them to get that medication. I still want them to follow the recommendations from their doctors. It’s just really meant to optimize their treatment and their outcome, and it may not be an immediate fix. So this can take a couple of sessions, and you kind of have to really be dedicated and just patient with the results.”

Jen Mellace:

“Well, and that was also one of my questions – you know, how many treatments are needed before something beneficial can be seen?”

Dr. Levinson:

“It depends, honestly. It depends on the condition. I think you can see more immediate results with an animal that maybe has more an acute condition. If they’re acutely painful, you can see an immediate response even after the first session, whereas an animal that’s undergoing treatment for more of a chronic condition like chronic arthritis or some type of underlying chronic disease, it’s going to take a couple of treatments. And I usually say we can do acupuncture, but it’s really meant to be in conjunction with all these other therapies I talked about, like diet-related therapy and herb therapy, and also continuing your Western medication and whatever you’re doing in regards to that.”

Jen Mellace:

“Just stepping back, and I know you had touched on this a little bit, but how do you manage animals who are extremely anxious when they come in?”

Dr. Levinson:

“First off, I’m just going to get familiar with the patient and go very slow, and you know, as I said, we may not be doing dry needling that first session. We may be just doing like these aqua-acupuncture points, or we may be doing a small amount of dry needles versus the entire amount of needles I want to place in that animal that day. So we adapt the treatment plan, which is totally fine – it’s also all part of that gradual introduction for the animal as well.”

“Also, typically what I’ll do is I’ll place like initial – they’re called calming points or permission points – and there’s one that’s on the top of the head. I call it the princess point, but it has an actual name – it’s called GV20 – and then Bai-hui, which is in the back of the rump area. So those are two pretty common calming points, and then I’ll kind of gradually introduce the dog to placing needles, and then we’ll also coax them with treats. I may even put like zen music on just to relax the owner as well because I think sometimes – well, honestly, a lot of times – they’re feeding off of the owner’s anxiety, so just helping everyone’s anxiety in the room.”

“It’s not so much the needle they’re scared of – like, you can’t… I’ve done it commonly on myself, I’ve done it to other people just to show them it’s not the needle that is hurting them. It’s just… it’s a different experience and it’s just kind of all getting accustomed to it.”

Jen Mellace:

“Are there any limitations to what acupuncture can treat?”

Dr. Levinson:

“I wouldn’t say there’s limitations; however, I think that it can help with healing. I don’t think it’s going to ultimately cure the underlying disease. So I really like acupuncture personally for patients with chronic mobility issues or like underlying arthritis, in the postoperative recovery phases of healing just to help with pain management. It can absolutely be used as an additional treatment management for dogs with underlying gastrointestinal issues, skin issues, liver issues – like when I say what acupuncture can help with, there really is no limit. Again, I think it’s just all about managing expectations and our goals and what we hope to see with acupuncture treatment because I don’t think it’s going to cure that disease.”

Jen Mellace:

“So people who want to have acupuncture done on their pets can come to Partner – they don’t have to be patients of a specialty or come through ER or Urgent Care, they can come strictly for acupuncture, is that correct?”

Dr. Levinson:

“Yeah, so it is like a separate service we offer. It doesn’t have to be affiliated with a specialty service, so it is something that they can make a separate appointment for as long as they have their records and they can get scheduled.”

Jen Mellace:

“And so then how does a client go about making an appointment with you?”

Dr. Levinson:

“Yeah, so basically you just call Partner, and I typically do sessions right now on Wednesday. Call and see if they have an appointment available. So for new appointments, we typically schedule out an hour, and then follow-up appointments are about 30 to 40 minutes.”

Jen Mellace:

“Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today, Dr. Levenson.”

Dr. Levinson:

“Oh, thank you for having me.”

Narrator:

“Thank you for listening to ‘Did You Know.’ Is there something about Partner that you want to know? Email us at [email protected]. Who knows? We might turn your question into an entire episode! You can now find us wherever you listen to all of your other favorite podcasts. Subscribe now!”