Acupuncture for dogs with IVDD works!
I know this doesn’t really fit with the theme of my blog, but I really wanted to say this:
Acupuncture to treat dogs with IVDD works!
It is actually a good alternative to surgery if you can’t afford the ladder!
I know this from experience. I have a dachshund named Max. In September, my mom was picking me up from school and told me and my brother that he was trying to jump on the couch but didn’t make it and fell. He ended up getting a slipped disk.
I’ve actually heard dachshunds were prone to back problems a few months before this, so isn’t that foreshadowing.
It didn’t help that our Maxie was 12-13 years old, so he is definitely on the older side.
I was worried sick about him. He came home later that night refusing to drink or use the bathroom. A day later he was able to, but it was scary.
He was unable to use his back legs. He was hunched over and it was hard for him to even drag himself. He had to be on the carpet because he would slip on the bare floor. He couldn’t walk at all.
My parents weren’t sure if Max would be okay or not, and I learned later that the vet told us we either had to get surgery or put him down. The idea of this devastated me. I had this dog since I was 2, and I can’t imagine a life without him.
However, my dad talked to a family friend about this who had the exact same thing happen to his own dog (funny enough also named Max). He went to several different vets who told him to put him down, until he went to this one place.
This place told him that he could get acupuncture treatment instead. He agreed to and his dog made a recovery!
They recommended this place to us (Vets at the Barn in Chesnut Ridge, New York, if you guys are near the Tri State area), and we gave it a go.
Max would get acupuncture every week, and he was steadily improving. He was able to drag himself farther, he would stand on his back legs a little bit for a few seconds, he was sticking his tail out (it would usually be tucked in), and then..
In October, he had something in his teeth that my mom was trying to get out. He wasn’t happy about it, and he actually ended up walking away! Not limping, full blown walking to get away from her!
He would walk a little bit, fall, walk a little bit, fall…
I was ecstatic! My Max would survive and walk again!!
He slowly began walking more and more, albeit like a drunk man.
He was still slipping on bare floor, and was still klutzy, but as the weeks went on he was able to stand and walk on bare floor fine!
Right now, he’s as good as new! He’s walking like a champ, hopping (because he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to listen to us when we tell him not to jump), he’s able to go up and down the stairs (even though he isn’t supposed to because he’s a stubborn little wiener!), he even voluntarily goes into his craterest cage on his own because he ended up liking it! It’s his little clubhouse now! The door to the crate is raised and he has to go over a little bump to get in there, so that’s why it’s such a big deal!
He has basically made an almost full recovery! It’s like he’s a puppy again, mostly due to the fact that we put him on a diet and made him lose weight and give him raw food.
Point is, if you can’t afford surgery for your dog with back problems, acupuncture is a good alternative! I don’t know the science behind it, but damn does it work! It saved my wiener dog’s life!
It’s a slow process, but it works! Results won’t be as immediate as surgery, but they will get there!