We thought we would repost this article by Lorrie Shaw from AnnArbor.com. In her piece, Ann Arbor Veterinarian Uses Acupuncture to Address Health Issues with Companion Animals, Shaw spoke with Dr. Jess Franklin from the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital, a vet who has been using acupuncture in her practice since 2000, particularly for older dogs who are experiencing arthritic pain. “I saw these great old dogs who were otherwise generally healthy, but in pain,” she said.

“Although it’s an ancient practice that originated in China, acupuncture wasn’t a widely practiced avenue of treatment in veterinary medicine when Franklin began studying it. Now, in many colleges of veterinary medicine, it’s a topic that’s offered at an introductory level to veterinary medicine students. In fact, the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and Colorado State University both have programs in-house to teach the acupuncture.

Used within a veterinary application in China for thousands of years, acupuncture is part of a larger picture of a Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, that includes herbal medicine, Tui-na (therapeutic massage), and dietary therapy.”

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