Pet Lovers

[Annabellethecat66]

My best friend takes her two labs to physical therapy and one also go to acupuncture.

Her oldest Lab (an English Lab) is around 10 years old.  The Vet recognized some arthritis in her.  Her Vet suggested physical therapy. She's had excellent results with this Lab.  

The other Lab (called an American Lab) was having trouble with incontinence.  This dog was treated with acupuncture.

Both dogs are female.  The dog suffering with incontinence is only 3 years old.

My friend was told by the Vet that she'll need to continue with the arthritis treatment for a long time.

However, he did say once a week in Spring and Summer would be adequate.  He said the younger Lab would only need a few treatments. 

She was told the acupuncture treatments would probably need to be done periodically.  She found that to be true.

My friend said she wouldn't hesitate to recommend both treatments.

[KingstonsMom]

@Linmo 

My avatar Kingston had the ACL's on both back legs surgically repaired and after the surgeries he had 3 weeks of PT, both laser and aquatic treadmill.

It helped him immensely! Below is a pic of him in the aquatic treadmill.

 

[eddyandme]

My Jade, an English Labrador Retriever, had metastatic bone cancer.  She could barely/function.  Got a doctor to come to house and within weeks she could run (see Fine Veternary on FB for video).  The acupuncture, plus meds, greatly helped prolong her life.

Now my Eddy whom I adopted had had a severed spine which was repaired.  Now he's having difficulty but still gets around - even "runs" on the lawn chasing rabbits, etc.  He had a different type of acupuncture this summer (using electrodes) which didn't go well - useless!  So now, probably beginning in October, gonna have the vet teach me to give acupuncture to Eddy.  I think he will enjoy that and, hopefully, it will help him move around more easily.

I'm not familiar with all kinds of therapies, but I heartily recommend acupuncture.  FYI, the vet told me she has gotten much better results when their loved one does the hands-on acupuncture.

Good luck to you and your baby.  Keep trying - you'll find something that works for both of you!  Loving thoughts to you and furbaby from Eddy and me!

[eddyandme]

@Linmo, just wanted to clarify, the acupuncture the vet will be teaching me is massaging acupuncture points (no needles).  Sorry should have phrased this better.

[moonandthestars]

@Linmo  I also wanted to add that I saw that there are back braces for dogs that maybe you might want to look into.  It seems like it would be very comfortable, there are lots of good reviews.  From my point of view it would not be instead of the things that have been mentioned as potential treatments, but in addition to.  It helps to stabalize the back and therefore ease pain and help with mobility.  

I think you should have a lot of hope.  There are alot of things to try and all that have been mentioned here are worth trying.  There may be more things out there that we don't even know about!   Be optimistic and hopeful   Sending good thoughts to both of you.