If your pet is a victim of chronic or acute pain, laser therapy could provide relief. Laser therapy uses deep-penetrating laser light to reduce pain and inflammation, and quickstart the animal’s natural healing abilities, without any invasive surgeries or medications.
Pets with arthritis, hip dysplasia, post-operative pain, pain associated with dental extractions, and more can benefit from laser therapy.
Depending on the individual patient protocol, each laser therapy session is only a few minutes long. We simply use our equipment to direct a beam of light onto the patient, and all they will experience is a warming sensation in the affected area. With just a few sessions, many clients report that their pet has tremendous improvement to both their pain and their mobility.
Shockwave therapy, also referred to as ESWT (extracorporeal shockwave therapy), uses high-intensity sound waves to trigger the body’s healing mechanisms and alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, and enable long-term healing. This is a relatively new form of treatment that originated in the 1990s, and is quickly becoming more popular because of its amazing capabilities.
Shockwave therapy is frequently used on horses, but can also be useful for household pets like dogs and cats. It can treat chronic back pain, osteoporosis, injuries to joints and ligaments, chronic soft tissue wounds, and more ailments of the musculoskeletal system.
The process is non-invasive because the tool is only emitting sound waves into the affected area. Sometimes shockwave therapy is used in conjunction with a surgery to promote recovery and, in these cases, it may be applied directly after the procedure while the animal is still anesthetized.
A typical shockwave therapy session is around ten minutes long. The animal typically receives a short-acting sedative to ensure that they are comfortable and avoid distress. For dogs or other furry animals, it may be necessary to shave the fur in the area that is being treated.
Often the benefits of shockwave therapy appear to be immediately effective, but because the shockwaves are triggering the animal’s natural healing response, it takes about 24 hours to have a full effect. For certain conditions, it is suggested that the patient will have a number of sessions over the course of several weeks.
After the session, we recommend that animals are closely monitored and not allowed to engage in strenuous activity. For example, race horses are not allowed to race for several days after receiving a shockwave therapy treatment. This is because the treatment masks pain, but the injury may not be fully healed yet. The animal may feel like they can run or strain the affected area, but this could cause a further injury.
We are proud to offer veterinary acupuncture with Dr. Eli Landry, a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist. Dr. Landry has successfully used this modality with many of the pets we see at Shawnee Animal Hospital and has greatly improved their quality of life.
If you are interested in booking an appointment to see Dr. Landry about veterinary acupuncture, please contact us to schedule an appointment. We’d love to speak with you and help your pet feel better.
Veterinary acupuncture can be used to treat a wide array of conditions and is frequently used in performance competition events. If your pet is experiencing any of the following issues, veterinary acupuncture may offer complementary benefits to your pet’s treatment plan:
Like human medicine, veterinary acupuncture produces a therapeutic effect by gently inserting sterile, thin needles into specific and precise points on your pet’s body to promote natural healing and pain relief. Each insertion point causes a specific bodily response that may increase blood flow, stimulate nerves, relieve muscle pain, and trigger the release of hormones like cortisol and endorphins that lower pain in the body. This is a great alternative treatment for pets that need help managing disease and those suffering from degenerative conditions.
If your pet suffers from anxiety, pain, stress, arthritis, or other chronic diseases or injuries, Veterinary Acupuncture may be a helpful treatment option, in use with traditional medicine.
For some pets, conventional medicine alone may not do the trick. The good news is, conventional medicine can be used in combination with complementary therapies to produce amazing health outcomes for pets! Veterinary acupuncture is a comprehensive and effective approach that has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine for humans and animals alike.
When administered by a licensed practitioner, acupuncture is considered to be a safe and effective treatment option for pets. Sedation is rarely needed.
Don’t let the needles scare you from exploring how much veterinary acupuncture can benefit your pet. It is not painful to pets; in fact, we find that many pets are extremely relaxed, comfortable, and may even fall asleep during treatment. If your pet has any muscle pain or tension, slight discomfort may be felt at the insertion point. However, treatment does effectively alleviate muscle and joint pain.
Veterinary acupuncture may alleviate pain while improving joint range of motion. While results may vary, we can manage and stabilize many conditions. We will decide how to best manage your pet at your first evaluation. Depending on your pet’s unique case, treatment times typically run between 15 minutes to an hour and are recommended 1-2 times a week.
Located off of Oklahoma 3W on the corner of N Kickapoo St and W Independence St.
Phone: 405-275-0990
