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The Acupuncture Vet

There is something called Veterinary Acupuncture which is acupuncture for pets. Acupuncture may be defined as the insertion of needles into specific points on the body to produce a healing response. Each acupuncture point has specific actions when stimulated. This technique has been used in veterinary practice in China for thousands of years to treat many ailments. The Chinese also use acupuncture as preventative medicine.

Acupuncture is used all around the world, either along or in conjunction with Western medicine, to treat a wide variety of conditions in every species of animal. Clinical research has been conducted showing positive results in the treatment of both animals and humans, and the use of acupuncture is increasing. Acupuncture will not cure every condition, but it can work very well when it is indicated.

In New York City, there is an acupuncture vet that makes house calls. Here is his story:

Dr. Jeff Levy knocked gently on an apartment door on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon. “I knock lightly because dogs can get upset if you knock loud, or with a cat, it might run under the bed,” said Dr. Levy, a veterinarian who specializes in acupuncture, exclusively by house call. This house call was for Harpo, a 10-year-old toy fox terrier with a liver tumor that was diagnosed a year ago as terminal and untreatable.

“They told me to just keep him happy for his last couple of months,” said Harpo’s owner, Jess Caragliano, 36, who heard that Dr. Levy, 61, could help provide palliative care during Harpo’s last few weeks. She had him begin weekly acupuncture treatments, and while a year later Harpo’s prognosis has not improved, outwardly he is energetic and thriving, said Ms. Caragliano, the founder of a music marketing company.

 

Dr. Levy, a certified veterinary acupuncturist, assists with rehabilitation and pain management for pets whose owners want to avoid medication or surgery. He also gets referrals from other vets who have been unable to help a pet with traditional medicine.

Nervous or aggressive pets are often more cooperative in familiar surroundings, said Dr. Levy, who treats many older or debilitated cats and dogs that are too fragile, physical or emotionally, to travel. Acupuncture can make pets with cancer more comfortable by stimulating points in the body that help with pain relief, or increase energy, the immune system and appetite, said Dr. Levy, who sat beside Harpo on a rug and inserted a red tipped needle into the top of the terrier’s head.

This is a calming point, explained Dr. Levy, where the yin energy pathways converge. He then inserted a needle between the dog’s shoulder blades, a yang energy point that was “sort of like turning up the thermostat.” Another needle just beyond the last rib would affect the kidney, which “houses the fire of life — it’s like a pilot light,” and can help with arthritis and mobility issues, he said.

Typically, pets fall asleep soon after the needles are inserted. Harpo, a high-energy dog usually excited by visitors, did just that, despite the ambulance sirens and car horns outside. He gave a reflexive yap at some footsteps in the hallway, then put his head down and napped soundly.

Dr. Levy grew up in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, and became interested in veterinary medicine as a child after seeing his pet dachshund, Mushroom, suffer from chronic back problems. Dr. Levy travels with a thick bag, or sometimes several, stuffed with medical records, equipment and acupuncture needles. He typically charges $195 for an initial visit and $150 for each follow-up.

After visiting Harpo, Dr. Levy took a bus and three trains to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to visit Nana, a 14- year-old shepherd mix that collapsed in July and became immobile. Nana’s owner, Vanessa Soderstrom, 40, said that a veterinarian told her, “When the big dogs go down, they don’t get back up, and that I’d have to put him down.” But after a few acupuncture treatments by Dr. Levy, Nana began walking again, she said. Dr. Levy made preparations to put needles along the dog’s back. Observing from the sidelines was Ms. Soderstrom’s Chihuahua mix, Tiny Tony, a pet world celebrity with more than 41,000 Facebook followers.

Dr. Levy is no stranger to celebrity, having treated Mick Jagger’s cat as well as dogs for the likes of Lou Reed, Joan Rivers and Marvin Hamlisch, he said. “Some people like to rub shoulders with celebrities — I like to rub muzzles with their dogs,” said Dr. Levy.

 

 

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