In an interview with dvm360 on a lecture presented at the Fetch dvm360 conference in Long Beach, California earlier this winter, Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT, talked about his multi modal approach for treating neurological diseases in dogs. He explained the benefits of using herbal formulations in these patients, emphasizing that in patients who cannot walk, combining it with electroacupuncture therapy is what yields success.
Below is the interview transcript. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT: I think my specialty within my specialty are neurologic dogs, so dogs that have had disc protrusion, disc herniation, a flare up of intervertebral disc disease. And what I’ll do is…if they’re unable to walk, we use a form of electroacupuncture, again, to help kind of jump start the nerves.
And with that, I always combine herbal formulations. And a lot of these herbal formulations have been used in human medicine dating back to the 1200s. So any down dog, I will basically utilize herbs and herbal formulations that are reducing inflammation, reducing pain, and we’re increasing blood flow, and not just everywhere in the body, but these herbal formulations are targeted specifically for the spine or the cervical region, depending on where the lesion is.
So I feel like, and I’ve always used the adage that you know, if we’re not using herbs along with acupuncture, and if we’re not using acupuncture along with herbs, we’re not going to have any success. So again, any of my, you know, intervertebral disc disease, or disc herniation dogs—I [am] actually [treating] multiple patients right now—and usually within a few weeks, we’re able to get them up and walking again. They’re not exactly running around doing zoomies, but they’re up, they’re mobile, they’re able to get up on the couch, they’re able to go outside to relieve themselves. And again, I attribute it to that multimodal approach, or that combining of the acupuncture and the herbal formulations.
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