I was recently invited to speak to a group of veterinary students about acupuncture and integrative medicine. So I talked about the wonders of fascia (the glad wrap of the body) and how acupuncture meridians travelled along these super highways and their close relationship with osteopathic and chiropractic techniques. Along…
The importance of treating puppies
Meet Cowboy and Little Roy. I first saw them as tiny six week old puppies. Two of a litter of Chihuahuas brought in for a routine checkout to make sure they were growing well. What’s the point of treating puppies? They’re too young to have hurt themselves yet right. Actually…
Rehabilitation hits all the right buttons for the Bali dogs
What a fantastic start to my week in Brisbane atttending the annual Australian Veterinary Conference. My Saturday was spent presenting a rehabilitation workshop including acupuncture and animal biomechanical medicine to a group of veterinarians and veterinary nurses. The problems ranged from cruciate disease in a beautiful 16 year old Maltese…
Essential items for travel
It’s nearly the end of our time travelling through southeast Asia visiting relatives and seeing the sights. Chinese New Year is just around the corner and Chinatown is a sea of red and gold. My four essential supplements and acupuncture stimulator have proved invaluable. Vitamin C for lack of fresh…
The big ‘C’ word
Yesterday I saw three beautiful dogs that each had cancer. There is no way to make this sound nice but living with cancer can suck …or it can be ‘where’s my dinner’. The most important lesson that I have learnt over the years is that thinking of the disease as…
Veterinary Acupuncture Congress in Cairns
It is the last day of the 43rd annual International Veterinary Acupuncture Congress (IVAS) in Cairns. This is the first time the Congress has come to Australia and it has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to discuss all aspects of traditional chinese medicine with our overseas colleagues. We…
Chinese herbal therapy and Antimicrobial resistance
The Annual Veterinary Conference is being held in Melbourne this week. The first plenary of the week dealt with the alarming and worsening problem of antimicrobial resistance. Our human, livestock and pet populations are all affected but of the 9 million that the government have allocated to this problem, only…
Coonhound paralysis
Acute canine polyradiculoneuritis is more commonly known as Coonhound paralysis. There are a number of theories on the cause of this disease. In North America, dog may be affected by contact with something in raccoon saliva. There are obviously no raccons in Australia but Coonhound paralysis does occur here. The…
What do acupuncture and guy ropes have in common?
Last night while helping some venturer scouts set up camp in my capacity as their unit leader, it occurred to me that tensioning guy ropes for tents was a bit like tweaking the biomechanics of a quadruped with acupuncture, more specifically a balancing technique made popular by the late…
The countdown begins
Tuesday next week, I will be heading off to the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society Congress in Tacoma, Washington State for my first ever overseas acupuncture conference. I am especially looking forward to the osteopathic acupuncture sessions and hope to bring home some awesome techniques, …although Australian veterinary acupuncture has advanced in…