What An Animal Doctor Reveals
(First of Three Parts)
TIN HAU, Hong Kong Island – An ability to offer many diverse treatments and knowing when to use them improves the prospects to restore ailing animals to health. Adopting that strategy has led Dr Grace Li of the Tin Hau Pet Hospital on King's Road to become one of the few Hong Kong veterinarians to specialize in acupuncture for pets.
“Coming to me can be almost a last resort for animals and their guardians,” Grace said. “What I'm doing may be different, but when I see that it leads to improvements for pets, then I know I'm on the right track.
“To me, it's so obvious. When I do acupuncture on a recumbent dog, one who can't stand up, and then after a few acupuncture treatments, he's walking, happy and more energetic, that's a spectacular response.
“When acupuncture helps to solve bad-digestion, chronic-diarrhea or skin-problem cases, then I know my treatment plan works. Although my patients can't talk, the results are clear. The pets' guardians see the impact for themselves.”
Long practiced in China, acupuncture -- the insertion of needles at strategic body points -- has spread worldwide to treat people. In veterinary medicine, it remains unusual.
“Veterinary acupuncture can be considered a science and an art at the same time,” Grace said. “It's easy to learn. Anyone can complete the course within a year. But then it takes many years to refine techniques and master picking the correct points. At first, you may work using a ‘cookbook’, recipes of standard acupuncture points, but it's like being a chef. Later you no longer look much at the cookbook. You choose the points based on experience. Even initially, you can achieve a clinical success rate of 60-70 per cent after the right diagnosis. To continue increasing the success rate takes harder work, maybe by combining acupuncture with other treatment modalities.”
Supporting theory stipulates that vital “qi” energy must circulate along body channels called “meridians”. Disruptions or blockages lead to pain and illness. Meridian zones form acupuncture points that can be stimulated by inserting small, stainless-steel needles, thereby reviving healthy energy flow, restoring balance, removing barriers and relieving pain.
The sterile (one-use only) needles can be nearly hair-strand thin. Wires may be clamped on to heighten the stimulation with mild electric current. Some needles have copper heads to conduct electricity better. The finer and sharper the needle-tips are, the less discomfort for patients.
Each pet-acupuncture treatment, with needles inserted at the proper points from head to tail, lasts about 40 minutes, should be painless and has no negative side-effects. “I don't like to induce pain to my patients, even when doing acupuncture,” Grace said.
“I'm refining my technique to use fewer needles. When I first started, I tended to use 10-20 needles. Now, by also monitoring the animal's pulse, I can zoom in and use just three or four needles – six or seven maximum. I want to achieve the best results more elegantly.”
In another technique, Grace dispenses with needles entirely, instead using a handheld laser device. “That's good for nervous patients. It's like a probe with a low-frequency laser that penetrates tissue to cause a stimulating effect. A lot depends on a pet's temperament and condition. I choose the type of acupuncture best suited for each case.”
Typically, Grace performs acupuncture on each of her animal patients once or twice a week. Treatment programs may last a few weeks or many months. “Doing acupuncture just one time makes no huge difference,” she said. “It's quite accumulative. Patients need regular treatments.”
The Tin Hau Pet Hospital, also with three other veterinarians (Dr Angela Yung, a friend of Grace's from veterinary college, Dr Carrie Daly and Dr Wallis Chan), combines conventional treatments, holistic medicine and alternative therapies for cats, dogs, birds and exotic pets. The hospital's non-traditional ways also include herbal medicine, homeopathy, laser therapy, moxibustion, massage and nutritional advice. Sometimes the staff calls in animal communicators or behaviorists.
“One reason I like to combine herbs with acupuncture is because a client can maintain beneficial effects by giving herbs to a pet at home,” Grace said.
People appreciate alternatives to western drugs. “With such drugs at high doses over a long time you see side-effects,” Grace said. “Then maybe other drugs must mask the side-effects. It creates a staggering effect that people don't like for their pets.”
The purpose is to “keep pets happy, healthy and pain-free”, improving their quality of life and strengthening bonds to their guardians. Established by Grace and Angela, the pet hospital specializes in treating cancer, gastrointestinal disease, diabetes, obesity, pain, paralysis, fractures, ligament or muscle injuries, arthritis and more.
With acupuncture forming part of China's ancient culture, Grace has no trouble to convince people of its merits for pets. “Some pet guardians have had acupuncture treatments themselves, and it worked for them,” she said. “Maybe some people will be a bit dubious. When a whole family is involved with a pet, one person may believe in acupuncture and another may not. If the animal gets better, there's no need to argue.”
Grace points to the presence of repeat-patients and the hospital's financial viability as solid evidence that pet-acupuncture brings substantial health benefits: “We don't need to spend a dime on advertising. Everything is by word of mouth.”
Most of her acupuncture treatments are on cats or dogs. She has worked on rabbits too. “Some people also do acupuncture on turtles,” she said. “Hamsters, chinchillas and other small, furry creatures probably aren't suitable because they're really nervous and move too much. Just picking them up and examining them cause major stress to such tiny beings.”
Diseases and acupuncture points vary for different creatures. “Because of anatomical differences, the acupuncture points are different,” Grace said. “So are the conditions to treat. The most common health problems depend on animal breeds too.”
Acute conditions, like problems from the animal equivalent of strokes, may improve dramatically after three or four sessions. “In many cases, the animals are back to normal after six to eight treatments,” Grace said. “They don't need to come back after about 10 treatments.”
Degenerative or chronic diseases, like arthritis, demand more treatments and greater frequency. “When diseases took a long time to develop, patients need longer to respond,” Grace said.
Grace has qualifications to perform acupuncture on humans too, which she does as a volunteer at a charity clinic for seniors. “With people, it's easier to find the acupuncture points,” she said. “They're less furry and more willing to stay still.”
Born in Hong Kong, Grace moved to Canada with her family 12 years later. As a teenager in Vancouver, she kept and adored pets, especially rabbits.
In 2000, she graduated from veterinary school at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Then at Australia's University of Sydney, she studied veterinary dermatology.
Returning to Hong Kong, she did on-call emergency work, initially with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and soon grew intrigued by alternative treatments. Some sick animals failed to respond to conventional medicine. How else could she help them?
“After doing conventional medicine for a few years, you know its limits,” she said. “When serious traumatic cases or animals with chronic cases near the end show up, you sometimes feel like you're out of solutions. I'm curious enough to always try to see if there are other ways.”
Attending a 2002 veterinary congress in Bangkok introduced Grace to the healing potential of acupuncture. “It was an eye-opener and got me really interested.”
After qualifying by 2003, she became one of Hong Kong's first vets to offer acupuncture. “Veterinary acupuncture started me on a whole journey,” she said. “Once I knew the background and theory, it made sense to combine acupuncture with other health care. There's a strong synergy. When you begin to see the clinical results, it moves you to learn more and use more.”
Often the best outcomes for sick animals mix “complementary” therapies with more conservative treatment plans, Grace said. She expects more and more animals and their guardians to learn first-hand about acupuncture’s benefits.
For more information: www.thph.com.hk
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Dr Grace Li knows a lot about needles.
She's one of the few veterinarians
specializing in acupuncture for pets.
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