Acupuncture has been studied and developed as a healing therapy for thousands of years. The points used for treatment and their relationship to major organs and the problems they have were discovered by trial and error and maps of the most effective acupoints have been passed down from master to apprentice for many generations. For most schools of acupuncture, the needles are placed according to the correct path of chi or energy to redirect it to its most health-giving pathway.

For a much shorter time, Western medical science developed. Studies of the normal body states and the therapy that will return a sick person to those states have progressed. Ultimately, the theories of the West translated more easily to the treatment of animals than have the Eastern theories. Treatment of fever, for instance, is simpler for Western medicine since it only takes the observation of the correct temperature of each species and the discovery of correct dosages of the medicines that cross over to other species.

For acupuncture to work on animals, each type of animal has to be studied from square one to find the correct chi path from organ to acupoints. And all of this has to be done on a patient who can't speak. In spite of this, veterinary acupuncture is catching on in the West.

Animal Studies

It's not surprising that many animal lovers prefer to overcome the obstacles to practice Eastern medicine on their animals. Eastern philosophies are based on balance with nature. Besides veterinary acupuncture, veterinarians use Chinese massage, herbal therapies and other types of Eastern treatments to keep animals in balance with their nature. The first use of veterinary acupuncture is recorded in China in 1766 BC by horse priests to care for horses in the Chinese army. Over the hundreds of years since then, other uses of veterinary acupuncture were developed for use on working and farm animals like cattle, camels and pigs. In the modern West, veterinary acupuncture is being developed for small animal therapy like pets.

The West didn't pay much attention to veterinary acupuncture until the middle of the twentieth century when veterinarians began to publish studies in Europe. Enough progress had been made by the 70's to gain acceptance in mainstream veterinary circles. Articles were published and conventions were held resulting in a sharing of sufficient case studies to built confidence in practitioners and animal owners. Acupuncture charts were developed for many species, especially the larger animals. Today, animal owners can choose a veterinary acupuncture practitioner in most areas to treat both working animals and pets.