CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 41 After four rounds of acupuncture and laser treatment, King said there has been noticeable improvement. "It's like we have a totally different dog. She sleeps all night, and I only give her medication now when she really needs it. She's doing wonderful. We've been happy with the results. Maybe this doesn't work with every dog, but I recommend that people give it a try." More and more pet owners are doing just that – and vets are accommodating them. The International Veterinary Acupuncture Society estimates that out of 86,000 veterinarians worldwide, about 900 to 2,000 of them practice acupuncture. Just in the U.S., the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association claims more than 800 members. You won't find the veterinarians at Academy Pet Hospital of Fayetteville on any of these lists – conventional medicine and surgery still make up 90 percent of what they do – but every week Dr. Dana Lehr receives a handful of calls from people interested in the other 10 percent, people searching for an alternative. Lehr is one of just a few local vets to offer holistic medicine and alternative treatments (plus advanced dentistry) to animals. But Lehr says people often confuse the two terms. "Holistic is a term that is often improperly used," he said. "It means treating the whole patient. Rather than just trying to treat a specific ailment, it takes into account everything, like environment, diet, other pets in the household, and humans around the pet." Alternative medicine, on the other hand, often treats a targeted illness. At Academy Pet Hospital, Lehr uses acupuncture, veterinary orthopedic manipulation, herbology and Class 4 laser therapy. He says laser therapy has been particularly effective in treating paralysis in dachshunds and far less expensive than the traditional route of BY MIKE RYAN H A N D S O N A r t h r i t i s i n t h e e l b o w, a b a d l e g a n d p a i n s o b a d s h e c o u l d b a r e l y w a l k : S u g a r w a s i n r o u g h s h a p e . S o h e r v e t e r i n a r i a n t u r n e d t o a c u p u n c t u r e . " S h e j u s t c o u l d n 't g e t c o m f o r t a b l e , " s a i d o w n e r D e b o r a h K i n g . " S h e w a s s l e e p i n g s o s t i f f . E v e n t o s t a n d a n d e a t w a s h a r d . " Opposite | Deborah King turned to acupuncture and laser treatment to help Sugar, her 8-year-old English bulldog. Above | Dr. Dana Lehr spends most of his time practicing conventional veterinary medicine, but he has seen the benefits of alternative treatments firsthand.

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