The Daily O’Collegian

Bea sits calmly at the doctor’s office, quietly enduring the small acupuncture needles scattered across her back.

When the doctor stops and leans in to comfort her, Bea looks up with her dark brown eyes and licks the doctor on the nose.

Bea is an elderly dachshund, and veterinarian Rebecca Coleman is treating her with acupuncture at All Pets Veterinary Hospital. Coleman is the only veterinarian in Stillwater who practices veterinary acupuncture.

Coleman said the ancient art of Chinese acupuncture works the same on animals as it does on humans. The needles increase the flow of energy within an area of the body, reducing inflammation and pain and stimulating the nerves.

“There is a life force in every thing,” Coleman said. “It’s what separates the living from the dead. It circulates through the body, and it flows.

“Basically, what the Chinese did is over many years figured out the pathways through the body. They correspond very closely to nerve pathways, and certain circulatory pathways. Their view is, as long as the energy is flowing correctly through the body, you have good health.

“When you have too much energy in one area and too little energy in another, you are out of balance.”

Bea’s owners, Brian and Linda Henning, began looking into alternative treatments when surgery to correct back pain in November failed to restore complete use of her bowel movements.

“She doesn’t seem to be in any pain anymore, so her quality of life is really good,” Linda Henning said. “But if we could do something that inspires that nerve to make her bowel movements work, then it would be better quality of life for all of us.”

The Hennings adopted Bea from a dachshund rescue in 2006, and the lovable pup quickly won the hearts of her owners, who own two other rescued dachshunds.

“She’s a very sweet dog, and a very smart dog,” Brian Henning said.

But one day in October, Bea began to exhibit signs of discomfort in her back, and a checkup concluded Bea had suffered an injury that would require surgery.

“All of the sudden one day, she had back pain,” Linda Henning said. “When you would pick her up, she would scream.”

The Hennings began researching acupuncture to improve not only Bea’s bowel control, but also the use of her back legs, which occasionally drag because her back is not strong enough to support them.

“I’d say she uses 80 to 85 percent of her back legs,” Brian Henning said. “She can walk, but the way I see it is, when you’ve been sitting for a long time and your leg falls asleep, and then you get up and start walking; that’s how she looks.”

Linda Henning said: “We are looking for anything that is offered to make her life healthy.”

The Hennings’ fact-finding mission turned into an acupuncture appointment with Coleman after a long discussion of possible risks and expected outcomes of the procedure. Coleman said that results are typically seen after four to six weekly acupuncture treatments, and the risks are slim.

“The only risk is that you don’t get any better,” Coleman said. “As far as making symptoms worse, it can’t happen.”

Bea twitches a bit as the first needle enters her lower back but relaxes a few seconds later and lies on the exam table. Coleman works quickly and deliberately, until Bea resembles a cross-breed between a dachshund and a porcupine. The needles remain for 15 minutes, but Bea doesn’t seem to mind. Her wagging tail indicates that the needles aren’t causing discomfort.

However, not all animals are as cooperative as Bea.

“There are some that just won’t tolerate it,” Coleman said. “They’ll get aggressive and bite.”

Coleman attended veterinary school at OSU, graduating in 1986. Before attending veterinary school, she received her undergraduate degree at the University of North Texas.

“My degree was in liberal arts,” Coleman said. “After school, I was working in the travel industry, working for an airline. I decided, ‘I can do more than this,’ so I went back to school.”

Coleman said veterinary acupuncture was not a part of the curriculum when she was in veterinary school. She decided to learn the practice to set herself apart from other practitioners.

“That’s basically why I went into it,” Coleman said. “It gives me more tricks in my bag, so to speak. Most of my acupuncture patients are ones that Western medicine no longer has anything to offer.”

Coleman does not agree with those who consider acupuncture to be an experimental procedure, and said though it was experimental when it was introduced to this country, it is an accepted form of medicine.

However, she said it is important to make sure the acupuncturist is qualified to perform the procedure.

“I urge people that are interested in acupuncture for their animals to make sure that the person doing it has had adequate training and is certified,” Coleman said.

As well as being beneficial to the animal in the long run, acupuncture can also be easy on the owner’s wallet. Treatments cost about $40 to $50 per session, but Coleman says it’s an investment because of the savings on pain medications.

“People end up seeing that they’re spending just as much on pain medication every month as they would for acupuncture treatments, and the hope is that down the road they’ll only have treatments two to three times a year, and they’re no longer buying pain medication every month,” Coleman said.

Coleman specializes in acupuncture treatments because of the recent demand. Although many veterinarians perform surgeries and diagnose illnesses throughout the day, Coleman spends about 80 percent of her time with acupuncture patients. Since there is more information available to dog owners about alternative options, Coleman isn’t surprised about the spike in demand.

“So many drugs have been released that ended up being dangerous, and honestly because of the Internet, people are much more aware of what’s going on and what their alternatives might be,” Coleman said. “Ten years ago I hardly had anyone come to me asking for acupuncture, and it’s because they didn’t know that it was available.

“Now, 90 percent of my acupuncture patients find me on the internet through organizations that list practitioners in a certain area.”