Treatment Day for Gabriel

It’s Saturday, which means either a long run or taking Gabriel to Boulevard Veterinary Hospital for his bi-weekly acupuncture treatments. It’s acupuncture Saturday, in case you couldn’t figure that out.  Gabriel started with receiving acupuncture once a week. When he was ready, about 2 weeks later, he was moved to bi-weekly with the idea of moving to every 3 weeks then once a month and so on. Unfortunately, we have been in the every 14 days stage for a few months now.  The reason for this — Gabriel loses control of his hind quarters the 12th night or 13th morning. This means he has ataxia (mild case, but not worth chancing). The best way to explain ataxia — is a drunken rear — think of a drunk person not being able to walk straight and stumbling around.  The ataxia is caused because his brain messages are not making it to this back legs. Keep in mind, his herniated disc is in the middle of his back, which means all areas from that herniated disc to the tip of his tail are not receiving signals/messages from his brain. This is why it’s not worth chancing  moving to the every 3 weeks stage.

At today’s visit, we decided to take the acupuncture treatments to the next level. The vet placed 18 needles into Gabe’s nervous system. Normally, it is 20 needles, but this time 4 metal clips were placed on certain needles near his herniated disc. These clips were connected to wires which in turn were connected to an electricity box that was pushing 5 volts through the needles. This helps stimulate more nerves without harming or causing any discomfort to the patient (human or animal).

Gabe did not even worry about it all the extra stuff. Once, the doctor and assistant left, he turned to side and fell asleep for the 20 minute treatment.  As, I type up this post, Gabriel is laying on his bed fast asleep, as though nothing has changed. I am hoping that this treatment keeps Gabriel comfortable longer and in less pain. Fingers crossed.

To help visualize this treatment, I took some pictures. They are a little dark, because we turn off the lights to help calm Gabriel.  And yes, Gabriel slept right though them. 🙂

Author: MamaTrek

I'm a runner, hiker, mother, wife and dog owner of a GSD and Malinois. I have been hiking with my daughter since she was 6 months old. She has summited 25 mountains over 4,000ft, including Mt. Washington in NH. I've have ran over a dozen half marathons and numerous shorter distance. I have taken my little one on many long distance training runs. Some where between all that I graduated with a BSBA in Marketing Management and Information Technology. View all posts by MamaTrek