Hello! Milly had her first acupuncture session for her arthritis today, thought it warranted a new thread so it didn't get lost in discussions about metacam and stuff!
I'm really delighted with how it went. I thought Milly would tolerate it well as she is a very tactile cat, and she was the perfect patient. She had about 10 needles today over about half an hour, the vet said it's best to start gently in case she is one of the 10%-ish who hyper-react, so next time she will have the full works. She didn't even notice when most of the needles went in, there was one particularly sore point that she reacted to a little when it was first inserted, but was fine after that.
I was very impressed with the vet, she explained everything to me as she was doing it, including potential risks, the sort of response I am likely to see etc. She feels down the sides of her spine to find the stiff points and then searches out the 'knots' in the muscle, and that's where the needles go - none of the eastern medicine 'energy lines' or anything, it's based on what she feels. And the needle pulls the knot out of spasm and releases endorphins and other things I don't remember. She gave her a really thorough feel over, you could see that she was far more rigid on one side of her spine than the other, and also said that elbow arthritis like Milly's often causes referred shoulder pain, which she also had. No needles in shoulders today, though.
Back home this evening Milly seems pretty normal, she does feel a slightly different shape when I'm stroking her; don't know if I am imagining it or if it is a subtle change in her posture from the session. No session next week as its Christmas, but we will then have weekly sessions for a month and then see how it goes. She said with cats it is quite individual after that, some go every 3-4 weeks, some might not go for 3 months then suddenly need another burst, it's about watching for the signs and responding to those.
I had a 45 min appointment today as it was the first time she has ever seen Milly, from now on it will be 30 mins. It cost £30.64 which I thought was really reasonable too.
Will keep you all posted on how it goes.