Interview With a pet Accupuncturist

Who doesn't love their pets almost as if they were your own children?

The other day while I was putting potatoes in the oven my cat Abi decided to take a peak. I hadn't noticed her and started closing the door, pinching her little paw. My heart broke as she cried out and I had to chase her down to console her. Well, as much as you could console a cat.

There are many times I recognize some of the behavior in the kids that I work with at the daycare in my own pets. The way sissy (Abi) will pick on bubby (Bentley), when they climb on things and I have to tell them to get down, or even when they sass back with a bark or meow because I won't let them go outside. Yes, it's true: they're very similar to us.

But I don't always treat them the same as I would children. I consult with parents on their kids occasionally: what to do for their immune systems, what oil is good for healing a cut, how nutrition is important in preventing future illness. The list goes on, but when I'm dealing with my pets, I don't think about herbs for their help.

That's where a friend of mine inspired me to start thinking about alternative medicine for pets.

Photo cred: Kinsey of @Cabin_Woodss on Instagram.

Kinsey is the owner of Cabin Woods on Etsy. She's a good friend of mine and is actually the reason my husband and I met each other, but that story is for another time.

She is obsessed with her dogs - top notch "dog mom". Forest and Juneau are treated just as if they were her own flesh and blood. It's often Kinsey and I discuss herbs, but I had no idea she was doing her own research and applying it to her pets lives. One day she came to me with a question on what herbs were good for urinary tract infections and if they were okay for animals to use. Truth be told, I had no clue about herbs for an animal's UTI, but I knew of the ones for humans. She explained that Juneau was having some complications and listed some of the methods she was using to take care of it.

That got me thinking. I had no idea what to tell her, or even what I was legally allowed to say.

Is it possible to practice on animals?
What are the ratio differences of herbs for animals and people? 
Is there a world of alternative medicine for animals that I've never even heard of before?

I had to know. So I jumped on the laptop during nap time one day at work (for those who don't know I'm a daycare teacher). I searched up "animal herbalists". Then "veterinarian herbalists", then "alternative medicine for pets". I spent almost an hour just searching all the info I could get my hands on. Then I found the VBMA: Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association.

If I could attempt to draw a parallel of something similar to the VBMA I might be tempted to say the AHG (American Herbalist Guild), but I really can't. It's an association of veterinarians that practice or want to learn more about alternative medicine for animals. They have a goal to keep the practice of herbal medicine alive, just as the American Herbalist Guild does, but for animals.

The website has an option to find a veterinarian that is a member of the association either in your state or internationally. I looked under the state of Kentucky and found only one name: Karen Lanz, DVM. I saw the opportunity to get some answers for my questions. I emailed her and we ended up having an enjoyable over the phone interview.

Here's what we discussed:

Photocred: Karen Lanz, DVM

Meet karen...

Tina: Once I found out this kind of stuff even existed I just had to talk to you! So what is your official title, exactly? Pet acupuncturist or...?

Karen: Well, of course I'm a veterinarian. I mean that's the most important thing. My practice is rather than doing traditional medicine, which I did for a long, long time, I now limit my practice to what is considered complementary or alternative medicine: acupuncture, I focus on supplements, I do use herbs - a lot of Chinese herbs, I do some western herbs, I use some herbal tinctures, I use a line called demo-therapy, I don't know if you're familiar with that.

Tina: No, no I'm not, actually.

Karen: I do nutritional consultations, I do essential oils, I do chiropractic. So those are the kind of things that are not mainstream veterinary medicine at this point. My colleagues look at it as complementary to what they do. There are a lot of times where there is not a good answer in western medicine, or that it isn't helping far enough, and that's where people seek out people like me. I'm not an herbalist, so to say, although I do use Chinese herbs because it is a part of my acupuncture training, but as far as western herbs, not really.

Tina: It sounds like you do a little bit of everything.  Do you do this solely for animals?

Karen: Oh yeah, I mainly practice on dogs, cats, and the occasional rabbit. I have to say most of my patients are older, arthritic dogs. I see cats for various problems, and of course cats and dogs with cancer. I had a German Shepherd with cancer have his spleen taken out, so his owner is coming to me to see what she can do to keep him around as long as possible. I do supportive care for many patients with various problems like that.

Tina: I never knew how far acupuncture could extend for animals!

Karen: Yeah, I see patients with a lot of arthritis, neurological problems, occasional kidney failure, heart disease, etc. It's complementary to treatments for many problems such as those; it's not treating the disease, it's helping support healthy functions.

Tina: It sounds like that job would be very fulfilling.

Karen: It is. A lot of people asked me how I started doing acupuncture, how did you get into that? It was because I was running into cases where I didn't have the right answer or I wouldn't know enough. People were bringing in herbs and I would be like I have no idea what that is. Then I wanted to know more about it. You start looking into one thing and it opens another door to something else.  Really what inspired me to do it was that I had an old dog and a colleague came out and did acupuncture with her and it made her feel so much better. So, I saw it with my own eyes, I actually saw her start feeling better. So yeah, I'm really pleased and surprised at how many people are open to it.

Tina: So is this a common thing? You start out as a veterinarian and grew into an acupuncturist?

Karen: Yeah, I never even knew of it when I was doing my schooling. I grew to learn about it, and one thing snowballed into another.

Tina: You mention that there was another acupuncturist in your area. So this is starting to become a common thing?

Karen: Yeah, you can definitely find us out there. There aren't that many here in Louisville, but you can find many veterinarians with complementary practices on the VBMA website.

Tina: I'm starting to find out it's a huge case of people not knowing. Doctors and other health professionals wanting to know more, people not even knowing what options they truly have - it's a case of people starting to ask questions. You can't just do one thing, there's a place for everything. I talk with some of my clients and say things like yeah, you can take this herb to help but what also could help is reflexology and I know someone who does it. Clients went to you for herbal supplements for their animals - who does that? I never even thought about it until now. I guess it's all about growing your knowledge, when it comes to medicine we'll never stop learning.

Karen: That's true. One thing I don't have much practice with is single herbs, that a very western style practice of medicine. People come in wanting to use boneset and I may end up referring them to someone who know more about that herb than I do. I love it, it's cool, but as far as helping animals maybe it's something I eventually do.

Tina: That's something I've learned in my practice, so far, is that it's okay not to know. I'll go to my husband's doctor visits and discuss with them alternative treatments for his back and head problems with herbs and they'll have no clue what I'm talking about. Then I'll have some of my own clients come to me with questions on maybe an herb for their gallbladder they found and I'm like I've actually never even heard of that herb so let me do research or let me find someone to direct you to that knows more about that herb.

Karen: The tremendous amount of stuff out there is overwhelming. If people want to use what they find, that's fine but I want to use things and brands that I trust for quality I trust.

Tina: I totally understand that. I am so picky about the brands of herbs or even where I gather them. People come to me with these brands, these supplements, oils, or even this product that claims some big natural thing, and I'm not sure if I like it or if I should support it. Sometimes I'm shocked by the outcome, in a good way, other times I simply stick to my own trusted brands. Sometimes it changes, too. I will admit to the world: guys, I liked this at first but now I don't, here's why, let me take away my endorsement.

Karen: Sure!

Tina: And you know how herbs have Latin binomials? Well, so do chemicals. I'll read this package that has five herbs I know in Latin, but then the rest is unclear and I'm not even sure if they're chemicals or not and I have to look into it. The packaging might look like it's marketed at some corner market store, and then it's funny because I might look into it far enough and tell my client that came to me with it "actually, this is a really good supplement, but I'm not sure if it's organic or not or if even sustainable harvesting practices were used, etc.". If they want to use that, then go ahead!

Karen: "...and then give me feed back, let me know how it went".

Tina: Oh yeah, for sure. And the same herb doesn't work for everyone. Do you find that with your clients, that the same treatment doesn't work for every client?

Karen: Oh for sure, herbs are the same way for sure. Usually within a couple weeks we'll know for sure if the treatment is helping. There are some that are quicker than that, there are some that are slower than that, especially with herbs. When I use tinctures or oils on a animal, I tell the owner to give it some time. It's working slowly beneath the surface.

Tina: That's a big thing people might not understand right away, too.

Karen: People are used to that, "quick and boom". Herbs don't work that way. I tell people to give it some time. I tell them the project that we're working on is the center of the wheel, and all the spokes are the things we are trying: acupuncture, herbal medicine, essential oils, massage, Reiki if you're into that.

Tina: Yeah! Now here's a question. I do believe that there's a place for both allopathic and alternative medicine in the world. Do you use both allopathic and alternative medicine in your practice?

Karen: I don't do, as a rule, traditional medicine anymore. Now, are there times when a dog walks in that is so miserably itchy that I suggest prednizone for about a week? Yes, I calm down the skin, then eventually we start adding in the herbal treatments. It's a team effort for the pets care, I work with my colleagues as a team with both styles of medicine. It's when it's a chronic case that they generally come to me.

Tina: Yeah, you have a heart in the end. Let's not put the poor dog through more than he has to go through.

Karen: There was house call that I was doing where the dog wasn't able to walk well. It was a German Shepherd and I simply figured that he probably had hip dysplasia. But I do the full examination and I realized he had a heart murmur, a heart arrhythmia and I realized he had heart disease. That's why his back end was failing. That needs allopathic medicine, so I sent him to my colleagues. For support, maybe we could do herbs, maybe some hawthorn, to help with that? Sure, but he wasn't going to live with without allopathic medicine.

Tina: So did the dog end up living?

Karen: The dog did, he ended up getting his medicine and was stabilized and he is doing much better.

Tina: Aw! Growing up I had a German Shepherd, his name was Wiser, and he had hip dysplasia. We couldn't afford to take him to the vet very often, and we had no idea alternative medicine for animals even existed. Even now, animals are important to me as much as family, and knowing that there is alternative medicine for animals I wonder if there were past pets we could've helped better. I don't know, they are special to us but many don't treat them the same as they do themselves. Here's another question: how do you keep those animals so still? In the pictures on your website they're just sitting there with needles in their back!

Karen: That's a common question, actually. So, um, some of them I have to bribe with food or treats. Some of them I have to hold, like the elderly dog I saw earlier. That works out pretty well. A lot of my patients, once they figure out the process of it and realize that it makes them feel better, they come and lay down and are ready for it. They're very intuitive, they're very smart. Some I have to chase around the room with a laser because they won't hold still.

Tina: I bet that is really funny! Almost like a little porcupine running around the room. Do you use something like a stem machine? My husband had dry needling done on him once, and they used a stem machine. Do you something like that?

Karen: I do use something like electro-acupuncture. It's like hooking them up to jumper cables. It send tiny pulses to the needles. I do that with some of my patients. I make sure it's not uncomfortable to the animals, I try to make them comfortable. They're almost like children, they don't always understand.

Tina: I bet that is very much like a pediatrician with their clients. The only question I have left to ask, is if anyone was interested in taking this career path that basically you have,  what steps would they take towards that?

Karen: Well, if they want to do what I do and work with animals, especially within the state of Kentucky, especially acupuncture, it's under veterinarian practice. You have to be a veterinarian to do any of that. Other modalities such as massage therapy, you don't have to be a veterinarian. A lot of colleges offer alternative medicine for animals as a degree, such as the University of Florida, Louisiana, and plenty more I'm probably not thinking of.

Tina: Cool deal, and my final question is this: what is the most important advice you can think of for someone who is wanting to improve their animal's health with alternative medicine?

Karen: Well, I'm not sure if it would be considered alternative medicine but it's so important: nutrition. Keeping that weight normal is so important, because if they're over weight then it leads to so many diseases that we can prevent. Many chronic diseases can be prevented by proper weight, and maybe stepping up the nutrition: getting away from some of the more commercial foods that aren't as healthy. Upgrade their diet, have them at a normal weight, and keep them active. That prevents so many diseases, you don't even understand.

Tina: Treat them like humans, basically.

Karen: Basically!

Abi lounging in the camper.

I hope you all found that as interesting as I did! I want to thank Karen Lanz for her patience with my poor interviewing skills and my annoying phone voice. Also, to thank her for her time and for sharing her knowledge of possibly one of the most fascinating practices of medicine I have ever heard of.

In the Louisville, KY area and want to connect with Karen for your pet? Visit her website at: healinghandspet.com/.

Until next time, I wish good health to you and yours.

Interested in going? Reserve your spot by clicking the picture!