Kim's Acupuncture Notes
Kim is currently undergoing weekly acupuncture treatments to help relieve some of the muscle tension and strain in her right lumbar region, for those who don’t know or missed the news somehow!
She had her second session on Wednesday, and I wanted to note down some thoughts.
She’s much chirpier in herself, much more active around the house. She’s picking up and ragging on toys much more often – this isn’t behaviour that had disappeared, but it’s frequency is on the increase. She also finds one of her toys as soon as she reaches my room for bed, and will sit and “nom” on it until I tell her to pipe down.
However, her movement has no significant difference. She is still tracking to the left in her hind end and doesn’t look any more free in her running action to my eye. The real test will be tomorrow at EMDAC, when she’s asked to jump and twist over an agility course (something she hasn’t been asked to do since she last competed). On the other hand, she did flyball at Middlesbrough and clocked some very reasonable times, especially considering she was running with her adoptive handler and with a strange team (including Dylan, who is very strange). She also showed no ill effects and was particularly bright and cheerful the day after, which is unusual for her as she normally takes a day to sleep off the mad-flyball-excitement kick.
She’s due at least two more sessions, although it could be one or two more depending on how little or much improvement there is.
Some notes on the acupuncture itself (which costs a huge amount of money, btw. Guess where my first paycheck has gone?!):
Kim goes in for the full day to the practice, as we all work and can’t just bring her for an afternoon or morning. She’s reported to be an undemanding patient, although she is very suspicious of everyone and tends to give out the evil eye to anyone she thinks is doing something wrong. (This makes me laugh!) She is conscious throughout her treatement, but due to her evil-genius suspicious-mind tendency of assuming everyone wants to kill her, she has to be mildly sedated to encourage her to relax. So if anyone sees me walking her around with shaved patches on both front legs, please don’t worry! She is perfectly healthy and has the thumbs-up to compete, she just likes to take drugs and space out on a Wednesday whilst someone sticks her with needles. Perfectly normal dog behaviour …