“She’s always been really active,” said Budd. “One day she decided to be old.”

Veterinarian Dr. Melinda Barkley said Jade has arthritis in both of her knees. She also compensates on one side after a recent surgery to remove a soft tissue tumor in one leg. Jade has acute pain, so walking and running are unpleasant activities for the once active dog.

“She’s our only child in our family at the moment,” said Budd, a self-described empty nester.

Budd has been bringing Jade to the Animal Care Clinic for acupuncture treatments aimed at relieving the pain in the dog’s knees and hips as well as giving her the stamina to continue her active lifestyle.

“I figured that it was better than surgery or drugs,” said Budd. “This was worth giving it a shot.”

Barkley said that arthritis in small animals like cats and dogs is a common reason for euthanasia. Using acupuncture techniques provides a way to prolong and improve the quality of their lives.

“It’s all about using the nervous system to affect the muscles and the internal organs,” she said.

She’s been practicing acupuncture at the Animal Care Clinic for the past three months, having recently been certified. She is the only veterinarian in Wilsonville doing animal acupuncture.

Barkley said it takes at least three to six acupuncture treatments to know whether stimulating the nervous system in this way is going to be effective.

“Patience is a huge thing when trying this,” she said. “But it’s not a cure all.”

“Jade seems to be moving better and walking farther in the mornings,” Budd told Barkley as she sat next to her dog and quietly stroked her head. “She’s eating more regularly this last week. She ate both breakfast and dinner.”

Finding the right pressure points in a furry animal can be tricky, but Barkley keeps a close eye on the animal’s reaction.

While giving Jade a treatment last week, she eventually used one needle in the black lab’s forehead to help keep her calm. When she put the 30-gauge needle into Jade’s thigh, Jade sat up and gave the doctor a look. That one appeared to have hit the nerve, literally.

“You see how the needle is twitching around,” Barkley said to Budd. “That’s a good thing. We want to hit the nerve. That’s what we’re going for. The idea is not to hurt, though. The idea is to help.”

Animals have been receiving acupuncture treatments in the Eastern world for 2,000 years, said Barkley.

“They knew it worked on people, so if their cow couldn’t work in the field, then it couldn’t work on the crops,” she said. “But acupuncture didn’t come to the United States until the mid-1950s.”

When President Richard Nixon made a visit to China in later years, acupuncture gained even more attention.

A reporter in his entourage fell sick and acupuncture was among the treatments used to make the cure. The journalist was so stunned at the results that he started looking into this form of treatment and writing about it for his American audience.

Even yet, the idea of giving acupuncture to animals has not been widely examined.

“When I first took the classes, I was skeptical,” Barkley said of her classes at Colorado State University. “I asked myself, ‘Why am I here?’”

As an animal doctor, she was accustomed to traditional forms of Western medicine – drugs and surgery. Doing acupuncture takes time and patience. It also takes a willing pet owner who will continue other forms of massage therapy at home.

“Western doctors are more like mechanics,” she said. “When something doesn’t work, they fix it or replace it. But in the East, they are more like gardeners. They tend to try and prevent it, but if something does happen, you try to teach yourself how to heal yourself. It’s a cool idea.”

Barkley said she sees Eastern and Western medicines moving toward a more common modality, where doctors are guiding their human patients to help themselves.

Acupuncture works on more than just acute pain issues, she said. She treated a cat recently with a serious sinus infection that wouldn’t eat. By the next day, the owner reported that the cat seemed to be feeling better and was starting to eat.

“I’m also reading cases where they are starting to use acupuncture on animals with chronic kidney failure, as a way to stimulate and maintain the appetite, and possibly even improve blood flow,” Barkley said.

Another animal that has found success with acupuncture is the Dachshand. Because of its short legs and long bodies, discs in the dogs’ lower backs can calcify and lead to paralysis at just 4 to 6 years of age.

“It’s very painful for those dogs,” Barkley said. “With acupuncture treatments, though, those dogs are up and walking again. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Acupuncture is a way to keep pets part of the family longer and with a better quality of life.

“Animals are living longer because of modern treatments and people are expecting a higher quality of life,” said Barkley.