Eight months old, a furry brown bull dog named “Dan Jiao” awaits the end of a Chinese acupuncture session which treats the partial paralysis said to be caused by a puppyhood injury.
Dan jiao would definitely be sitting somewhere chewing bones rather than being strapped into a harness that looks like a torturous medical device, pricked by several long needles hooked up to a mild electric current.
Jin Rashan, a practitioner of the Shanghai clinic of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), gives hope to the people and provides them with an alternative of putting their beloved pets to bed that suffer immobility due to several spinal and nervous system injuries.
Jin’s TCM Neurology and Acupuncture Animal Health Centre operate at full capacity of around 20 patients per day.
Jin said: “We're getting more and more customers every day.”
Many dogs suffer from severe back injuries and spinal deterioration which are very hard to treat and in turn make them unable to walk. Several breeds such as Bulldogs, German Shepherds, Collies, Basset Hounds and Shi Tzus are likely to suffer from such diseases.
Jin said: "Seventy percent of the animals here suffer from spinal disc herniation which paralyzes their hind legs or all four legs.” Moreover, he is of the view that acupuncture is better and more effective than modern medicine.
"Western medical practices can't do much," he said.
Dan Jiao was brought in for a treatment after a fall which completely paralyzed him by his owner Michael Xu. Acupuncture seems to be working on him.
"Dan Jiao was able to crawl slowly on his front paws after three days of acupuncture. By the seventh day he was able to limp on all four legs."
Patients including a black Labrador and a teacup poodle were brought in by their owners for treatment on Friday.
The pets were strapped into harness before needles were inserted in their problem areas for treatment.
Some pets whimpered nervously when smoking moxibustion cups were applied but a patient was completely strapped down to stop him from squirming around.
Wang Ping, the owner of teacup poodle known as”Mei Mei” is very positive about the recovery of little teacup poodle after three-months paralyzing neck injury.
Wang said that she went to many clinics with “Mei Mei” but the vets refused to do surgery as she was very small.
Doctors recommended euthanasia to Wang and then referred Wang to Jin's clinic for treatment of “Mei Mei”
Wang finally came to Jin and now Mei Mei can crawl a bit now after the treatment.
Jin is of the view that pets are like a human being and they also need care and love.
"In the past, Chinese people had a very weak notion of what a pet was. But now pets are treated as companions or family members. They care so much about their pets now, it is not like in the past."