Hi, my name is Piper Weber and I am a 13 and one half year old chocolate lab that is using my…read moreadopted mom to channel my feelings of gratitude and appreciation for my friend and veterinary acupuncturist Dr. Dawn Greenberg. Dr Dawn has been visiting me about two times a month for well over a year now. Before her treatments, I was starting to limp and having much more difficulty navigating the steps I needed to use to go outside. Jumping on to my parents' bed at night when it was time for us to all go to sleep together, was becoming a hit and miss (mainly miss) experience. My regular vet, whose opinion we respected, had done everything in his power to help me. However, despite monthly Adequan injections, I was obviously still experiencing pain and compromise to my daily functioning. In fact it was during a routine visit to my conventional veterinarian when my mom questioned him as to what else could be done that could help address my arthritis. My vet discussed some alternate non medical treatments. Out of all the options mentioned, he recommended acupuncture as the most effective. He explained that although he didn't offer that service in his animal hospital, he encourages it. He related how he personally had treatments himself, and definitely benefited from them. When asked for a referral to his own personal acupuncturist, we were informed that pets needed different acupuncturist specialists then people, as the training necessary to be an expert and certified for that, was extensive and specific.
We decided we were going to try and see if acupuncture could work for me. Coincidentally, at about the same time we actually heard about Dr. Dawn from another source. In addition to the vet's recommendation, my dog walker told my mom about how her 20 year old daughter's Bell's palsy, which was lingering, was almost spontaneously resolved after one treatment with acupuncture. My dog walker (who is also a great caring person, and has three dogs herself) said her daughter's acupuncturist told her about a veterinarian acupuncturist that she said was terrific.
Enter Dr. Dawn Greenberg into our lives. As soon as I met Dr. Dawn, her soft voice, gentle pets to my head and reassuring manner won me over. Being a big, territorial kind of guy, it was great that she traveled to my own home to give me my treatments, which greatly reduced any any stress that I may have had, if I went to an unfamiliar office with strange smells and cold steel tables that I would associate with unhappy thoughts. It also helps that my mom stays with me right on our own couch during the treatments. I am preoccupied with conversation and kisses and I usually don't notice or ever flinch as the tiny needles are very slowly applied.
Dr. Dawn patiently answers all questions and addresses all my mom's concerns. Dr Dawn is very involved with my health in general, and doesn't restrict her advice to my acupuncture alone. She was a conventional veterinarian prior to becoming a specialist in this field, so she is very knowledgeable. There was the time when after a treatment I was feeling so much better I was able to jump up unnoticed with my front paws onto the kitchen counter and ate some vegetable souffle that contained onions. Boy, when my mom called up Dr Dawn hysterical that she was afraid that those onions were potentially poisonous, Dr Dawn calmly talked my mom through what to do. And then there are all of Dr. Dawn's suggestions, like changing to a more effective anti flea and tick application then the one I had been using for years. She also told my mom about these toe-grips that slip over my nails and help walking by decreasing the slipping on the tile and wood floors. Most recently after Dr. Dawn attended a week long out of town advanced training course for new treatments and told us about a video she became aware of there, that had strength training exercises to help with weakness in my back legs, which she explained is one of the problems. Then, there was one time when I missed my Adequan injection at my general vet. Due to my mom's working schedule I would have had to wait another whole week to get it. When my mom voiced her concern about the delay, Dr Dawn ran into her car and returned with the proper Adequan shot and gave it to me right there and then! Talk about service with a smile.
I have the utmost respect for her and am so glad to have the very nice Dr. Dawn in my life. In addition to looking forward to her visits (I even get so excited I jump up to greet her) it really seems that the treatments are helping me. Since I am very allergic to almost everything, typical analgesic pain reduction medications are out of the question for me. So, without the acupuncture treatments, I am afraid that my life would be so much more restricted due to pain. I just wanted to let others know of my experience so perhaps they too can consider this as a valuable alternative.
Thank you for listening to my story,
Pipie
