Business & Tech

Acupuncture For Your Pet? Find Out

Style Unleashed pet boutique and grooming salon in Barrington offers an acupuncture informational session by veterinarian Caitlin Caldwell.

Acupuncture could help your pet – especially your aging dog or cat.

Veterinarian Caitlin Caldwell is staking her practice on it.

You can hear Caldwell yourself next Thursday, June 14, at Style Unleashed in Barrington. She is leading an informational seminar on acupuncture at 6:30 pm.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“I can increase their quality of life,” said Caldwell of her patients. “And acupuncture has no side effects.”

If there is any pain at all from the needles, she said, it is a “tingling sensation and then a warming” as the blood flow is increased.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The Western medicine response to ailments is usually medication, which can cause serious, long-term side effects.

 “Western medicine doesn’t deal well with chronic pain,” she said.

The Eastern medicine response is acupuncture, which increases blood flow and turns off the chronic pain in nerve pathways, Caldwell said.

Acupuncture has been around for 4,000 years, she said, although the treatment has only been documented for about half that time. It is particularly helpful for musculoskeletal, neurological and gastrointestinal problems.

Caldwell’s entire practice also is based on home visits. She works out of her home.

“Dogs are so much more calm when they are treated in familiar surroundings,” she said. “And cats really need to be home in their space.”

Caldwell graduated from Colorado State University in 2001 with a biology degree. She worked at Harvard Medical School as a neurochemistry research assistant before going to veterinary school at North Caroline State. She got very interested in veterinary acupuncture and holistic medicine while studying there.

In her fourth year rotations in veterinary school, Caldwell traveled to Beijing, China, to study veterinary acupuncture and traditional Chinese veterinary medicine (TCVM). She has practiced at small-animal hospitals in Rhode Island and has continued her TCVM training through Chi Institute in Florida.

At the Thursday session, Caldwell said, she will explain what acupuncture is, where to use it, and why to use it. She will demonstrate if there is a pet to be treated.

Karen Lynch, owner of Style Unleashed, treats her almost 10-year-old chocolate lab with acupuncture. See the photos. The treatments have significantly improved the dog’s ability to get around at what is considered a senior age for labs.

It is because of the benefits, Lunch said, that she wants to introduce acupuncture to her clients and anyone else with an aging pet. Her pet boutique and grooming salon is located at 232 Waseca Ave.

Call Style Unleashed at 245-2600 or drop an email to Lynch at klynch@styleunleashedri.com to register for the session.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here