Sorry, Debbie -- me again, because yeah, I **do** get acupuncture myself (and that came about after a vet friend who does acupncture **and** neural surgery up at the Univ. of Florida told me HE gets it for himself as well).
To answer the question in your title first -- because it is a good one -- TCVM (traditional Chinese veterinary medicine -- which is the dog version of Chinese or Korean medicine/acupuncture) and acupuncture are good for several things:
1. Acupuncture --
Pain relief
Expedites healing -- particularly from injury or surgery but also from illness
Helps tonify the blood so the body gets better "fresh" oxygen from the blood and the toxins are removed better
Seizure help -- more in that it helps support the organs that can be at the crux of seizures -- like liver problems, so by helping that organ it helps the seizures, and it also can help reduce the stress which can worsen seizures
Lots of "specifics" -- like support for particular organs, emotional stress/disturbance; aging (particularly the dementia and physical challenges of aging)
More - I'm still learning how very specific it can be to help various problems.
2. In particular with animals -- nutrition takes on a whole new dimension because the Oriental way is to use food like it was medicine. I came home last week from my TCVM vet with "Wolf Berries" (I can't even spell the Chinese name) that are both for Charlie's eyes and Tink's "twitches" (petit mal seizures she has). In both of those cases that food simply gives support to those particular organs involved.
3. Herbology -- it's a HUGE topic -- and Chinese herbs are different from Korean herbs (and I'm guessing each country has it's specifics but those are the only two I have experience with). Oriental herbs are far stronger than anything we have in Western herbs (or even European herbs) and many of them are prescription only.
Beyond pain and healing, there are Chinese herbs which help treat cancer, and particularly can augment Western cancer treatment (literally they make chemo drugs work better, and specifiically also make the side effects to the drugs minimal and easier to tolerate). Also the herbs they use for seizures/epilepsy are incredible. I have had two dogs now that were seizure dogs - Kee Shu far more than Tink. What these herbs can do to help with seizures is beyond amazing. They do NOT always work, and honestly a lot of it depends on the practitioner and how *good* that particular practitioner is at herbology (in fact at any of the parts of TCVM).
4. Tui Na -- sometimes this is the forgotten prong of TCVM -- Tui Na is sort of a cross between massage and chiropractic (altho to compare it to chiro is a disservice because it doesn't 'adjust' anything). Essentially it's a specific type of massage that augments acupuncture and helps all of the above.
Lee debbie
Today Dr L did acupuncture for Alphie because she has a creaking knee (as per what Dr S said), and did electro-pulse something at the needles. Dr S does dry acupuncture. Dr L then gave Alphie a B12 jab at both sides of her hips. And prescribed Coix formula for Alphie, telling me not to give her di gu pi san which Dr S prescribed. Who do I listen to? Or merge both of their medication (and risk contraindications)? I admit I'm impressed with the electro-pulse something and the B12 jab because I didn't know this was done for dogs as well. And we're gonna continue heading there for weekly sessions for a month.
You have to listen to which one you think is better. EVERY medical practiitoner -- Eastern or Western is going to have their own opinion. They wilL NOT always agree.
B12 -- yeah, they give that to dogs and humans. It can be a bit painful (speaking from experience again) BUT it can also rock for pain relief.
But -- was this just a "shot" (a/k/a "jab";) OR was it aquapuncture? Really often you will see practitioners use injectible vitamins and sometimes homeopathic remedies but they inject them along acupuncture points (in order to get that particular thing to do something for one particular part of the body).
If you're talking about little clips they put on acpuncture needles that then runs a small/gentle electric current thru the needles? I've had that done and I've seen it done for dogs. It ramps up the acupuncture -- particularly if you're dealing with pain.
HOWEVER -- there is also electronic acupuncture -- rather than using needles at all they just touch an electronic pen to an acupuncture point for a few seconds.
THAT I have not had good results with personally. I know some of the US acupuncturists use it thinking it is safer (so a dog isn't going to suddenly reach over and pull out a needle with it's mouth), but I've had it done MANY times on myself and frankly for me it is 100% completely ineffective. I've had it done by several different practitioners and for me it's just plain a big ZERO. And I know other people like it --- so, go figure.
Between these two practitioners listen carefully and ASK QUESTIONS. I would have asked specifically *why* this new practitioner doesn't like the gui pi?
A TCVM practioner doesn't just do acupuncture. The way they diagnose really should be different. Often they will spend several minutes with their hands on the dog -- and in reality what they are doing is feeling various pulse points on the body to see how the blood is moving thru those spots. This gets complicated -- I know *what* they do but explaining it is difficult. But part of it is how forecfully the blood is moving thru that part of the body, is it smooth or does it feel different. They have descriptions for all of that (thready, slippery, sluggish, etc.) and comparing one place to another they can then figure out where the break-down is and where the problem may be.
They also combine that with looking at the whole animal -- tongue, inside of ears, eyes, mouth, the smell of their breath (and ears) and the general condition of theh body, coat, nails, pads, etc.
Hope that helps answer your question.