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Rachel Mullins, DVM Animal Acupuncturist
When
associate veterinarian Rachel Mullins suggests acupuncture as a treatment for her furry patients she is sometimes met with skepticism from their owners. But Mullins, who works at Lakeview Animal Hospital in Portage considers acupuncture an important tool in her arsenal for helping pets, and says she has witnessed its benefits, in profound ways. Shortly after Mullins gained certification for veterinary acupuncture, a couple carried in her first acupuncture patient on a pillow: an extremely geriatric greyhound. The greyhound had back-end nerve degeneration and could no longer walk. Her owners had tried everything else and looked to Mullins for help. “I was terrified,” Mullins admits. “We had learned in Eastern medicine that in very, very sensitive, weak patients it takes energy to die. So if they’re super weak and you stimulate them, that can cause them to die.” So Mullins put in two acupuncture needles for only (continued on page 37)
Rachel Mullins with two of her acupuncture patients, Lynx, at left, and Stanley, a 12-year-old shepherd. 38 | ENCORE JULY 2018