(AP) Milo Hirt was a little uneasy last week. Recovering from knee surgery, he was about to be poked with 10 needles to help his recovery.

Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years on people, so this isn't a new practice. But Milo is a mastiff-boxer crossbreed, and the table was in Granite City Pet Hospital & Surgery Center.

He is one of a growing number of pets _ household and other _ who receive acupuncture to treat ailments.

During that 20-minute session, Milo had 10 needles inserted into various places on his body. He was receiving after-surgery treatment for a ruptured ligament in his knee.

The needles, inserted into his right hind leg _ the one that had surgery _ right foreleg, his head and back will speed the recovery. Four needles were connected to a machine that provides an electric charge to stimulate them.

"As people begin to look for alternative therapies for themselves, they search for them for their pet, too," said Alyssa Erlandson, a veterinarian at Granite City.

Erlandson is one of a handful of vets in the area who practice alternative healing methods for pets.

In the year Erlandson has been practicing acupuncture, she has treated arthritis pain, post-surgical conditions, seizures, inflammatory bowel disease, behavioral problems, urinary tract incontinence and other chronic conditions.

Erlandson usually recommends procedures and normal medications before suggesting acupuncture.

The needles stimulate nerves and release natural pain relievers. It won't cure things such as arthritis, but it will alleviate some discomfort. It can usually relieve urinary incontinence completely with several treatments.

Sergeant, a papillon from Foley, started acupuncture treatment three months ago. He now has it every other week to treat seizures.

"He has definitely cut down in the frequency and the strength of the seizures (after acupuncture)," said Sharon Rausch, Sergeant's owner. "They're much, much more mild than they used to be."

Seizures have plagued Sergeant for a while. He was taking steroids to help alleviate them, but the medication caused him to balloon to 19 pounds. A papillon is supposed to weigh 7 to 9 pounds.

Once, the seizures became so bad Sergeant was given Valium.

Since having acupuncture, the seizures are much more brief and less severe. They last five to 10 seconds. Before acupuncture, they would last up to a minute, with Sergeant lying on the floor, foaming at the mouth.

"He just sits there (during acupuncture)," Rausch said. "It doesn't bother him a bit. He has no aftereffects from it. Nothing. We're not going to definitely stop because there's been changes."

Janell Osborn, a vet at St. Cloud Animal Hospital, said she has seen acupuncture help animals heal.

She practices photonic acupuncture _ a derivation of traditional acupuncture that uses light but doesn't go as deep or as long.

"As long as the animal's got the spirit, we can help," Osborn said.

She uses acupuncture for musculo-skeletal problems, vomiting without reason, afterbirth issues in horses, lung conditions and heart conditions.

She has practiced on a constipated lizard, a bird, cats, a horse, a rat and, soon, a llama.

"We're using more and more of it," Osborn said.

She said Eastern medicine looks at conditions differently than Western medicine. Vets can make pets better without having to know exactly what's wrong, Osborn said.

Acupuncture is just part of a well-rounded regimen of Eastern medicine the Chinese have used for years. The practice includes herbs and dietary therapy, Erlandson said.

"The difference between Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine is we tend to treat the condition," Erlandson said. "Chinese (medicine) treats the whole animal."

Dietary therapy maintains the theory that foods can change the balance of animals.

The herbs, which come in pill form, can treat conditions. Quan Wan for urinary incontinence. Tan Tang for seizures.

With dietary therapy, foods are classified as red for hot, blue for cold and brown for neutral. A dog with seizures might be too hot or be eating too many red foods. Erlandson would recommend blue foods to cool, such as sardines and cheese.

"If we were traditional Chinese people, we'd be doing this," Erlandson said.

Glenn Neilsen, a veterinarian at Waite Park Veterinary Hospital, started performing alternative medicine in 1987. He brought in a chiropractor to perform acupuncture and chiropractic care, and Neilsen later learned a similar chiropractic technique called veterinary orthopedic manipulation. Neilsen also has used alternative cancer therapies to treat dogs and cats. The therapy involves nutrition and supplements to help balance the energy in pets, Neilsen said.

A pet's electrical balance can be in flux, causing illness. Neilsen prescribes nutritional changes to correct the imbalances and, in turn, the illnesses, he said.

"The foundation of all I do is I always talk nutrition," Neilsen said.

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Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com