Animal Therapies

A grouping of separate traditions

The label brings together practices with different origins that are now offered to animal owners. Acupuncture comes from Chinese medicine, chiropractic from a human manual-therapy profession, and rehabilitation from sports medicine and physical medicine. A 2026 Canadian study describes animal chiropractic as a relatively small subspecialty at the intersection of two established professions, chiropractic and veterinary medicine. The sources reviewed for this page do not give a dated account of how each therapy entered veterinary practice, so no single origin story is offered here.

Veterinary acupuncture and its historical claims

A 2019 critical essay in the journal Animals notes that the Yellow Emperor, to whom founding of Chinese medicine is attributed at around 2700 BCE, is a mythological figure. The author states that the principles set out in the textbook Veterinary Acupuncture, first published in 1977, have remained virtually unchanged since, and he describes veterinary acupuncture as abandoned in the West, with few exceptions, until a revival associated with the new age movement in the 1970s. These are the essay author's characterizations.

A 2020 letter in reply disputes part of that account. Its authors state that the prototype of the modern filiform needle appeared as early as the Han Dynasty, that modern needles did not evolve from lancets, and that ancient books document a history of Chinese veterinary acupuncture spanning thousands of years. The two papers disagree about how to read the historical record, and this page treats the question as open.

Professional organization in recent decades

Veterinary associations have addressed these therapies in policy statements. The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) ratified a position statement on complementary and alternative veterinary medicine on 27 July 2012. The 2019 essay reports that two professional organizations devoted to veterinary acupuncture were established in Portugal in 2018 alone. The American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation (ACVSMR) presents itself as a veterinary specialty college, although the page reviewed gives no founding date.

Umbrella labels

The AVA and a 2025 overview of systematic reviews use the term complementary and alternative veterinary medicine, abbreviated CAVM. The overview applied it to homeopathy, acupuncture and phytotherapy, a different set from the therapies on this page. The ACVSMR deck refers to integrative treatment options in connection with pain management and rehabilitation. The labels are used inconsistently, so a source calling a therapy complementary, alternative or integrative does not settle what it includes.

Rehabilitation, manual therapy and mobilization

The ACVSMR describes rehabilitation as the use of varied techniques and modalities to relieve pain, strengthen and re-educate muscles, and stimulate nerve regeneration, with the aim of maximizing recovery or regaining functional capability. A 2021 review defines manual therapy as the application of the hands to the body with diagnostic or therapeutic intent, and notes that osteopathic techniques cover such a diverse range of approaches that categorizing the therapy applied is difficult. A 2022 review uses soft tissue mobilization to mean massage and stretching.

Photobiomodulation and related names

A Canadian trial abstract states that photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) was formerly called cold laser therapy or low level laser therapy. Veterinary reports may use any of these names for light-based treatment, and they do not always specify the device, wavelength or dose, which makes studies hard to compare. Kinesiology taping, the application of elastic adhesive tape to the skin over muscles or joints, is a separate technique that the published studies on animals describe with that name.

Who delivers the therapies

Delivery differs by therapy. The ACVSMR describes a team approach to rehabilitation, with a veterinarian leading and technicians, assistants and physical therapists taking part. The college states that only veterinarians may apply for its residencies and sit its board certification examination. In a 2025 survey of 104 veterinarians in the UK and Europe who practice acupuncture, respondents included general practitioners, advanced practitioners and board-certified specialists. A 2026 priority-setting study in animal chiropractic drew on both veterinarians and chiropractors from Canada and the United States. Many of these therapies are therefore delivered by veterinarians or by other credentialed practitioners working with them, although the sources reviewed do not show how often each arrangement applies.

Techniques described in the literature

A review of rehabilitation after cranial cruciate ligament surgery in dogs covered therapeutic exercise, cold compression, extracorporeal shockwave, photobiomodulation and electrical stimulation. Reviews of manual therapies describe passive mobilization and manipulation of the spine in horses, and massage and stretching in cats, dogs and horses. The 2025 acupuncture survey reports that most respondents preferred manual needling and case-specific protocols. Frequency, dose and duration vary between studies and are not reproduced here.

Diagnosis, consent and records

The AVA position statement says a preliminary diagnosis based on accepted veterinary principles should come before treatment, that all options should be discussed with the owner or authorized agent, and that informed consent should be recorded in the patient notes. It states that complementary treatments should meet the same standards as other veterinary medicines. An animal cannot describe what it feels or consent for itself, so these steps rest with the owner and the treating professional.

Uses reported by practitioners and professional groups

In the 2025 survey, respondents used acupuncture mainly as a complementary therapy for chronic pain, mostly in dogs and cats. Respondents who practiced a traditional Chinese approach reported using it more often for gastrointestinal, respiratory and allergic conditions than those using a Western approach. Animal chiropractic is described as commonly used for musculoskeletal conditions. The ACVSMR says its field covers athletic and working animals and animals needing rehabilitation, including after surgery and for conditions such as arthritis or neurologic impairment.

Uses that have been studied

A 2006 systematic review of acupuncture in domestic animals reported encouraging evidence for cutaneous pain and diarrhea, and single positive studies for spinal cord injury, Cushing's syndrome, lung function, hepatitis and rumen acidosis. The kinesiology taping study in dogs notes that use of the tape has increased in veterinary medicine while few studies exist. A claim that a therapy is used for a condition therefore does not mean the use has been tested.

Rehabilitation after cruciate ligament surgery in dogs

A 2022 systematic review in Veterinary Surgery assessed rehabilitation after surgery for cranial cruciate ligament disease in dogs. It included 19 studies: 12 randomized controlled trials, six non-randomized or non-blinded studies and one retrospective study, with nine at high risk of bias. Therapeutic exercise had the most studies with positive results, all at high risk of bias. Cold compression had three supporting studies, two of them level II with low risk of bias. The authors conclude that the review supports rehabilitation after this surgery, note a lack of class I evidence, and describe findings for other modalities as limited and conflicting. The results should not be carried to other conditions.

Photobiomodulation: sham-controlled trials

In a randomized sham-controlled trial of 20 dogs with elbow osteoarthritis over six weeks, 9 of 11 dogs in the active group reduced their NSAID dose, compared with none of nine in the sham group, and lameness and owner-rated comfort improved more with active treatment. The trial was small. A 2026 randomized sham-controlled trial of 16 military working dogs with tail wounds found no significant change in wound area after daily treatment for two weeks. The cruciate ligament review lists one positive and one negative photobiomodulation study, so results for different conditions are not interchangeable.

Mobilization, manipulation and massage

A 2021 systematic review screened 883 papers on mobilization and manipulation and included 14: 13 in horses and one in dogs. Quality was low in four, moderate in seven and high in three. All reported positive effects, but studies differed so much in technique, dose and outcomes that no meta-analysis was possible, and the authors rate the evidence low to moderate. A 2022 review of massage and stretching in cats, dogs and horses screened 1,189 publications and included 11, with high risk of bias in eight and moderate in three. Two reported a lower heart rate after massage. Its authors judged the evidence too weak to define efficacy.

Acupuncture

The 2006 systematic review included 14 randomized and 17 non-randomized controlled trials in domestic animals. Methodologic quality was low on average. The authors reported encouraging evidence for cutaneous pain and diarrhea that warranted further trials, and concluded that there was no compelling evidence to recommend or reject acupuncture for any condition. A 2025 overview of systematic reviews, covering reviews published from 2000 to 2022, identified 35 primary acupuncture trials across the included reviews and rated all the acupuncture reviews as low quality, which prevented a formal assessment of their trials.

Kinesiology taping

A 2025 study of ten clinically normal dogs used motion capture and force platform analysis with and without tape across the tarsus. It found no differences in joint motion or ground-reaction forces while walking, trotting or stepping over rails. It did not examine injured animals, other tape placements or outcomes such as swelling, so it neither supports nor rules out other claimed uses.

Conceptual criticism of traditional veterinary acupuncture

The 2019 essay argues that traditional Chinese veterinary medicine is a pre-scientific construct comparable to humoral doctrine, that acupuncture is analogous to bloodletting, and that claimed efficacy in dogs reflects placebo effect. It calls for randomized trials and for veterinary regulators to examine non-conventional therapies. The letter in reply challenges its historical reading of needles. This is a viewpoint paper, and the reviews above, not the essay, are the better guide to what clinical trials have shown.

Limits of the veterinary evidence base

Several limits recur. Trials are small, as in the studies of ten dogs and 16 dogs above. Some outcomes, such as owner-rated comfort, depend on judgments that may be influenced by expectations. The mobilization review notes that the studies varied widely in dosing and follow-up, and the cruciate ligament review notes high risk of bias in many trials. Animal chiropractic researchers surveyed in 2026 ranked objective outcomes, safety and adverse events, and condition-specific treatment effects among their top five research priorities. The authors disclose that their college receives donations from the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association, which they state did not influence the study.

Harms reported in the sources

Harms are poorly documented in the sources reviewed. The massage and stretching review describes one non-randomized equine study that reported daily stretching may cause adverse reactions. In the 2025 survey, veterinarians perceived lethargy or sedation as the most likely side effect of acupuncture, followed by pain on needle insertion; these are perceptions, not measured rates. The text of the 2021 mobilization and manipulation review does not discuss adverse events. The absence of reported harm in a trial or review should not be read as showing that none occurred.

Welfare concerns and care boundaries

The 2019 essay states that presenting insufficiently tested acupuncture techniques to clients as established therapies can endanger animal welfare and the public good. The AVA states that patient welfare is the primary objective, that ineffective or unsafe practices should be dropped, and that diagnosis should precede treatment. In the military working dog trial, the authors suggest that continued trauma may limit wound repair, which shows that a therapy may be insufficient while the underlying cause persists. A complementary therapy should not delay veterinary assessment of lameness, pain, injury or other illness in an animal.

Training and professional standards

The ACVSMR certifies veterinarians in sports medicine and rehabilitation through residency routes followed by a board examination. The AVA position statement applies the same standards to complementary treatments as to other veterinary medicines. The sources reviewed describe no single international register for the practitioners who provide massage, chiropractic or acupuncture to animals, and requirements differ by country and region. This page does not review legal requirements.