ASK THE VET: Experience cures doubts about laser therapy
Lots of people grew up reading the tales of James Herriot, a country veterinarian in rural England in the 1930s and ’40s. However charming the country folk were, what most of us don’t have a sense of nostalgia for is the incredibly limited type of medicine that was practiced at the time, which generally consisted of, “I hope this drench I am giving to your cow to rid her of parasites is at least a little more toxic to the parasites than it is to the cow.”
Although modern scientific medicine now gives us the power to identify and remedy many problems that were previously untreatable, there are still plenty of conditions out there that give me no choice but to give the dreaded “This is what the problem is and there is nothing that I can do about it” speech.
Fortunately, there is a new tool in veterinary medicine that is giving us a chance to cross a few of those conditions off the list: the therapeutic laser.
When the product representative first came to our clinic, I have to admit that red flags went up immediately. She was claiming that this machine, which costs as much as a new car, would dramatically improve nearly any problem in which there is pain and inflammation, or in which wound healing is needed, without drugs or negative side effects. The list includes, but is not limited to: arthritis, bite wounds, surgical recovery, skin and ear infections, bladder problems and back pain.
Cancer is the one thing you don’t point it at; encouraging cells to grow and regenerate is not desirable in that situation.
When someone claims that one type of treatment fixes everything, including your cappuccino in the morning, it seems a little too good to be true. But the device is FDA approved, which means that rigorous scientific studies have been conducted that demonstrate measurable efficacy and safety. All the big veterinary conferences have had extensive lectures and seminars about laser therapy and universities and practitioners all over the country are reporting amazing results, so we decided to jump in and see what all the hype was about.
We have had the laser only for a few weeks now, but in that time I have been surprised at what we have been seeing. Here are two stories.
• Josh the dog came out on the losing end of a nasty fight with his housemate. He had a gash under his eye and his right foreleg was so chewed up that he was unable to put weight on it. We cleaned the wounds and placed drains and, almost as an afterthought, we decided to try the laser on his shredded leg. He hobbled out of the hospital with antibiotics and pain medication, but I knew from experience that even in the best of circumstances, he was in for at least three to five days of misery. The next day his owner called, concerned that there might be a problem with the drain under his eye, so I had Josh in for a recheck. The drain was fine, but more impressively, Josh walked into the hospital like nothing had happened to his mangled leg. His owners had no idea that it wasn’t normal for a dog to recover from that kind of trauma so fast, but I was amazed.
• Shadow the cat came in with a urinary issue that ended up being the dreaded feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD), a painful bladder problem that looks and acts like a urinary tract infection but doesn’t respond to antibiotics. Pain medication helps a little (if you can get it into the cat and if the medication doesn’t cause its own problems), but nothing really resolves the problem. I hate the look on owners’ faces when I have to tell them that we will try special diets and pain medication, but their cat is probably doomed to suffering repeated bouts of this painful condition until it gets better on its own in a few days or a few weeks — and they are doomed to bloody cat pee all over the house until he feels better. Lots of people pack up and go to another veterinarian after that gloomy speech. I am hoping that those who packed up and went elsewhere found someone with a therapeutic laser. After the first treatment, Shadow no longer had visible blood in his urine and was clearly in much less pain. By three treatments, he was back to normal. He may have occasional flare-ups, but now I have something that actually relieves his symptoms.
Now we joke among ourselves that any time we are faced with a challenging situation, all we need to do is point the laser at it for a miracle cure. Have issues with a badly behaved boyfriend? Just wave the laser at him. Burned the popcorn? The laser can help.
Maybe that would be taxing the limits of the laser’s therapeutic ability, but we continue to be amazed at the efficacy of laser therapy to combat previously untreatable conditions.
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Anne Pierce is a Colorado Springs veterinarian and co-owner of High Plains Veterinary Hospital, a Colorado Springs small-animal clinic. Reach her at petdocs@highplainsvet.com.
