James Kenney, DVM, of New Jersey, and Mary Bell, VMD, of Canada, chaired an open session to discuss therapeutic options to a room packed with 60-70 practitioners at the 50th annual American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention in Denver, Colo., Dec. 4-8, 2004. Through a show of hands, the majority of folks in the room used therapeutic options themselves or were veterinarians who referred clients to others who performed therapeutic options.

Kenney, who has an extensive chiropractic and acupuncture referral practice, stressed that when incorporating therapeutic options such as chiropractic and acupuncture into veterinary medicine, it was important that the veterinarian be the gatekeeper. Bell stressed she uses complementary therapies in conjunction with Western therapy. “I believe that it gives me an advantage in providing full care to the horse,” she explained. “It is a more holistic approach.”

One person in attendance asked how veterinarians who didn’t use therapeutic options themselves could determine the qualifications of those practicing. Kenney said there were two groups that offered training to licensed veterinarians–International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (www.ivas.org/main.cfm) and the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture (www.aava.org). Both offer listings of members by location.

Kevin Haussler, DVM, DC, PhD, lecturer in anatomy at Cornell University, was in the audience, and he has done research into various aspects of therapeutic options. He said clients are asking veterinarians to do alternative therapies, and his goal is that 10-20 years from now, there won’t be a question of <I>if<I> this works, but how to effectively teach other veterinarians how to apply it