Did you know that you can use acupressure for dog nausea? You can use it for cats, too – if they cooperate. Truthfully? I’m having much better luck with my pups than my cats! I’m going slowly with my dog, Tibor.
I found some great Do-It-Yourself articles and videos to share with you. And if you take your animal to a veterinarian acupuncturiest, ask them to show you where the acupressure points below are located on your pet.
Opening and closing the session
I love this explanation on doing a Bladder Meridian Sweep for relaxation. It’s on a horse, so you SEE the process clearly for doing it on your animal!
Open and close with a gentle sweep along the Bladder Meridian, which relaxes your dog. Put your hand on their head as if you were going to pet them. Move your hand down the neck right next to the spine, sweeping down the back and down the back leg to the foot. Start back at the top of the head and sweep your hand next to the spine – but on the other side – and down the other back leg. Do this set three times after you’ve finished your acupressure.
Then begin putting gentle pressure on various acupressure points associated with dog nausea for 30- 60 seconds.
Acupressure points
Here are some acupressure points that will help dog nausea. Different articles suggest different points. Look for a relaxed response from your dog(sighing, putting head down, stretching, falling asleep, yawning, soft eyes). Be sure to try these out and see how your own pup reacts. I noticed my dog Tibor enjoyed some points more than others (St 36 and Ki 27 were hits).
Canine Anxiety and Stomach Chi gives a great description of how to locate a few of the acupressure points for dog nausea.
Animal Wellness’ Acupressure for you dog’s stomach reminds us to do the points on both sides of the body. For instance, points found on the back or front legs should be done on both the right and left legs.
Dog nausea points
Bai Hui – Very calming! It’s that spot right in front of the tail that dogs love you to scratch!
GV 20 – Calms the brain
Ki 27 – Harmonizes the stomach
Pe 6 – Reduces anxiety and nausea.
This video helps you find Pe 6.
St 36 – Harmonizes the stomach
The Whole Dog Journal article, Acupressure Can Relieve Nausea provides some great ideas for helping dogs with car nausea. They teach you two ways of manually working the acupressure points. And these suggestions come from their article:
- An hour before the car ride, find a quiet place and perform the acupressure treatment.
- Keep car trips short at first after you do acupressure.
- If your dogs looks uncomfortable, pull over and rest a bit. Redo the acupuncture treatments again before continuing.
Cat nausea
For you adventuresome types, here’s an article on good acupuncture points for cat digestion issues. I tried doing acupressure on St 36 for my cat, Mac. He was not delighted. Read When Your Cat Won’t Eat for other ideas.
Thanks so much for sharing! Disney has recently developed kidney disease, and she’s getting acupuncture once a week. But since I can’t go in the vet’s office because of COVID, I don’t know how to help her out when she hurts between sessions. Tallgrass has an article specifically on kidney issues, and I snagged their book so I’ll have some idea what they’re talking about when they say where to press. 🙂
I’m so glad that the blog gave you some additional ways to help Disney, Regan!
Nugget really liked the Bai Hui. Btw, I haven’t heard him bark in his sleep since our session. Nugget does enjoy when I sweep down his back and down each leg. We’ve started trying GV 20 and PE 6. He’s curious about what I’m doing. But his fav is Bai Hui. I think he’s even turned with back to me so I’ll do Bai Hui!
Joyce, that’s great news!! So glad Nugget’s enjoying those Acupressure points!