Ruth Corbo stood in her mobile veterinary clinic, surrounded by whiteboard walls scrawled with dry-erase marker notes and sketches. She explained how the notes were arranged: one wall was an ordering section, another was for procedure notes, and others were for miscellaneous messages or drawings from her kids.
“Walls make good notepads,” she said.
Corbo’s mobile clinic already makes her practice stand out, but there’s more to it than that: In addition to Western veterinary medicine, she practices holistic treatments, including acupuncture and chiropractic methods.
She graduated from UC Davis’ veterinary school and has been working as a vet since 1997. In the early 2000s, she attended the Chi Institute in Florida, which focuses on traditional Chinese veterinary medicine. There, Corbo learned how to perform acupuncture, which has since become her favorite form of treatment for animals.
“It seems so simple, and yet the results are always miraculous,” Corbo told the Sun. “I should be used to it by now I guess, but I always feel like miracles happen when I get a really great case with acupuncture.”
She described her favorite acupuncture case: Years ago, a family called Corbo to their home to euthanize their 6-year-old German shepherd, whose rear end had rapidly weakened to the point where he was practically dragging it.
Corbo was hesitant to give up on such a young dog, and she suggested acupuncture to his family.
“They were really skeptical,” she said, but they eventually agreed to give it a shot. Two days after his first round of treatment, the German shepherd was walking with a straight back.
“I was so glad that this was that miraculous case, because if he hadn’t responded so well, they probably would have put him down,” Corbo said.
She continued treating that dog for the rest of its years, before recently putting him down at age 12.
“He lived a full life,” Corbo said.
Acupuncture, an ancient Chinese treatment involving the placement of needle points in certain areas of the body, is effective in alleviating pain and treating a variety of physical, mental, and emotional conditions, she explained.
Corbo said she has used acupuncture to successfully treat ailments ranging from muscular and skeletal issues to digestive problems and emotional trauma.
“Usually we do really well,” she said. “I’ve only had a small handful, at least with the backs, that didn’t eventually get to a walking point.”
Not only has acupuncture proved effective in Corbo’s clients, but she said that of the thousands of animals she’s treated, 10 at the most have resisted the needle points.
“Most of the time they just really accept it,” Corbo said, adding that dogs tend to “meld” into the treatment once the needlepoints are placed. “They mellow out. They fall asleep and get really, really chill.”
Animals with intense problems may require twice-weekly treatments at first, but the treatments scale back in frequency as the pets recover. Corbo said acupuncture can treat ailments in just about any animal, though she doesn’t typically treat large animals, except in special circumstances.
The reasons behind acupuncture’s success are somewhat mysterious, Corbo said, though the treatment has been proven to release endorphins and create peaceful, euphoric feelings. It doesn’t work on every animal for every problem—“the cases that need surgery need surgery,” as Corbo put it—but it’s a good alternative for ailments that don’t require surgery.
It can also help with post-operative complications, Corbo said.
“It’s cool to be able to effect a change with something that’s just so ancient,” she said. “I think brilliance is simplicity and efficacy all mixed into one, and that’s how I feel about acupuncture.”
Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
A previous version of this story misspelled Ruth Corbo’s last name.
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2017.