Mar 25, 2008 6:55 pm US/Central
New Bill Would Let Chiropractors Also Be Vets
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
Some of Minnesota's veterinarians aren't too keen on chiropractors getting their hands on dogs and cats.
A bill moving through the Legislature would let chiropractors treat animals as long as they get additional training.
Jim Hulbert of St. Paul plans to take his Cairn Terriers to an animal chiropractor in Wisconsin, where it's legal. One has a tail carriage problem and the other an irritated paw.
Hulbert is pushing the Minnesota legislation, which would require animal chiropractors to have at least 210 hours of special training.
The bill would require an animal chiropractor to contact the animal's vet after the first visit. But critics, mostly veterinarians, say the bill isn't strict enough.
Some other states require a veterinarian to be in the room or on the premises when an animal is treated. Others require a veterinarian's referral.
Robert Washabau, who chairs the University of Minnesota's Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department, said he's against the current bill because a pet owner doesn't need to take an animal to a vet before they see a chiropractor.
He also said 210 hours of training is not enough.
"You and I, as humans, we can convey our feelings, our pain," he said. "We can convey these as what are called symptoms to a physician or to a chiropractor. Our animals, our veterinary species, can't do that. They can't tell us where they feel pain."
Even some veterinarians who have chiropractic training don't like the current bill. Take Rachel Stephensen, a vet at Plymouth Heights Pet Hospital.
She's concerned chiropractors may miss a serious diagnosis. She said a chiropractor may not know that limb pain could be an underlying symptom of diabetes, for example.
"There are times when adjustments can cause some damage and so there's that risk factor," she said. "The other risk is that we're delaying appropriate treatment in trying chiropractic if we don't know what the underlying cause of the animal symptoms are."
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