Efficacy of GV-1 Aqua-acupuncture for Acute Diarrhea in Dogs: A Controlled, Randomized Clinical Study

Abstract

The objective of this randomized controlled study was to determine whether integrating GV-1 aqua-acupuncture (aqua-AP) and conventional therapy can accelerate the resolution of acute diarrhea in dogs. A total of 39 client-owned dogs experiencing acute diarrhea of less than 5 days duration were enrolled and randomly assigned to Group A, conventionally treated control (no aqua-AP); Group B, conventionally treated control plus sham aqua-AP (subcutaneous injection of vitamin B12 at a non-acupuncture point); or Group C, conventionally treated plus aqua-AP at GV-1 (vitamin B12 injected at GV-1 acupuncture point). Conventional treatment, uniformly applied to all patients, consisted of a bland diet, metronidazole and probiotics. Each owner, blinded to the group assignment of their dog, reported the time duration from the start of the treatment to the first observed normal stool (denoted as Tns). Study results revealed a significant difference among the Tns values of the 3 study groups. The meanSD Tns in Group A was 68.059.5 hours and 59.541.6 hours in Group B. Group C was 22.628.6 hours, which was more than 50% shorter than each of the other 2 groups. Furthermore, the proportion of subjects in Group C, whose first stool after treatment initiation was normal, was significantly greater than the other groups (A: 7.7%; B: 7.7%, and C 46.2%; p = 0.029). These findings suggest that aqua-AP at GV-1 can be an effective integrated treatment with conventional therapy for resolving acute diarrhea in dogs. Further studies with a larger sample size, and comparisons with other conventional treatments are warranted.