Cold laser therapy for rats

[allie]

Hey everyone! My dog is in physical therapy for a soft tissue injury, and the therapist is using cold laser therapy as part of the treatment. I've been looking into buying my own laser treatment device and learning to use it for my dogs and horses, and the people I've been talking to about buying one mentioned "hamsters and other small animals." So I thought, I wonder if any rat owner has experience with this treatment for their rats. The first thing that came to mind was for treatment of hind end degeneration. I have a feeling it may be cost prohibitive and I don't think all vets are offering it or know about it, but I thought maybe if I get the device I could offer up treatments to my local rat rescue and shelter. Anyways, just curious if anyone has heard of this treatment being used on rats and if so whether it was affordable and effective or not. Thanks!

 

[mvZD]

One of my boys had some crazy possible allergic reaction to the sutures from his neuter. The area from mid stomach down to the sutures on his scrotum became swollen, turned into a big blister that popped and then the skin all kinda sloughed off, including his foreskin :/ The vets had never seen anything like it. I brought him in almost every other day for about 1.5 weeks for laser therapy. I’m not sure how much of a difference the therapy really made, but it healed so fast and well!! I had never heard of it being used prior to this, but my vet is a big advocate of it. They had covered the costs of all of it, so I have no idea how much a session typically costs.

 

[SQ]

WOW!!! I never heard of this before …… I love rat people I am always learning something new

 

[jorats]

This sounds very interesting!

 

[allie]

One of my boys had some crazy possible allergic reaction to the sutures from his neuter. The area from mid stomach down to the sutures on his scrotum became swollen, turned into a big blister that popped and then the skin all kinda sloughed off, including his foreskin :/ The vets had never seen anything like it. I brought him in almost every other day for about 1.5 weeks for laser therapy. I’m not sure how much of a difference the therapy really made, but it healed so fast and well!! I had never heard of it being used prior to this, but my vet is a big advocate of it. They had covered the costs of all of it, so I have no idea how much a session typically costs.

Thanks for sharing that experience!!

When I first heard of it, I thought it was snake oil (so to speak.) Learning more about it, there are in vitro studies and randomized double - blind clinical trials that have studied/are studying it. It's also called Low Level Light Therapy, or LLLT. Here is an excerpt from one study about why it works:

"Mitochondria are thought to be a likely site for the initial effects of light, leading to increased ATP production, modulation of reactive oxygen species and induction of transcription factors. These effects in turn lead to increased cell proliferation and migration (particularly by fibroblasts), modulation in levels of cytokines, growth factors and inflammatory mediators, and increased tissue oxygenation. The results of these biochemical and cellular changes in animals and patients include such benefits as increased healing in chronic wounds, improvements in sports injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome, pain reduction in arthritis and neuropathies, and amelioration of damage after heart attacks, stroke, nerve injury and retinal toxicity." - 10 February 2006 Mechanisms of low level light therapy
Michael R. Hamblin; Tatiana N Demidova

This stuff is amazingly cool. And it's still a bit controversial, but definitely gaining traction.