As a certified acupressure practitioner, Doe Risko offers another alternative to the ever-growing list of holistic treatment options available in Portland.

Risko treats pets for a host of issues ranging from allergies and asthma to stress reduction at her Northeast Portland practice.

Acupressure uses the same pressure points and meridians as acupuncture, but the practitioner uses fingertips rather than needles. Risko says the sensitivity of her fingertips allows her to tune in to the animal and see how it responds to treatment.

“With acupressure, when you’re on a point, you can feel that point change in the meridian, or the Chi,” Risko says.

She first discovered the acupressure years ago while caring for three elderly pets. Veterinarians treated them with a rotation of various drugs, and she felt bad dosing them so much.

“I love Western medicine because you can’t beat the diagnostics, and I would never want an animal to be in pain,” she says. “But with every drug, you pay rent, because it alters your organs.”

She researched alternative therapies and came across a book on acupressure. Risko took what she learned and began experimenting with her own dogs. When saw results, she found her passion.

Risko earned her certification from the Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute in Colorado and says she's one of fewer than 50 certified acupressure practitioners in the country.

She’s not a veterinarian and is not licensed to practice acupuncture with needles. But she can use a cold laser beam to apply to acupuncture points and achieve the same results.

Risko now uses both acupressure and laser acupuncture to treat a litany of ailments. Typically, she’ll use acupressure if she needs to treat near an animal’s face and to relax the animal, and then the laser after that.

“It’s accurate, it’s clean and it’s very, very fast,” Risko says.

While acupuncture needles are usually in place for about 15 to 20 minutes, she says laser acupuncture takes between 15 and 90 seconds per point.

The laser stimulates the cells about 8 millimeters below the fur, where acupuncture points are located.

“It’s using that instrument to stimulate the cells around the acupressure point to get same kind of result you might get with needles,” explains Dr. Steve Skinner, a board-certified veterinary neurologist.

Skinner incorporates both hot and cold lasers in his practice at Oregon Veterinary Specialty Hospital.

He finds that lasers are helpful in reducing swelling and stimulating damaged cells, helping them repair faster and release energy.

“I’m a firm believer in alternative medicine,” says Skinner, who has taken courses in acupressure. “I feel that it’s got its place, but you can’t treat everything the same way. You’ve got to use judgment on whether a particular modality you’re going to use is beneficial for the particular problem you’re dealing with.”

In this economy, it’s understandable that people want to opt for other types of therapy, he says - as long as people realize that there’s a chance it won’t work.

"The risk is that a condition that might be treatable through a more standard procedure can go untreated," says Lori Makinen, executive director of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board.

Acupressure isn’t a recognized specialty in veterinary medicine, says Makinen, whose agency licenses and regulates the veterinary profession in Oregon.

She’s also skeptical of cold laser therapy.

“I would urge people to find out, are there studies that show it actually works?” Makinen says. “To my knowledge, there aren’t. I think the best advice for anybody looking for any service is to find out as much as you can.”

Portland resident Nina Portwood Shields believes that Risko is helping her 10-year-old German wirehaired pointer, Pearl.

The dog suffers from a partial tear in her anterior cruciate ligament and walks with an obvious limp. She also has arthritis in her hip and spondylosis in her spine. Pearl is also treated by a veterinary chiropractor, and Portwood Shields hopes the treatments will offer an alternative to an expensive surgery.

After two visits, she says Pearl is improving.

“She likes coming over here, she looks forward to it and she leaves here relaxed and walking better,” she says.

During a recent visit to Risko, Pearl lay patiently on the floor as Risko pressed her fingers onto the dog’s side, searching for his acupuncture spot by her liver.

“In traditional Chinese medicine, the ligament and liver are connected,” she says.

She applied the laser beam in the spot until Pearl’s side visibly contracted, and the necessary trigger points were resolved.

Oregon law requires her to receive permission from a pet’s treating veterinarian before she can practice on it.

Pearl's veterinarian, Dr. Mike Zehendner of East Portland Veterinary Clinic, says he believes acupressure and acupuncture can indeed help release endorphins and relieve some of Pearl's pain. He's not convinced that it will repair Pearl's injury, however.

“Certainly cold lasers can increase some circulation and healing and can go deeper than just a healing pad,” he says, “but that still doesn’t fix a ligament that’s torn.”

As far as Northeast Portland resident Linda Anderson is concerned, though, cold laser worked wonders on her late elderly pug Windom.

Initially, she sought treatment to ease his arthritis.

“I just hated to see him on a bunch of medications, just masking the symptoms,” Anderson says.

Then he began suffering from what she calls “doggie dementia” – Windom would hop off the bed and she’d find him in a corner, screaming and howling in the dark. After one zap of the laser, he never did it again.

“He was much more comfortable,” Anderson says. “He was a happy boy till the end.”

Portland Pet Laser Therapy: Cost: $75 for a 90-minute initial assessment, which involves an assessment of a pet's environment, diet and other information. Follow-up visits will range from 45 to 60 minutes and cost $60. To book a session, call 503-336-1340 or send an e-mail to info@pdxpetlasertherapy.com.