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Meet Dr. Michelle Bucci of Turning Point Integrative Veterinary Care

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Michelle Bucci.

Hi Dr. Bucci, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Like every other vet, I went to vet school to help animals. I started out just wanting to be an Equine Ambulatory Vet. I loved going out to farms, doing preventive care, handling emergencies. After a couple of years, I felt like something was missing. I would get frustrated with patients that I couldn’t help or wouldn’t respond to the typical treatments. When I was in vet school there was little to no talk about rehab or integrative therapies. So my first exposure to acupuncture was on job interviews. I would go on a working interview for the day. Many of the practices already offered acupuncture to their horse patients and wanted to make sure any new associates were on-board with it as a therapy. It was fascinating to see the immediate response of some horses. They would go from untouchable dragons to cuddle monsters. I knew then this was something special that I needed to learn eventually.

I waited until I was in practice for a couple of years before having the time and money to pursue training in acupuncture. Once I finished my training, I started my own practice. At the time, I worked at a small animal practice. Growing up with horses in Kentucky, I NEEDED to be out at the barns. I needed to be around horses. So, I start Turning Point Integrative Veterinary Care,.

I loved doing acupuncture, but for some of the horses, it was still not enough. I needed to do more. So, I got my Animal Chiropractic certification at Parker University. It is hard to tell which I love more, the chiropractic or acupuncture. Both gave me a new way of looking at animals and more ways to treat them.

It has been a long journey to where I am now. It took 6 months to a year for each certification and then building a client base from nothing took longer. I feel so fortunate I have a career I am passionate about and get the freedom to do what I love.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have learned that seldom are things smooth. It is always a bumpy winding road to get anywhere worth going. Being a vet has its own challenges. There would be long days and when you start out as a vet you do not make much money. You have loan payments that can be hard to cover and the courses to be an integrative vet are expensive. It was about $10,000-$15,000 for each program when finished and 150-200 hours of learning each. They both took a lot of time and money.

When I first started my practice, I didn’t have many clients and I was only doing acupuncture. I wanted to be able to provide service to all the animals regardless of which primary care vet they see. So I was not affiliated with any other practice and did not have many patients. Instead, I would do relief work. I would go to other practices for the day when they were short staffed or just in need of another vet. It was hard to switch my mind from doing integrative therapies to general medicine and the pace was very different. The relief work would often be later in the evenings or on the weekends.

The other difficulty was trying to get the knowledge and experience, pay for it, and still have some semblance of a work-life balance. We currently have 3 children under 7 years. I remember how difficult it was leaving them to get training and sacrificing time with them so I could study.

There have been physical challenges as well. When I started my chiropractic training, I was so frustrated because I was doing the movements, but nothing was happening. I thought maybe I just wasn’t strong enough to adjust a horse, but it turns out I was just super uncoordinated. I started Crossfit to improve my strength and coordination. Now adjusting any animal is no problem, but it took a long time to figure it out.

Yes. It was rough. It was a lot of studying late nights when I had the time. It was missing time with my family to afford what I wanted to do. In the end, it was temporary and now allows me to spend more time with my kids and set my own schedule.

We’ve been impressed with Turning Point Integrative Veterinary Care, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Turning Point Integrative Veterinary Care (Turning Point Vet) is a mobile chiropractic and acupuncture practice. It specializes in horses, but also sees small animals and livestock. With the horses, I usually work on performance issues or when there are specific medical problems.

My favorite part of doing integrative therapies is that it’s not just one kind of treatment. Being a veterinarian, I get the full scope of all the animals’ issues and can find the best treatments tailored to their problems. I often talk about shoeing and dental care with my clients. We talk about other medical concerns and give exercise for them to work on between visits. The difference is individualized comprehensive care. I work with other primary care vets so we can make a treatment plan that fits that horse.

I am proud of a lot of things in my practice. I’m proud of the horses that have prolonged comfortable lives from their treatment. I’m proud of the pets that couldn’t walk and now can. Honestly, I’m most proud of the patients I don’t treat. I’m proud of the ones that we identify early other disease processes early so they can get more effective treatments. I’m proud of pointing animals in the direction of the care they need and not just trying acupuncture and chiropractic in everything. Acupuncture and chiropractic don’t fix everything. Sometimes you need: medicine, changes to their feet/shoes, joint injections, changes in food, etc. I’m happy when I’m treating animals that make progress with their treatment and not wasting a pet’s time and expenses on something that won’t work for them.

Acupuncture and chiropractic have developed a stigma in the past. I want anyone with an animal to know that these therapies are not just hocus pocus. At least not in my practice. I always tell my clients that we are using science to stimulate nerves or using anatomy to improve motion. We do need more research into the mechanisms of these treatments, but it is not magic. So if you have an animal that is struggling, or even a human, please consider these treatments in addition to regular medical care because they work.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The biggest thing is spreading the word. I get so sad when I hear of an animal that I could have helped. Many people don’t know about acupuncture and chiropractic. It is gaining ground, but it still is not quite considered standard of care for a lot of conditions. The best way to spread the word is sharing your experience or following along and sharing on social media. Telling a friend or family member who has a horse or other pet.

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