The downside of acupuncture is that not all vets can do it, as the course is rather expensive, so you will need to check yours can do it and you won't be sent to a different place - although to be fair, Lucy ended up going to a referral practice one month as the vet had injured herself, and they have a separate section, forget it's name now, but it has hydrotherapy and stuff in it, so the lighting is different, and as the consultation room is only used for acupuncture, it isn't set up like a normal one, even the lighting was dimmed. It did cost nearly twice as much as acupuncture at my normal vet though! If she is insured, you may find it will be covered, Lucy's is. They start off with a 4 week course, then it depends on the cat, when she was eating her supplements, we could get 6-7 weeks between appointments. Cartrophen is the same, once a week for 4 weeks, then depends on the cat. Yes, Lucy would much rather not go to the vet that often, but you can tell when she needs it by the way she walks, so a bit of stress once a month is worth it, having arthritis myself, I know how painful it can be, and hers is in both hips