In the swim: Chloe the springer spaniel in the hydrotherapy pool at the Prince Bishops veterinary surgery, Consett

When Angela Pulsford's horse fell ill with grass fever, she prepared herself for the worst. The disease, which affects the nervous system, has all but baffled the scientific world and the vast majority of animals die from the illness.

But Angela wasn't going to give up. After the vets did all they could for the pure-bred Arabian filly, Angela took her home and called on the help of alternative practitioners Rowena and Linda Field. They sent the horse healing thoughts and prescribed flower essences, concentrated solutions of plants that treat different emotional states. Three weeks later the horse is still alive and slowly making progress.

Says Angela, who lives just outside Easington in County Durham: "We've used aromatherapy, flower remedies and absent healing, which sometimes just involved me sitting with a photograph of the horse and sending healing thoughts and imaging her better. She hasn't died, that's the main thing. Normally horses die of grass fever within 24 hours and she's still going forward."

Aromatherapy, acupuncture and massage are making inroads into the animal kingdom, as pet-owners hooked on alternative treatments look for similar therapies for their pets.

A steadily increasing number of North-East veterinary practices now stock acupuncture needles alongside conventional drugs.

Peter Earlish, from Grange Veterinary Hospital in Darlington, has found magnetic collars and supplements have fantastic results with arthritic pets. He says in many cases alternative therapies can bypass the need for conventional anti-inflammatory drugs.

Five years ago an owner brought her lame German pointer dog, which was suffering badly from arthritis, to Peter. In February, when the lameness suddenly returned, the dog was brought in again.

"His owner brought him in to see if he should be put on conventional medicine," says Peter, "but we actually discovered his magnet had fallen out of his collar. She brought him a new one and his lameness disappeared again."

Like many vets, Peter decided to introduce alternative remedies as a result of requests from patients.

He says: "The clients interested in alternative therapies tend to do more research themselves and often come in asking for things. My particular interest stems from a control of chronic pain in dogs. So many have arthritis and frequently develop it at an early age."

Another vet looking at the alternative side of the coin is Jacqui Molyneux.

She has found that giving pets a regular splash-around in a hydrotherapy pool is a gentler treatment to painkillers and drugs for some arthritic dogs.

The £30,000 hydrotherapy pool installed at her Prince Bishop Veterinary Centre in Leadgate, near Consett, was initially put in to rehabilitate the large amount of racing and working dogs the practice dealt with. It also helps overweight pooches shed extra pounds.

"It's very good for flexibility and building up muscles," says Jacqui. "We currently use it quite a lot for overweight animals and also arthritic dogs. Usually the first time they don't like it, but we have dogs here now who absolutely love it, they run up the ramp and jump in themselves and play with all the toys."

Jacqui wants to find out more about alternative therapies for pets and later this year she will attend an international conference on the subject in Tennessee.

Paul Wilson's Veterinary Surgery also offers a range of herbal treatments, though he warns against people giving conventional medicine the cold shoulder.

"People should remember that acupuncture and homeopathy are not a replacement for conventional medicine, but something that can be used in conjunction with conventional medicine," he says.

"Acupuncture done wrongly can be worse than no acupuncture at all. It can cause major problems."

John Saxton, a veterinary surgeon and member of the British Association of Homeopathy, says ten years ago he did not know of any other surgery offering homeopathy in the North of England. Now he estimates between 15 and 20 surgeons have undergone the three year course to qualify in homeopathy.

Many more don't have the time to undergo such training and will instead refer pets for such treatment.

The Leeds-based vet says: "We're training as many as we can as quickly as we can, because it does take time. The use of acupuncture is growing steadily as well, and this can be used on all kinds of animals, mostly for muscular and skeletal problems.

"Homeopathy is more likely to be used on farms. It's particularly useful on organic farms, where they only use drugs when necessary and alternatives wherever possible."