Homeopathy for pets

[MischiefMonkey]

This is a particular bug bear of mine anyway. But this article - LINK (http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/content/bexley/times/news/story.aspx?brand=BXYOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsbxy&itemid=WeED12%20Mar%202008%2016%3A24%3A38%3A597) has got me utterly angry.

It is bad enough that adults take homeopathic 'remedies'. To give them to children or animals, especially in lieu of effective, tested and predominantly safe vaccines borders on criminal>:-) Parvo is a horrific way to die>:-)

[Mongrel]

You may want to check out the The British Veterinary Voodoo Society (http://vetpath.co.uk/voodoo/) for more abominations of responsibility.

[MischiefMonkey]

You may want to check out the The British Veterinary Voodoo Society (http://vetpath.co.uk/voodoo/) for more abominations of responsibility.

>:-)>:-)>:-)

Why?

To become a vet you need pretty darn good 'A' level results in the science subjects. You then need 7 years of training.

At that point to accept the unscientific bollox that is homeopathy????

My pup had a short course of steroids. We (Ms Vet and I) discussed the huge body of scientific medical research related to steroids. Despite both of our misgivings due to potentially developing Cushings disease and other side effects, we both agreed that given the circumstance pup needed a short course of steroids. The number of people who have suggested homeopathic remedies has disheartened me>:-) People who wouln't treat themselves or their children with homeopathic 'remedies' recommend it for a dog!!!

[Blue Wode]

The Black Duck produced an excellent post on this topic today:

‘The Vets Who Make People Feel Better’
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2008/03/vets-who-make-people-feel-better.html (http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2008/03/vets-who-make-people-feel-better.html)

There's this UK Skeptics article too:

‘It works in animals’
http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=it_works_in_animals.php (http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=it_works_in_animals.php)

[MischiefMonkey]

The Black Duck produced an excellent post on this topic today:

‘The Vets Who Make People Feel Better’
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2008/03/vets-who-make-people-feel-better.html (http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2008/03/vets-who-make-people-feel-better.html)

There's this UK Skeptics article too:

‘It works in animals’
http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=it_works_in_animals.php (http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=it_works_in_animals.php)

Excellent articles Blue Wode, thanks for the link. The first linked to many others. I'm glad there are vets as disgusted with this practice as I.

I was surprised to read that only a vet can 'prescribe' homeopathic remedies - though I know you can buy them at some pet shops. Knowing this now, the next time someone 'diagnoses' one of my pets an advises a homeopathic 'remedy', I'll mention the 1966 Veterinary Surgeons Act. Hopefully that will shush them.;)

I'm getting tired of explaining to people why I won't even try homeopathy. "what can it hurt"::) "It might help"::)

And sick of seeing dogs which look like they have mange but their owners insist it's an allergy and that the dog has improved since they tried silica or graphite. Or an old dog with hip displasia and the owners won't give pain relief. And I especially hate when dog owner are proud not to have vaccinated their pets.

I had hoped that the story of those poor dogs would have made some proponents of non-vaccination/homeopathy change their mind. Oh no, not at all. The woman in the story obviously wasn't using the homeopathy properly. Their unvaccinated dogs are safe >:-)

[mahakala]

http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-homeo.html

[MischiefMonkey]

http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-homeo.html

What from that site should I be looking at? The poor quality anecdotes or the craziness of the history and theory of homeopathy that it highlights so well?

[Blue Wode]

Here’s Simon Singh on this topic in yesterday’s Times:


…homoeopaths who claim that their remedies work on animals are wrong. Fortunately the law allows only qualified vets to treat animals. Of course, homoeopaths are allowed to treat human beings, which means that sick animals have more protection under the law than sick humans when it comes to the ludicrous claims of alternative therapists.

Full article:

‘Have you got a lame duck? Try homoeopathy for pets’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3817355.ece

It’s a wonder that homoeopaths get away with their claim that homoeopathic remedies work on animals since (according to a website called worldhomeopathy.org) the remedies are tested on healthy humans because they respond differently to medication than animals do:



10 Good Reasons to Use Homeopathy


(5) Not tested on animals
Humans respond differently to medication than animals do. All homeopathic medication is tested on healthy humans. The symptoms that a substance taken over time elicits in a healthy person, are shown to be exactly those that can be cured in a sick person suffering from those symptoms.

http://www.worldhomeopathy.org/homeopathy.html

Also, it's interesting to note that although the remedies aren’t tested on animals, the homoeopathic industry is known to be less compassionate about the manner in which it obtains the ‘active ingredient’ for at least one of its remedies. This from the homoeopathy chapter of Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst’s new book, Trick or Treatment? Alternative medicine on trial:

The following paragraph, which is from an article published in the magazine U.S. News and World Report in 1996, underlines the utter absurdity and profiteering that underpins the homeopathic industry;

Somewhere near Lyon, France, sometime this year, officials from the French pharmaceutical firm Boiron will slaughter a solitary duck and extract its heart and liver – not to appease the gods but to fight the flu. The organs will be use to make an over-the-counter flu medicine, called Oscillococcinum, that will be sold around the world. In a monetary sense, this single French duck may be the most valuable animal on the planet, as an extract of its heart and liver from the sole ‘active ingredient’ in a flu remedy that is expected to generate sales o $20 million or more.

[Julia]

Many people seem to think that homeopathy is just another name for herbalism. I've had to explain to several people that many homeopathic remedies are so diluted they are unlikely to contain a single molecule of active ingredient. When I told my dad this he thought I was pulling his leg!

Come to think of it, literally pulling a person's leg would be every bit as effective in the treatment of illness as giving them a homeopathic remedy...;)

[filippo lippi]

I actually hold a doctorate in Lower Limb Extension Therapy and have an 80 to 85% success rate in curing all sorts of illnesses. Close minded pseudo-skeptics always scoff so there's point me explaining.

Love and light.

Bye

[filippo lippi]

I won't be back

[filippo lippi]

Ever

[SKIRRID5]

Julia, I know what you mean! A friend of mine thought that homeopathy meant herbal remedies. Of course, the concept of analysing a word (think of homogenised or even homosexual) is quite beyond most people.
When I saw the title of this thread the first thing that sprang to mind was one of Alan Coren's collections of humorous pieces - Golfing for Cats, which, I suppose is on the same level of reality.

[bindeweede]

Ever

Now, come, come Mr Lippi. I am prepared to bet the grand sum of 38p that you will return. I realise some might see that as rather lavish, but my confidence is in-built.







Lower Limb Extension Therapy . Love it!

[filippo lippi]

I'll take that be....

Arses!

[bobdezon]

38p richer O0

[filippo lippi]

Good luck spending it

[bindeweede]

From Dr Simon Singh........



All in all, this means that homoeopaths who claim that their remedies work on animals are wrong. Fortunately the law allows only qualified vets to treat animals. Of course, homoeopaths are allowed to treat human beings, which means that sick animals have more protection under the law than sick humans when it comes to the ludicrous claims of alternative therapists.

My bolding. The article is 2 days old.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3817355.ece

[MischiefMonkey]

From Dr Simon Singh........



My bolding. The article is 2 days old.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3817355.ece

Thanks bindeweede.

Have read the article and given the rubbish I've heard over the last couple of weeks on a pretty reputable dog forum, I'd say pets need more protection.

And would you believe, despite knowing my feelings about homeopathy and psychics, I've had both suggested to me recently.

My new dog escaped while I was in London for the James Randi evening. Thankfully we have him back now. But while he was missing, it was suggested by a 'friend' that I contact an 'animal dowser' to track him down!! I asked if the dowser worked for free or offered a money back guarantee. And I suggested that if he found Han then he should go for Randi's challenge. What did my 'friend' say? "But wouldn't you try anything to get Han back?".

Lets see, I'll get up before dawn to go out looking and scenting, go light a BBQ & cook sardines and sausage in the area he was last seen at dusk and cover every path, field and wood in the area. I'd poster the whole area and post leaflets through every door along the circumference of the area we knew he was in. I'd phone/visit/poster every vet, dog warden & rescue in the vicinity. I'd ask total strangers to keep an eye open. I'd take my other dogs out to see if they could track Han.

What I wouldn't do is line the pockets of a charlatan. Which apparently means I don't love little Hansel.

Then we got him back - as a result of the posters and phoning vets (he was found by a vet nurse walking her own dog who got another dog walker to phone us before she took him to her work to get him checked over) - though his chip would also have got him back to us. Shame people worry about chips 'moving' into blood vessels and harming the dog despite there not being any evidence. (Some chips do move and some stop working, but I'm yet to hear of a single case of a chip doing harm)

Same 'friend' and another well meaning colleague suggested Bach flower remedies to help Han get over his ordeal. The little s*d doesn't seem emotionally disturbed at all and I don't think a literal drop of brandy is going to do him a great deal of good. (OK, not homeopathy, but in the same class)

[bindeweede]

MischiefMonkey,

So glad you got your doggie back. I'm not at all a cat person, in spite of various avatars I have had. I much prefer dogs. The trouble is, I can go up to a perfectly placid animal, and it turns into a vicious, snarling, biting monster.

But I have that effect on humans too, so I tend not to lose sleep over it.???

Edit. Really not sure about the beard. Get my drift?????

[MischiefMonkey]

MischiefMonkey,

So glad you got your doggie back. I'm not at all a cat person, in spite of various avatars I have had. I much prefer dogs. The trouble is, I can go up to a perfectly placid animal, and it turns into a vicious, snarling, biting monster.

But I have that effect on humans too, so I tend not to lose sleep over it.???

Edit. Really not sure about the beard. Get my drift?????

OK, the new avatar is my lovely little Hansel (named after the other Male Super Model in the film Zoolander)