The British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons is claiming that: "owners can now be confident homeopathic medicines can be effective for common canine and feline conditions in many animals, following a recently published clinical study."
In what the BAHVS says was the largest-ever study of its type, the Clinical Outcomes survey has identified a number of clinical conditions in dogs and cats that homeopathic veterinary surgeons believe may be promising targets for future research in veterinary homeopathy.
In the study, twenty-one homeopathic vets in the UK recorded data from their patients over a 12-month period, and collected information from a total of 1500 dogs and 400 cats. The most frequently treated feline conditions overall were dermatitis, renal failure, overgrooming, arthritis and hyperthyroidism. The most commonly recorded canine conditions were dermatitis, arthritis, pyoderma, colitis and fear. By owners' assessments, a moderate or major improvement was reported overall for 68% of dogs and 63% of cats.
The authors of the study concluded that a programme of controlled research in homeopathy for frequently-treated feline and canine conditions is clearly indicated.
John Alborough, co-publisher of VetSurgeon.org said: "I also find that if I shove toenail clippings up my bottom, it totally cures my indigestion."
ReferenceMathie RT, Baitson ES, Hansen L, Elliott MF, Hoare J. Homeopathic prescribing for chronic conditions in feline and canine veterinary practice. Homeopathy 2010; 99: 243-248.
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Unfortunately all this shows is that some people use homeopathy, and some animals get better. There doesn't seem to be any evidence for a link between these two facts. It is interesting to note that these are owner reported outcomes - I wonder how the owners can objectively judge that their animal's chronic renal failure or spondylosis is
improving.
I think, according to strict homeopathic principles, that putting the whole toenail clipping up there will make the indigestion worse; it's the warm fuzzy memory of the toenail that makes everything better.
How you keep it up there long enough to work is anybody's guess - a well-placed thumb ought to do the trick.
Isn't this saying what every other homeopathy study already has? i.e. inconclusive. How many would have got better anyway and how many would have got better with a placebo? I haven't read the full article, but without an appropriate control group this type of study doesn't really tell us anything we don't already know.
Oh, I see they've finally published it after years of press releases about how they're JUST ABOUT to publish it or, "look at this spreadsheet we've got, isn't it just great", all of which are presumably designed solely to derive more pro-homeopathic 'yield' from what is essentially a customer satisfaction survey - complete and utter tosh.
Niall
I might try the toenail thing though...
The argument that animals get better anyway seems only to be rolled out for homeopathy etc but could equally be applied to many pharmaceuticals, many of which are licensed on an efficacy far lower than 60%.
Regarding placing toenail clippings or anything else up your bottom for indigestion etc - whatever turns you on ... but it conclusively proves it doesn't improve maturity, intelligence or discussion!
The more you know, the less you understand. -- Lao-Tse (I think)
If anyone is preventing intelligent discussion on this subject, surely it must be the chairwoman of the Society of Homeopaths, seen here on Newsnight last night.
(interview starts at 17:02 on the timeline).
www.bbc.co.uk/.../Newsnight_04_01_2011
amazing isnt it? Galileo nearly died because he opposed establishment views. But we all know the sun revolves round the earth in spite of Galileo's ignorant comments given without the benefit of a double blind trial. When it snows or over Christmas a remarkable number of pets seem to recover without the administration of amoxycillin or meloxicam or other drugs. By the way, I don't practice homeopathy but nor do I wear blinkers.
The snow and Christmas is a relevant comment. I have noticed that since our phones go to an out of hours service provider at the weekend many animals can recover or survive without ooh treatment when given a quote of £110.I'm not convinced that this is great for animal welfare but that is how I feel about homeopathy as well.