Homeopathy
One of my favourite pet peeves that actually could danger lives.
Let me start by making my and the scientific community’s position on this. Homeopathy does not do what it claims to do. Homeopathy is not better than placebo. This is an important nuance. I am not saying that taking homeopathic remedies for headache or sore throat for example will not alleviate the symptoms. They might do, but they do not do it better than placebo, i.e. sugar pills. Essentially, because that is what they are.
The reason I wanted to write about this topic is that the other day when I was searching the web for content for my dentistry piece, I came across a website that recommended homeopathic medicine for dogs with dental disease. I am certainly not an expert in animal behaviour, but I have a strong feeling that placebo effect does not work on animals. If this premise is true, using homeopathic products on pets is at best useless and at worst dangerous. I have a personal experience with the latter.
Many years ago when I worked as a night vet, the clinic received a call from a worried pet parent reporting that their dog was in seizure and had been like that for a while. They were recommended to attend to the night service immediately. On arrival, sadly, I had to pronounce a beautiful, young, healthy looking Staffordshire bull terrier dead. The parents were understandably very upset and I had to give them some time to come to terms with what happened before I could ask some questions. I wish I did not have to ask those questions, because the answers deeply upset and angered me. I was told that the pet parents had been aware of the dog’s illness for a while and what is worse, they had been treating it with homeopathic preparations. Only my compassion and my belief in UPR stopped me from telling those people that quite certainly they caused the death of that pet. Had they been listening to the professionals on the first place, had they been giving safe and effective medication to their dog, this tragedy likely would have not happened.
