Search Results for: kidney

Does Injection at Acupuncture Sites Work Better Than Needling Alone?

Introduction I’ve recently seen a couple of patients who were treated by Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) vets at other hospitals. The records from these vets include the usual pseudoscientific nonsense describing their conditions, such as “Rebellious Spleen Chi” or … Continue reading

Posted in Acupuncture | 3 Comments

Should Herbalism Be a Recognized Specialty in Veterinary Medicine?

Introduction As regular readers will know, herbal medicine is the area within complementary and alternative medicine I am most sympathetic to. Plants obviously contain chemical compounds that can have significant physiologic effects, for good or ill. And many conventional medicine … Continue reading

Posted in Herbs and Supplements | 19 Comments

Overview of the Evidence for Probiotics in Cats and Dogs

I have written about the subject of probiotics several times before, and this is one of the most interesting and active areas of research in scientific veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, probiotics are also illustrative of the unreliability of unregulated veterinary health … Continue reading

Posted in Herbs and Supplements, Topic-Based Summaries | 17 Comments

Evidence Update- Stem Cell Therapies for Companion Animals

Introduction One of the most frequent recurring topics on this blog has been stem cell therapies. Generally, I have concluded that various types of stem cell therapies are plausible and promising, but they are unfortunately being marketed with claims and … Continue reading

Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 3 Comments

More Evidence that Laboratory Testing of Healthy Dogs and Cats Uncovers Lots of Abnormalities of Questionable Significance

A new article has just been published adding some information to a subject I’ve addressed before, the value of blood testing and other diagnostics in clinical health dogs and cats (discussed Here and Here). In the past, I have come … Continue reading

Posted in General, Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 1 Comment

Science-based Veterinary Nutrition Success Stories

In all the debates here and elsewhere about the relative merits of commercial pet diets and homemade, raw, or other alternatives, advocates of alternative diets often claim that conventional diets are unhealthy. Scientific evidence is not typically provided to support … Continue reading

Posted in Nutrition | 36 Comments

More Nonsense from Holistic Vets about Commercial Therapeutic Diets

One of the subjects that holistic vets and other advocates of alternative practices get really passionate about is the evils of commercial and conventional diets. They promote a laundry list of myths about pet food, many of which I’ve addressed … Continue reading

Posted in Nutrition | 180 Comments

Evidence Update- Cranberry Extracts and Urinary Tract Infections in Dogs

I’ve written in the past about the subject of cranberry extracts used to prevent or treat urinary tract infections. (1, 2) There is some in vitro and lab animal research that suggests these products might reduce the ability of a … Continue reading

Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 11 Comments

WVC 2016: Clinical Audit

Here is my presentation on clinical audit. WHAT IS CLINICAL AUDIT? “Clinical audit is a process used by health professionals to assess, evaluate and improve patient care…Clinical audits can be used to compare current practice with the best available evidence. … Continue reading

Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 2 Comments

WVC 2016: Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment

Here are the notes and slides from my presentation on Overdiagnosis. WHAT IS OVERDIAGNOSIS? A 5 year-old Labrador retriever presents for an acute cranial cruciate ligament rupture. Otherwise, the dog is healthy in every way with no clinical symptoms other … Continue reading

Posted in Presentations, Lectures, Publications & Interviews | 6 Comments