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Author Archives: skeptvet
Surgical Checklists Reduce Complications for Veterinary Surgery Patients
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a useful set of principles and tools that can help improve patient care. Unfortunately, there is little that is sexy and dramatic about EBM. Science in general tries to avoid the grandiose generalities that make for … Continue reading
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
Anti-Medicine Vets: Should Rejection of Scientific Medicine Disqualify One from Practicing as a Licensed Veterinarian?
There is a wide range of opinions about most medical topics in veterinary medicine, and rarely sufficient evidence to definitively establish who’s right and who’s wrong. For better or worse, we have tremendous individual latitude in deciding what treatments to … Continue reading
Posted in General
14 Comments
Things Holistic Vets Say About Cancer that Should Make Pet Owners Run the Other Way
Cancer is a common and frightening disease, and many pet owners will have to face making decisions about cancer care for their pets at some point. While there are many therapies that can improve quality of life for a veterinary … Continue reading
Posted in General
11 Comments
Selected Effects of Neutering in German Shepherd Dogs
As part of my ongoing surveillance of evidence concerning the benefits and risks of neutering, I have identified a new study on the subject. Hart, B. L., Hart, L. A., Thigpen, A. P. and Willits, N. H. (2016). Neutering of … Continue reading
Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine
7 Comments
How to Prove a Therapy is Effective Even When its Not
Over the years, I have written a lot about how we come to hold and maintain false beliefs in medicine. Perhaps the lion’s share of this lies in anecdotes, which are powerfully persuasive despite all the sources of bias and … Continue reading
Neutering and Cancer Risk In Cats
I have written extensively about the scientific evidence concerning the benefits and risks of neutering. Overall, the data is complex, and significant effects of neutering on specific health risks are rarely definitively demonstrated. One of the most controversial issues, the … Continue reading
Posted in Science-Based Veterinary Medicine
8 Comments
The Unfortunate Role of Alternative Medicine in the Animal Hospice Movement
I first wrote about the subject of hospice care for animals in the first year of this blog, 2009. I feel strongly that there is a need to adapt the concepts of hospice and palliative care developed in human medicine … Continue reading
Posted in General
5 Comments
Ignorance is not a Virtue
The focus of this blog is the relationship between science and medicine, with an emphasis on skepticism, not politics. However, larger cultural problems in our attitudes towards science and reason are relevant in that they impact how people perceive science … Continue reading
Posted in General
3 Comments
Acupuncture Fails to Qualify as a Specialty Area in Veterinary Medicine due to Lack of Adequate Scientific Evidence
I have written extensively about acupuncture and the scientific evidence concerning it, even going so far as to complete a certification course in acupuncture myself. This extensive examination has convinced me that while there are a few effects of electrical … Continue reading
Posted in Acupuncture
8 Comments