Category Archives: General

There is a lot of mythology out there about food allergies. The recent concern about the potential risks of grain-free diets is only an issue at all because such diets became wildly popular with no evidence that grains were a … Continue reading →

Back in 2011 I wrote about a therapy popular with alternative practitioners called prolotherapy. I try to check in from time to time to see if there is any new evidence for the treatments I consider, and in doing so … Continue reading →

One of the great mysteries of veterinary medicine if hyperthyroidism in cats. Benign tumors of the thyroid glad in older cats can produce excessive amount of thyroid hormone, and this can lead to a host of clinical symptoms. Fortunately, the … Continue reading →

It’s been a few years since I covered the subject of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a treatment that involves placing patients in a sealed chamber and raising the air pressure and oxygen levels above those in the normal atmosphere at … Continue reading →

I’ve written about placebo effects in animals several times. These appear in both clinical research studies and in real-world medical practice in many different ways. However, one of the most significant phenomena that fools us into thinking useless therapies are … Continue reading →

The Truth About Pet Cancer (TAPC) is a slick bit of propaganda. Although it contains some interesting, even promising ideas, these are unfortunately served with a heavy seasoning of misinformation and fear-mongering. Hypotheses and opinions are presented as established facts, … Continue reading →

One of the most common criticisms of this blog has been that it is mean, unkind, or unfair of me to critique claims about conventional and alternative medicine made by vets and others. I have addressed this subject before: Are … Continue reading →

I have been asked several times in the last few months to evaluate a new series of videos called The Truth About Pet Cancer. I actually purchased the full transcript of this series and am in the process of investigating … Continue reading →

The relationship between evidence-based medicine (EBM) and ethics may not be immediately apparent. EBM focuses on facts and data, safety and efficacy, and determining what we know and don’t know. Veterinary ethics is about what is right or wrong to … Continue reading →

One of the most dangerous aspects of unproven or ineffective alternative therapies is the harm to patients when these are used in place of scientific medicine. While most proponents of alternative therapies generally recommend them as an addition to conventional … Continue reading →