Category Archives: General

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 →

It has become quite popular to recommend music as a method of reducing the stress and anxiety of dogs in environments likely to be stressful for them, such as veterinary hospitals and shelters. I’ve reviewed the evidence concerning the effects … Continue reading →

In 2015, I wrote about the first canine influenza (CI) outbreak in the United States, in the Chicago area. At the time, I emphasized a few key facts about this disease, which I will review here: CI is a highly … Continue reading →

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the proposed connection between a collection of once-common flame retardant chemicals (PBDEs) and hyperthyroidism in cats. While the notion of “toxins” as the cause of disease is often a vague and ill-founded … Continue reading →

Introduction Alternative medicine practitioners have had a lot of success marketing their methods to the mainstream veterinary profession by obscuring or downplaying the most egregiously unscientific and ridiculous of their beliefs and practices when speaking outside of their own groups. … Continue reading →