Category Archives: General

Music Therapy for Dogs: Does Your Dog Really Prefer Reggae to Pop?

Playing music has become a popular method for reducing stress in animals who are hospitalized or kenneled. A couple of years ago, I reported on a review of the literature investigating this practice. The conclusion of that review was this: … Continue reading

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New Review Reminds us Doctors are Lousy at Predicting Benefits and Harms of their Tests and Treatments

One of the major focuses of my criticism of both science-based and alternative medicine is the failure of doctors to recognize their own limitations. There are innumerable cognitive biases and other sources of error that interfere with accurate and effective … Continue reading

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Does Challenging or Ridiculing Crazy Ideas Change Anyone’s Mind?

It has long been a sad and frustrating but generally accepted notion among skeptics that facts don’t matter to people who believe in pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and other dubious ideas or claims. The so-called “backfire effect” appears to mean that … Continue reading

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Glacier Peak Holistics Pet Wellness Life Scan Stress Test or How Much BS Can Fit on One Web Page?

Allergies are a common and frustrating problem for many pet dogs. While the details are incredibly complicated and not completely understood, allergies are the result of inappropriate inflammation and other immune system responses to triggers in the environment. These triggers … Continue reading

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Are Our Dogs Dying Younger Than They Used To?

One of the most popular ways to promote unconventional ideas, including alternative therapies, is through fear. Claiming that health, longevity, and other measures of well-being have declined from some time in the past opens the door to claims that science-based … Continue reading

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The “Natural” Nonsense that is Applied Zoopharmacognosy

Introduction A few years ago, I wrote about an interesting phenomenon called zoopharmacognosy. The idea is that animals might select specific plants or other substances to eat that would have therapeutic effects. An example might be an herbivore with a … Continue reading

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Overdiagnosis

Overdiagnosis is now recognized as a common and serious problem in human medicine that causes substantial harm in terms of unnecessary costs, wasted resources, and patient and caregiving suffering. International conferences (e.g. Preventing Overdiagnosis) and special features in major medical … Continue reading

Posted in General, Science-Based Veterinary Medicine | 8 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

Cupping for Animals- Yes, Apparently that Really is a Thing!

I’ve written before about so-called Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). It is the adaptation for veterinary patients of a hodgepodge of pre-scientific folk theories and practices cobbled together for largely political reasons by Mao in the 20th century. The most … Continue reading

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Tellington TTouch- How to Sell Petting and Magic Rituals as a Powerful Healing Practice

Tellington TTouch is a subject I have long avoided, as I tried to avoid talking about pet psychics, because it is such vapid nonsense that there is really very little to discuss. As Thomas Jefferson once said, in another context, … Continue reading

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