Category Archives: General

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 | 9 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

Posted in General | 17 Comments

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

Posted in General | 23 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

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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 | 9 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

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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

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Teaching Integrative Medicine in Veterinary Schools: Part of an Evidence-Based Curriculum or Trojan Horse for Alternative Medicine?

I recently came across an interesting paper that cited some of my previous writing about the relationship between evidence-based medicine and alternative medicine. M.A. Memon, J. Shmalberg, H.S. Adair III, S. Allweiler, J.N. et al. Integrative veterinary medical education and … Continue reading

Posted in General | 4 Comments

Myofascial Trigger Points-Real or Imaginary?

One of the reasons I chose the acupuncture course I am currently taking is that the instructors are very clear about rejecting the Traditional Chinese Medicine mythology of Qi, Yin and Yang, and all the rest that is often used … Continue reading

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