Category Archives: Science-Based Veterinary Medicine

In a recent article concerning an herbal product used for treatment of a dog with a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament (the equivalent of the “ACL” in humans), I stated, “Surgery is the treatment of choice for a ruptured cruciate ligament. … Continue reading →

It has long been recognized that there are patterns in the causes of death for our dogs. Younger dogs die from different things than older dogs, and different breeds have greater or lesser risk of dying from different causes. Understanding … Continue reading →

A prominent veterinary blogger, Dr. Patty Khuly of Fully Vetted, has written about the issue of veterinary stem cell therapies. The inspiration for her post appears to have been the recent article in JAVMA News, the news service of the … Continue reading →

The primary focus of this blog is to examine carefully the claims and evidence concerning alternative veterinary medical therapies. I focus less on the failures of conventional therapies and providers to always adhere to the highest standards of science-based medicine … Continue reading →

A common justification for the use of alternative therapies, with or without evidence concerning safety and efficacy, is that they are appropriate when conventional medicine does not have an established effective treatment for the problem. This is a legitimate argument … Continue reading →

I have written about probiotics previously (in general, for herpsvirus in cats, and some of the overhyping and quackery associated with them), and in general I have been cautiously optimistic about their potential, while criticizing claims that go beyond the … Continue reading →

In June I reported on a systematic review of the behavioral effects of pheromones on dogs and cats. That review examined all the studies to date on pheromone products such as Feliway and DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) and concluded that … Continue reading →