People trust veterinary surgeons because their medical knowledge is the result of years of study and training at formally accredited institutions, based on sound research.
You certainly wouldn鈥檛 expect to be recommended treatments based on a vet鈥檚 personal belief in therapies that have no grounding in science. And yet it happens.
I鈥檓 talking about . Amazingly it is still offered and promoted by a small number of vets in the UK.
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This is plain weird when you think about it. Animals do not experience a placebo effect because they are unaware they are being treated. Any perceived medical benefit is merely due to the care-giver effect 鈥撀爐he subjective assessment by the animal鈥檚 owner or clinician. Or wishful thinking as it is also known. So, unlike people, animals do not even receive the psychological benefits from homeopathic treatments.
Dose of nothing
Homeopathy is based on diluting a supposedly useful ingredient many times until in effect none of it is left. Surely a dose of nothing is harmless? Not so. The danger is not only due to the remedies being ineffective, but the belief held by some homeopaths that such therapies can be a substitute for orthodox treatment. This is at best misleading, and at worst may lead to unnecessary suffering or death.
Substituting effective and appropriate treatment with homeopathy for serious diseases 鈥撀爏uch as hyperthyroidism in a cat 鈥撀燾ould result in a personal tragedy for the owner of a much loved pet. It would be devastating for a dairy farm that went out of business because .
Vets who practise homeopathy should not be permitted to use their professional standing to promote its validity. They should not be allowed to charge a fee for something that has been proven to be ineffective. This line must be drawn. After all, no one would argue that vets should be permitted to offer crystal healing or psychic healing.
The fact veterinary homeopathy persists is such a concern that more than a thousand vets are among those who have calling on our regulatory body, the , to intervene.
False hope
Allowing a small minority of vets to continue prescribing homeopathic remedies adds legitimacy to a pseudoscience that may lead to belief that it is a genuinely effective medicine. Animal owners may divert limited resources on a 鈥渢reatment鈥� that does nothing but offer false hope. Above all, animal welfare is at risk.
Adults are, rightly or wrongly, free to choose to ignore scientific wisdom and plump for unproven or dangerous alternatives to treat themselves. But the health of animals is in the hands of the humans charged with their care. It is unethical to withhold effective medicine and inflict pointless alternatives on creatures that have no say in the matter.
Let鈥檚 stop vets from prescribing homeopathic treatments, sending a clear message that these are not endorsed by 21st century medicine.
