Quackometer: The Vets Who Make People Feel Better

[cohen]

The Vets Who Make People Feel Better
March 22, 2008
By Le Canard Noir


Some years ago, a well meaning but utterly deluded friend gave me a book entitled Natural Remedies For Your Cat  by Christopher Day. It is a slightly disturbing tome that appears to recommend homeopathic remedies for pretty much everything – from fleas to gunshot wounds.

Rational cat lovers might find this book pretty disturbing. In many ways, it is a classic homeopathy text. It sees homeopathy as verging on the panacea, has a brief disclaimer telling owners to seek veterinary help and has a chapter on feline vaccination.

    A cat's immune system is a very finely poised and delicately balanced yet powerful entity in the daily battle for life and health. (...) Deaths, severe illness and chronic mild illness have all been recorded as following closely on vaccination. (...) There is an alternative to conventional vaccination but it has not been efficacy-tested on laboratory animals. No proof of efficacy therefore exists. However, many breeders, show people, cat lovers and catteries now feel strongly that the alternative is as effective as, and, safer than, conventional vaccination.

Christopher Day is not some soft-headed amateur pet healer. Day is a fully qualified vet and paid up member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Recently, his name has been popping up a few times. A friend in the pub said she was going to see him about a troubled horse that was clearly in a lot of pain. As tactfully as possible, I suggested that he had slightly unorthodox ideas and another vet might be more appropriate. I was told that "he was a qualified vet" and that "holistic approaches appeal to me because they ultimately have the patients best interest at heart". Apparently, they do not fob you off and they take their time. Fortunately, Christopher Day turned out to be far more expensive than 'mainstream' vets.

I have also been pointed towards him by a few homeopaths with the idea that a vet practicing homeopathy is somehow proof that it works. Animals do not know about the placebo effect, apparently. We shall explore this canard a little more shortly.........

http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2008/03/vets-who-make-people-feel-better.html