“Because, it is clear to most medical professionals that a lot of the things some homeopathic vets recommend clearly have potential to harm animals.”
Ah, but there are indeed two sides to this coin.
Some things that conventional veterinarians recommend can harm animals, too. Monthly steroid shots, yearly vaccines, and poor food can have their downfalls. Ignoring the fact that quacks are quacks no matter HOW they practice is ignorant.
I had a very sick dog. After 4 grand spent at a local animal hospital, my dog was no better. I started exploring other treatment methods, as it was getting ridiculously expensive and, more importantly, my dog was not getting better. A very pragmatic holistic vet worked with me. He recommended medication (not “holistic” medication, but “medication”) to get my poor dog some relief…WHILE we worked on what was causing the problems in the first place. For my other dog, he strongly recommended heart medications–3 separate kinds–but we devised a few other things in the form of supplements that seemed to add length and vigor to his life. He outlived everyone’s expectations.
There is no magic treatment that fits every animal. THAT is what holistic medicine should be all about–sizing up the patient. It really has little to nothing to do with scorning the usage of life-saving drugs. Take into account a dog or cats over all health, diet, activity level, exercise tolerance, age, past health problems, right down to their emotional state (are they high strung and anxious, or easy going?) That’s the kind of practice I respect. Any vet who completely ignores the patient’s progress and only pumps more medications into them is wrong, as is the holistic vet who scorns the use of ANY medication and lets an animal suffer in the name of “holistic healing.” The two ways CAN work together, and work very well.
I recently read of a homeopath who “fired” a client because her dog became very ill, spiking a fever in the middle of the night, so the dog was rushed to the ER and placed on antibiotics. Because of placing the dog on these life saving medications, the homeopath fired the client, stating that she refused to work with someone who wasn’t holistically minded. Absolutely RIDICULOUS and I would have fired the homeopath because he or she could have fired me.
Quacks and quacks. They’re not limited to one form of practice. And it completely sucks that there are so many holistic vets (and doctors) who feel antibiotics are bad when your pet spikes a 105 degree fever and scorn the use of life-saving drugs in an elderly pet to give them more time, and better quality of life. And it completely sucks that there are many allopathic and conventional vets who roll their eyes the minute someone mentions a supplement or herb that seemed to help their animal. I refuse to patronize either kind.
Just my opinion.
