Abstract
This large textbook gives practitioners of veterinary medicine a framework for adding “complementary” or “alternative” medicine into their practice of science-based medicine. It is a huge work—over 900 pages—certainly representing many years of work by the authors, work that will do nothing to advance veterinary medicine, work that I believe will harm it. The book is divided into eight sections. Section 1 covers the history, theory, and evidence for therapeutic nutrition, Chinese herbs and acupuncture, homotoxicology, and Western herbal medicine. Sections 2 and 3 cover the applications of these alternative modalities in combination with science-based therapeutic protocols for which there is evidence of effectiveness (their words). Section 4 concentrates on Western herbal medicine protocols. Section 5 on cancer, including recommended nutrients, herbs, and homotoxins for each tumor type. Section 6 discusses vaccination, recommending customization of vaccine protocols depending on the breed and lifestyle of each patient. While not recommending against vaccination, this section provides a troubling parallel to the current dangerous trend toward not vaccinating children because of fears of vaccine reactions. Section 7 is a glossary of terms, and Section 8 lists many further resources. An appendix lists acupuncture points mentioned in the text.
As one who regards objective data as the cornerstone of science, and science as the cornerstone of medicine, I find this whole enterprise more than a little questionable. As seasoned scientists have instructed students since the dawn of the age of reason, the plural of anecdote is not data. In the introduction, the authors opine: “Unfortunately, this lack of scientifically validated evidence has helped to fuel and widen the gap between conventional and holistic veterinarians…” This reviewer is not one who bemoans the “gap.” Since the first colleges of veterinary medicine were established we have worked for and have achieved high respect for our profession as an important branch of medical science. This book grafts our esteemed branch to the very charlatans from which we have so successfully distanced ourselves.
The authors go on to say, “Many clients are beginning to say they prefer medical professionals trained in both types of healing, i.e., integrative veterinarians.” While client satisfaction is a valid concern of our colleagues in veterinary practice, one must ask whether we really need this encyclopedic elaboration of unproven therapies to replace the sugar pill, which however ethically questionable was at least simple, cheap, and harmless. Tellingly, the term “placebo effect” does not appear in the index of this book. And all of alternative medicine seems to ignore the first hubris vaccination that should be given to veterinary students: Most patients get better no matter what you do. This book encourages uncritical assignment of cause and (good) effect, where the veterinarian takes the credit whenever a patient recovers and presumably charges extra for the additional treatment modalities.
The number of head-scratching assertions embedded in this tome boggles the mind. For example, one item chosen at random from among many hundreds of such entries, this one among fifteen “appropriate homotoxicology formulas” for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, most of which are unreferenced and the remainder under the same citation, the authors write: “Hepar compositium: provides drainage, detoxification, and organ support of the liver. Contains pankreas suis.” So, for pancreatic insufficiency one should support and drain the liver? This reviewer cannot but wonder how many of these remedies comply with the first dictum of medical practice: First, do no harm. Certainly they add to the cost of veterinary medical treatment to the client without proven benefit, and in these times of economic stress, even that harm is unconscionable.