Australian Veterinary Journal

Volume 86, No 3, March 2008 © 2008 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2008 Australian Veterinary Association

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EDITORIAL

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Blackwell Publishing AsiaMelbourne, AustraliaAVJAustralian Veterinary Journal0005-04231751-0813© Australian Veterinary AssociationXXX EDITORIALEDITORIALEDITORIALLetter to the editor

The End of Conventional Veterinary Medicine

In ‘The End of Veterinary Homeopathy’,

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the authors attempt todiscredit the practice of veterinary homeopathy with theinherent assumption that its polar opposite, conventionalveterinary medicine, is based upon safe and efficacious practices.Although I do not practice veterinary homeopathy, I am quiteinterested in the current practice of veterinary medicine inwestern cultures. Are its premises and practices valid andreliable?

Conventional veterinary small animal practice, for example,seems to be based upon the three premises of preventativemedicine, diagnostics, and treatment. With respect to preventativemedicine, recent publications in our best veterinary journalssuggest that 1) the ‘standard’ practice of annual revaccination isboth unnecessary

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and potentially harmful,

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and 2) the regularuse of manufactured pet diets may lead to disease processes.

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Further,with regard to diagnostics, our own board-certified ‘experts’ maynot be able to differentiate normal from diseased tissues nor evenagree on pathological changes.

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Lastly, the newest treatmenttechnologies may be no better than and potentially worse thanthose of the recent past.

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Does this mean that we are seeing ‘The End of ConventionalVeterinary Medicine’? Probably not, although I suggest thatthose critics such as Drs Rijnberk and Ramey shine the light ofdiscernment in their own conventional practices before they pur-portedly analyse other practices of veterinary medicine inwhich they do not even engage.

References

1. Rijnberk A, Ramey, DW. The End of Veterinary Homeopathy.

Aust Vet J

2007;85:513–516.2. Mouzin DE, Lorenzen MJ, Haworth JD, King VL. Duration of serologicresponse to three viral antigens in cats.

J Am Vet Med Assoc

2004;224:61–66.3. Mouzin DE, Lorenzen MJ, Haworth JD, King VL. Duration of serologicresponse to five viral antigens in dogs.

J Am Vet Med Assoc

2004;224:55–60.4. Abdelmagrid OY, Larson L, Payne L, et al. Evaluation of the efficacy and dura-tion of immunity of a canine combination vaccine against virulent parvovirus, infec-tious canine hepatitis virus, and distemper virus experimental challenges 2004.

Veterinary Therapy

5;173–184.5. Hoogenesch H, Axcona-Olivera J, Moncrieff C, Snyder PW, Glickman LT.Vaccine-induced autoimmunity in the dog. advances in veterinary medicine2007;44:733–747.6. White HL, Freeman LM, Mahony O, Graham PA, Hao Q, Court MH. Effect ofdietary soy on serum thyroid hormone concentrations in healthy adult cats.

Am J Vet Res

2004;65:586–591.7. Willard MD, Jergens AE, Duncan D, et al. Interobserver variation among his-topathologic evaluations of intestinal tissues from dogs and cats.

J Am Vet MedAssoc

2002;220:1177–1182.8. Conzemius MG, Evans RB, Besancon F, et al. Effect of surgical technique onlimb function after surgery for rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament in dogs2005;

JAVMA

226;2:232–236.

(Accepted for publication xx xxxx 2006)

Bruce Ferguson, DVM, MSAdjunct Senior Lecturer

School of Veterinary and Biomedical SciencesMurdoch Universitywww.naturalvet.org

doi: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2008.00269.x

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