Homeopathy Against Canine Allergic Dermatitis

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Pet Allergies , Skin Allergies by ruth on July 20, 2006

There is a big debate whether homeopathy actually works. Medical professionals say that there is no scientific basis, and any positive, healing effects that homeopathy practitioners swear by are purely anecdotal.

It hasn't been scientifically proven effective in humans, but scientists are studying whether homeopathy can remedy allergies in dogs, particularly canine allergic dermatitis.

During the trial, the dermatologists at Bristol's Vet School and Mr Hoare will be working in tandem. The dermatologists will be responsible for making the initial diagnosis and objectively assessing the response to treatment. Mr Hoare will be responsible for prescribing the homeopathic remedies, after evaluating the dog's symptoms and various aspects of its personality.

Read more here. Whatever the results will be, it will certainly fuel the debate on the efficacy of homeopathy in humans.

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Tags: dogs eczema

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Vote for Homeopathy Against Canine Allergic Dermatitis:

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Response from: waster (07/21/06 12:43pm)

The experimental design should control for the placebo effect working on the experimenters. A double-blind trial would do this. (The dog isn't blind, like a human trial member would be, but the control and test animals should be treated identically.) This is not mentioned on the linked web page.

There is a false statement on the web page. It reads:
"The practice of homeopathy is currently under great scrutiny in both the medical and veterinary fields."
Actually, no: it is not under great scrutiny, just as astrology is not under great scrutiny despite the large number of practitioners and 'believers'. It does however receive vast amounts of unwarranted press coverage and government funding.

Response from: ruth (07/21/06 2:03pm)

Thanks for the comment. Come to think of it, the press release from Bristol did not indicate details of the study design. If you're that interested, you might want to take it up with Dr. Peter Hill (Peter.Hill@bristol.ac.uk) who's leading the trial.

As for scrutiny, let's hope it is research studies like these which will spur scientifically grounded discssions.