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Alternative veterinary medicine is the use of alternative medicine in the treatment of animals. Types alternative therapies used for veterinary treatments may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, ethnomedicine and chiropractic. The term includes many treatments that do not have enough evidence to support them being a standard method within many veterinary practices.
The terms alternative veterinary medicine , complementary veterinary medicine, complementary alternative veterinary medicine,holistic veterinary medicine, and integrative veterinary medicine may be used as synonyms. The task force for complementary and alternative veterinary medicine for the American Veterinary Medical Association says that:
"There is only one veterinary medicine and only one standard by which it should be assessed. All treatments and modalities should be judged by the same criteria and held to the same standards. Descriptive terms such as holistic, conventional, traditional, alternative, integrative, or complementary do not enhance the quality of care provided and should not receive special consideration when judging the safety and efficacy of those treatments." [1]
The American Veterinary Medical Association also refers to it as a “heterogeneous group of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic philosophies and practices” [2] which would imply greater acceptance of alternative veterinary medicine than the above quote.
The American Veterinary Medical Association includes various modalities under this the title of alternative veterinary medicine. Some forms of alternative veterinary medicine include photon therapy (laser), acupuncture, homeopathy, veterinary manipulative therapy, phytotherapy, integrative nutrition, acupuncture, botanical medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, massage therapy, and nutraceuticals. [2] Oftentimes different modalities of alternative veterinary medicine will be used in conjunction with one another for the best results, such as integrative nutritional being used with physical rehabilitation.
Interest in alternative veterinary medicine amongst pet owners has increased in recent decades, although there is not yet a governing body to mandate what aspects of alternative medicine are taught in veterinary medicine schools. [3] [2] One barrier to the advancement of alternative veterinary medicine is simply the lack of research and evidence backing up many modalities of treatment. [2] However, many veterinary practices are encouraging staff to be familiar with alternative veterinary medicine because if a primary veterinarian can't provide information, pet owners may turn towards unprofessional methods of healing or listen to advice from those who are unqualified. [2]
A veterinarian interested in alternative treatments may be a member of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). [4] The modalities comprising alternative veterinary medicine vary in their evidence for effectiveness. [5] While they may vary in effectiveness based on evidence, the AHVMA does say that holistic medicine is humane. [6] Use of blood tests, X-rays, and similar objective diagnostic techniques are minimized. [7] Nearly every form of medicine and therapy used in alternative medicine for humans is also used in holistic veterinary medicine. [8]
Integrative nutrition combines both aspects of alternative veterinary medicine as well as traditional western veterinary medicine. As with other aspects of alternative veterinary medicine, it has become an increasingly popular topic within veterinary clinics amongst pet owners and their veterinarians. This approach typically analyzes the benefits and drawbacks to popular diets such as grain free, raw, vegetarian, vegan, or home-prepared diets. Integrative nutrition is more and more common within the agriculture industry as well because of the increased amount of production and growth that can come with altering the diet of cattle, chicken, hogs, or other livestock. [9] There's even evidence to suggest that changing the diets of cattle can change the rates of metabolic and infectious disease rates. [9]
Some information about diet is already known, such as cats suffering if denied meat because they do not have all the necessary amino acids to create proteins. [10] However, dogs do not experience the same lack of essential proteins when they eat vegetarian diets. [10] As with other aspects of alternative veterinary medicine, more research needs to be done to definitively say what diets are best, although it is likely that different diets are best for different pets, depending on species, activity level, pre-existing health conditions, and financial stability and time commitment of owners. [10]
Physical rehabilitation and sports medicine is typically treated as an umbrella term referring to underwater treadmill therapy, photobiomodulation or laser therapy, hyperbaric oxygen, therapeutic ultrasound, shockwave therapy, and personalized exercise plans. [2] This form of alternative veterinary medicine has permeated traditional western veterinary medicine with great success, likely because of its similarity to treatments that humans receive. Many types of physical rehabilitation and sports medicine treatments have been studied in humans and in animals enough to have some sort of evidence to support its usage. [2]
Underwater treadmill therapy has various reports of efficacy, but it can be used for both rehabilitation and conditioning. [2] Photobiomodulation hasn't yet been proved to be a legitimate treatment plan but there are tentative connections to benefits. This therapy refers to when stimulation occurs via light and reportedly increases energy and antioxidant production. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy functions in a similar way to photobiomodulation therapy and lacks legitimacy as well. [2]
Therapeutic ultrasound provides deep tissue thermal stimulation to increase range of motion and tendon strength and is often used to help heal deep injuries. [2] Shockwave therapy uses acoustic sound waves to alter tissue mechanics and inflammation. Lastly, personalized exercise plans often are proven to be very effective, although some exercises have not been researched extensively. [2] This treatment is used for pets who are recovering from injury, surgery, or for other reasons need to build strength or increase range of motion. [2]
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.
Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from outright quackery, like homeopathy, to widely accepted practices like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence.
The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) was a not-for-profit, US-based organization, that described itself as a "private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health problems."
Bastyr University is a private alternative medicine university with campuses in Kenmore, Washington, and San Diego, California. Programs include naturopathy, acupuncture, Traditional Asian medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine, psychology, and midwifery.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created in 1991 as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name in 2014. NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The history of alternative medicine refers to the history of a group of diverse medical practices that were collectively promoted as "alternative medicine" beginning in the 1970s, to the collection of individual histories of members of that group, or to the history of western medical practices that were labeled "irregular practices" by the western medical establishment. It includes the histories of complementary medicine and of integrative medicine. "Alternative medicine" is a loosely defined and very diverse set of products, practices, and theories that are perceived by its users to have the healing effects of medicine, but do not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, are not part of biomedicine, or are contradicted by scientific evidence or established science. "Biomedicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice.
Edzard Ernst is a retired British-German academic physician and researcher specializing in the study of complementary and alternative medicine. He was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the world's first such academic position in complementary and alternative medicine.
Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) is a form of alternative medicine which proponents claim can treat allergies and related disorders. The techniques were devised by Devi Nambudripad, a California-based chiropractor and acupuncturist, in 1983, drawing on a combination of ideas from applied kinesiology, acupuncture, acupressure, nutritional management, and chiropractic methods.
Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative cancer treatments do not have high-quality evidence supporting their use and many have been described as fundamentally pseudoscientific. Concerns have been raised about the safety of some purported treatments and some have been found unsafe in clinical trials. Despite this, many untested and disproven treatments are used around the world. Promoting or marketing such treatments is illegal in most of the developed world.
Health is the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. This article lists major topics related to personal health.
Veterinary acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine and a pseudoscientific practice of performing acupuncture on animals. The best studies of the effects of animal acupuncture have produced consistently negative results.
Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities include a range of practices used in the treatment of dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome and other developmental and learning disabilities. Treatments include changes in diet, dietary supplements, biofeedback, chelation therapy, homeopathy, massage and yoga. These therapies generally rely on theories that have little scientific basis, lacking well-controlled, large, randomized trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy; small trials that have reported beneficial effects can be generally explained by the ordinary waxing and waning of the underlying conditions.
Veterinary chiropractic, also known as animal chiropractic, is the practice of spinal manipulation or manual therapy for animals. Veterinary chiropractors typically treat horses, racing greyhounds, and pets. Veterinary chiropractic is a fast-developing field that is complementary to the conventional approach. Veterinary chiropractic is considered a controversial method due to limited evidence that exists on the efficacy of osteopathic or chiropractic methods in equine therapy. There is limited evidence supporting the effectiveness of spinal manipulation or mobilization for equine pain management, and the efficacy of specific equine manual therapy techniques is mostly anecdotal.
Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial is a 2008 book by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. The book evaluates the scientific evidence for alternative medicines such as acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, and chiropractic, and briefly covers 36 other treatments. It finds that the scientific evidence for these alternative treatments is generally lacking. The authors concluded that homeopathy is merely a placebo.
George Lewith was a professor at the University of Southampton researching alternative medicine and a practitioner of complementary medicine. He was a prominent and sometimes controversial advocate of complementary medicine in the UK.
The Friends of Science In Medicine (FSM) is an Australian association which supports evidence-based medicine and strongly opposes the promotion and practice of unsubstantiated therapies that lack a scientifically plausible rationale. They accomplish this by publicly raising their concerns either through direct correspondence or through media outlets. FSM was established in December 2011 by Loretta Marron, John Dwyer, Alastair MacLennan, Rob Morrison and Marcello Costa, a group of Australian biomedical scientists and clinical academics.
Alternative medicine describes any practice which aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested or untestable. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon.