Customer Reviews

Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine Considered

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is great, and hard. The authors are thorough, well researched, are up front about their philosophy and their reasons for writing this book. This is the grain of salt we professionals need to take along with our fascination with 'alternative & complementary medicine' options. If you are like me, steeped in traditional scientifically proven medicine yet curious about what ACVM (alternative and complementary veterinary medicine)can offer your patients, you'll find this book will bring you back to your scientific roots. It will educate you and ask you to think. This is not a bad thing. As practitioners with the title of DVM and holding a license to practice medicine and surgery we should know something about what we are advising our clients to do with their pets.
My advice is to read it, learn from it (there is some really good history on the evolution of medicine as its been practiced through the ages of mankind) and then decide for yourself what you want to do with ACVM. Use this book as part of your education in regards to ACVM.

I worked for a "homeopathic" veterinarian and watched animals get worse or die as a result of her presecribed "treatments". Homeopathy is junk science and junk medicine and SHOULD have no part in AVMA-sanctioned veterinary medicine.

This book gives lots of information about clinical studies and many arguments about why unproven treatments or medicines should not be allowed to be practiced as part of veterinary medicine.

Search for books on alternative therapies and you'll find a swag of books religiously devoted telling believers how clever they are. This book, however, is a rare example of an genuine investigation into the topic. It is readable, fascinating, well-founded and provides a much needed counter balance to the glossy volumes of false hope that exist.

It seems to me that most people have a favorable opinion regarding science. And we all, like it or not, use science throughout our lives. However, most people do not *think* like scientists. This book explains why it is important to understand why in the medical world certain things are done and certain things aren't.

Science is like a nice loaf bread, if you will. You love eating it but don't know how to make it. In order to enjoy good bread everyday you *learn* the recipe.

This book is a recipe for discerning fact from fiction in the scientific veterinary world and the complimentary and alternative medical world. But it's more than that even; it is a recipe for fun, suprises, and fulfillment as the principles outlined have far reaching applications beyond veterinary medicine.

As the proud husband of a veterinarian, I recommend this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who might be considering using "alternative" therapies on their animals and to veterinarians in general. Dr. Ramey discusses the historical development of scientific medicine and the development and resurgence of unproven and implausible treatments. Don't let the proponents of "alternative", "integrative" or "complementary" treatments fool you. There is really only medicine for which we have evidence and plausibility, and alternatives that are at best unproven and at worst dangerous quackery. Can scientific medicine be improved? Yes, and Dr. Ramey will be the first to admit it, but all of the advances medicine has made in the last 200 years have been due to science, not one or another forms of imaginative nonsense.
Kudos to Dr. Ramey for writing this clear, concise analysis of this subject.

This author is well-known for his disparagement of alternative therapies. Do not buy this book if you are looking into alternative therapies for your animals as the author is strictly a "Western Medicine" kind of
guy and very biased. Having used chiropractic, homeopathic, and acupressure on my horses, dogs, and cats, alternative therapy is extremely helpful when provided by a competent and trained professional. Research your practioner's training and background. See "Homeopathy for Horses" by Tim Couzens MRCVS, "Veterinary Acupuncture" or "Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: Principles and Practice" by Allen M. Schoen DVM. Also "4 Paws Five Directions" by Cheryl Schwartz, DVM. All excellent reference for the holistic practitioner.

SCAM - Supplements, Complementary, Alternative, Medicine.
Shows how alternative medicine is medicine without evidence (or at least worthwhile evidence). Would you want to use Alternative plumbing? Alternative engineering? ...