Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Trust Me, I'm a Vet.

Liz Ditz brought Holistic Petcare, run by Gloria Dodd DVM to EoR's attention.

EoR looked at one page, then another, and another, feeling himself becoming more and more hopelessly mired in woo. He only just got out with his brain intact. As far as EoR can determine, this seems to be a vet who has worked out where the real money is, since her collection of 'research' articles all lead to wonderful products that you can buy at exorbitant prices.

She preaches the Good and Bad Energy Fairies:
I learned the body's health exists on two levels: the physical and the energetic (acupuncture energy flow of Life Force or "chi" within all cells of all organs). Disturbance of the balanced energy Chi that makes up the electromagnetic energy field of the body (EMF) would manifest in illness and pain in the physical body. Chemicals, vaccinations and all medical drugs have an EMF of their own, but is destructive energy to the natural animal EMF.

Dr Dodd recommends a holistic response to colic (mild to severe - sometimes life threatening - abdominal pain in horses): "belly lifts", acupressure and homeopathy. These will, of course, "work" since the vast majority of colics are self limiting. While they are resolving, the horse will be in varying degrees of pain, however, and Dr Dodd's methods equate to animal cruelty since they are denying the application of analgesics. In the small percentage that require immediate medical attention, delaying tactics like these will only make the outcome less certain (but certainly more expensive).

She cures lameness by magic as well (and by purchasing her patent remedies):
I administered "Calming Essence" to relieve fear and anxiety in the horse, adjusted the vertebrae, and left the homeopathic remedies for "Acute Tendon and Ligament 30C' formula for the owner to administer. 48 hours later the owner was riding a sound horse. Surgery was unnecessary and would only have compounded the problem with a permanently lame horse that would generally have been euthanized.

She has developed her own 'theory' as to the cause of laminitis (painful inflammation of the feet) and its treatment (acupuncture, homeopathy, colour therapy. Oh, and buying her patent remedies). And she has conducted
rewarding research into holistic healing with crystals

These are, indeed, miracle cures:
Since I have learned alternative veterinary methods of healing and prevention of health hazards, I have been able to extend my horses' lives ten more years of an enjoyable, active life, free of pain and major illnesses.

She has a horse who is 33 years old. What more proof could there be of these claims than a single anecdote? How does she measure that "ten years"?

It is better to be prepared, however. Would you know how to revive an animal in cardiac arrest, merely by poking its nose? Dr Dodd does. Before your horse gets sick, rush out and buy one of her Healing Halters™ ($US99.95) which will act like a charm (literally) and protect your horse through pyramid power, colour power, crystal power, light power, and the Personal Protective Catalyst Bead:
This is a specially developed anti-radiation device to help protect the wearer from most environmental noxious energy fields. These fields have been proven to produce illness and pain in people and animals.

You can buy her anti-cancer products (recommended by dowsers!), or her antiradiation protection devices. And, for emergencies, one should never be far away from a Homeopathic First Aid Kit! Works for car accidents, fractures, sudden collapse etc etc. A snip at only $US295! Hey, it might only be water and a bandage, but it's expensive water and a bandage (full contents here)! And how can you argue with claims like
The natural remedies and acupressure resuscitation method provided and illustrated in this ANIMAL EMERGENCY FIRST-AID KIT have proven safe and effective over 5000 years!

EoR loves reading those medical journals from 5000 years ago. It gives him a nice cosy feeling of nostalgia. He's also pleased to learn that homeopathic remedies were proven effective 4800 years before they were invented.

Unfortunately, EoR really has to say this is just bullshit and scamming. Strangely, other people seem to have noticed this as well, which you'll find if you follow a link from the front page to this page where she has been taken to task by the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics for some of her claims (though not some of her more outrageous ones) and, presumably, forced to put this notice up. As she admits, sadly, even though homeopathy has been proven to work for the last 300 years (what happened to the other 4700? why can't she get her dates consistent?)
However in this country in order to be licensed, I would be unable financially to undergo the rigid and expensive testing to prove their efficacy.

To EoR, that seems to be an admission that, despite her sales rhetoric, her unlicensed products have no evidence that they work. Other than in providing an income stream for Dr Dodd.
I have instructed my web master to edit my web page, to delete any reference to these remedies being used to immunize animals. You know how slow web masters work online, so I expect it will take a few weeks to edit the website

It appears her webmaster also doesn't work. A few weeks to edit some web pages? EoR would sack the loser. Or take away his antiradiation woo toroid and let the bastard die in horrible screaming agony.

1 comment:

  1. I think I'm approaching another woo overdose. I've been dealing with one of the thimerasol-autism nutbars. At least they have a mechanism that seems plausible on the super-superficial surface: Mercury causes mental damage. Autism is mental damage. Thimerasol is a mercury compound, therefore it causes autism. Of course, they use all sorts of trippy defenses of their argument worthy of Monty Python.

    You, however, really dip into the acid dippers. I think I brain my damage just from reading a few sentences of these people's writing. Keep up the good work, but be sure to pace yourself.

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