Page 3 - Winter 17

Committee – BAHVS
President – Jane Keogh j.keogh5@btinternet.com
Senior Vice-President – Mark Elliott homeopathicvet@btinternet.com
Junior Vice-President – Chris Day cday-avmc@hotmail.co.uk
Hon. Secretary – Stuart Marston sec@bahvs.com
Treasurer – Wendy McGrandles wendy@glenbrae-vet.co.uk
Magazine Editor – Malene Jørgensen malene@laforcevitale.eu
Communications Officer – Nick Thompson nickthompson@holisticvet.co.uk
IAVH Representitive – Nick Thompson nickthompson@holisticvet.co.uk
Faculty Veterinary Representitive – Peter Gregory pg.ahimsa@virgin.net
Mag distribution – Cheryl Sears cheryl.sears31@btinternet.com
Committee – IAVH
President – Edward de Beukelaer 12edb3@gmail.com
Treasurer – Sara Fox Chapman sfc.holistic@gmail.com
General Secretary – Petra Weiermayer petra.weiermayer@gmx.at
Coordinator subcommittee for education – Stefan Kohlrausch stefan.kohlrausch@arcor.de
Newsletter subcommittee – Malene Jørgensen malene@laforcevitale.eu
IAVH Communications Officer – Nick Thompson nickthompson@holisticvet.co.uk
LIGA contact – Marc Bär info@homeopatte.ch
Comment on the Double-Blinded randomised placebo controlled trial of individualised homeopathic treatment of hyperthyroid cats – Authors: A.L.Bodey, C. J.Almond & M.A.Holmes
The Veterinary Record published the above paper on-line on January 16 and a printed summary of the paper will be published within the next few weeks. There have already been criticisms of the trial on the IAVH forum, and I am sure these will just be the start. Unfortunately, I think that the criticisms are largely justified.
The main problem was the use of a client questionnaire to allow individual analysis of each of the cases. This was kindly created by John Saxton and was very comprehensive. However, the standard of completion of the questionnaires by the clients was almost universally poor, which made my attempts at case analysis extremely difficult. The questionnaire was used, because we expected to get cases from a large geographical area. It would have been physically impossible for me to carry out homeopathic consultations with the 40 cases that we wished to recruit for the trial.
The other weakness in the trial was the short duration of the treatment. This was necessary ethically, as the cats, receiving the placebo could not have been allowed to go without treatment for longer. The Cambridge University ethics committee would not have allowed it.
It is almost 10 years since the start of the trial, it having taken all this time to recruit the target number of cases. Its publication at the time of numerous attacks on homeopathic veterinary medicine is unfortunate. Involvement in the trial has made me sceptical of the suitability of RCT’s for testing the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment, although I still think that it is important to do our best to provide evidence of its efficacy. On a positive note, I have a much greater idea of how to design a RCT and which pitfalls to avoid. This may be useful in the development of future trials involving the use of homeopathy in animals.
Chris Almond
The British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons (BAHVS) was formed in 1981, to advance the understanding, knowledge and practice of homeopathy. It aims to stimulate professional awareness of homeopathy and to encourage and to provide
for the training of veterinary surgeons in the practice of homeopathy.
It is an open forum for differing approaches to the subject of veterinary homeopathy and it’s application, allowing for constructive interchanges of ideas.
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