Your Cat Magazine Woo

[The Don]

Mrs Don buys "Your Cat" Magazine. In this month's edition they have an AtoZ of Alternative treatments comprising:

Acupressure, Acupuncture, Bach Flower remedies, Chakra Healing, Chiropractic, Crystal Healing, Diet, Diffusion, Faith Healing, Herbalism, Holistic Treatment, Homoeopathy (at least they sepped it correctly), Kinesiology, Laser Acupuncture, Magnetic Therapy, Massage, Nutrutional Therapies, Osteopathy, Physical Therapy, Reiki, Shiatsu, Trigger (Tigger ?) Point Therapy, TTouch Therapy.

All of which were presented uncritically as working with no indication that any of the manipulative ones may be positively dangerous to a small animal like a cat. They provided links to webistes and an "advert" for the book "Everyday Homeopathy for Animals".

I'm angry on so many levels:

Firstly, how can a magazine which purports to be for cat lovers promote "treatments" which are at best ineffective and which are at worst positively dangerous ?

How can it do so without any indication or advice from a proper vet that such treatments are not supported by research ?

How can it goad owners into hassling their vets for such rubbish



If it was Private Eye, I'd threaten to cancel my subscrition. I'll send a letter but It'll do no good.

[Chimpy]

Well recently I was reading a tabloid over brekkers and it sent a bunch of women (never the men eh?) to test treatments for pets, ranging from spas and massages (for a bloody dog!!!!!!) to pet psychologists and pet mediums. *sigh*

[Ashles]

Originally posted by Chimpy
Well recently I was reading a tabloid over brekkers and it sent a bunch of women (never the men eh?)
Women - they're like Men but with 'WOo' added. :)


N.B. The above is a joke. I don't really mean it.

[supercorgi]

I'm really dismayed at how readily my fellow pet owners believe in this alternate treatment claptrap. I was at a dog show last month and there were not 1 but 2 "animal communicators" (aka pet psychics) -- all of my friends took their dogs and then pressured me to go. Although I was curious to see what sort of silly cold reading technique they were using, I wasn't about to waste $25 and 15 minutes of my time.

In addition to the animal communicators, there was also a dog chiropractor and a Reiki practitioner. In addition, there was a place selling the Bach flower remedies.

You know it's one thing if you're going to impact your own health with this quackery but when someone is going to make these horrendous health decisions for a helpless child or pet, it really makes me furious.

[Odin]

I think there is a magazine about dogs (possibly "your Dog"?) which contains much the same alternative treatments. I remember a section where people write in with problems, one of the experts is a Homeopath. There were articles on TTouch and bach flower remedies too.

[The Don]

It's the first time I've relly read the magazine (though I do admit to having scanned through it in the past looking at pretty kitties). I'm not sure whether it's consistently woo or whether it was an aberration.

That said, there was a letter referring to a psychic who correctly predicted that a missing cat wasn't dead and a piece which confidently states that the new Pope is a cot lover cat lover, how's that for freudian ? despite his silence on the matter.

I expect the combination of "women's magazine" and animal fancier is some kind of exponential invitation to irrational propositions.

[Rolfe]

Originally posted by The Don
Firstly, how can a magazine which purports to be for cat lovers promote "treatments" which are at best ineffective and which are at worst positively dangerous ?

How can it do so without any indication or advice from a proper vet that such treatments are not supported by research ?That's nothing. A lot of these magazines are happy to give lots of space to woo-woo vets to promote their insane and unscientific practices.

Rolfe.

[hodgy]

At least with humans there can be an appeal to the placebo effect. Clearly this will not be the case for animals - it should be illegal to advertise such services

I can guess what would happen (trading-standards-wise) if I advertised and sold a pill that purported to stop your pet's hair from ever needing to be clipped (but actually did nothing)?

I might just try that, I can see the advert now:

£100 for a years supply- save £££ on pet parlour fees and avoid stress for your beloved cat / dog

I might make a few quid and if I ever get litigated against I'll say I did it to highlight the problem of pet-quackery.

[Psi Baba]

That really is disheartening to see stuff like that. Best cat magazine I've seen is Catnip published by the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Sensibile articles often written by real vets. No glossy paper and no color piccies, but lots of good information you can actually use.

[DavoMan]

Some times I think the animals could teach some of these humans a thing or two about health care.

My cat doesn't need no friggin homeopathy - she just licks her ass. :(

[Jas]

The Bach Flower Remedies are HUGELY popular with pet owners, for some reason. I remember using them for my animals...then I tried to figure out what exactly they accomplished...

At the shelter, we would have people come in, cat in one hand, Rescue Remedy in the other, convinced that it calmed them down. I have the scars to prove otherwise.

[Lisa Simpson]

Originally posted by Jas
The Bach Flower Remedies are HUGELY popular with pet owners, for some reason. I remember using them for my animals...then I tried to figure out what exactly they accomplished...

At the shelter, we would have people come in, cat in one hand, Rescue Remedy in the other, convinced that it calmed them down. I have the scars to prove otherwise.

It seems to be pretty popular on the cat forums I read. I glanced through Cat Fancy magazine, and I saw 4 classified ads for homeopathy and none for pet psychics. No print ads for either.

[pyewhackett]

Originally posted by supercorgi

You know it's one thing if you're going to impact your own health with this quackery but when someone is going to make these horrendous health decisions for a helpless child or pet, it really makes me furious.

I'm with you there. Unfortunately, I've read of too many terrible situations where children have suffered at the hands of naturopaths, 'healers' etc.

Has anyone ever heard/read of any incidents where an animal has been abused in this manner?

[AWPrime]

Well a massage really relaxes me.

But is it smart to do this to a cat?

I mean..they are already so relax and flexable. They might just turn into pudding.

:D :D LOL

[Lisa Simpson]

I spoke too soon. In the July 2005 issue of Cat Fancy there is an article about cat chiropractic. At least they say to go to a regular vet to rule out various medical conditions first. It is written by Narda G. Robinson DO DVM (http://www.aavma.org) and Brenda McClelland, DVM (http://www.energyworkdoctor.com)

[pyewhackett]

Originally posted by Lisa Simpson
I spoke too soon. In the July 2005 issue of Cat Fancy there is an article about cat chiropractic. At least they say to go to a regular vet to rule out various medical conditions first. It is written by Narda G. Robinson DO DVM (http://www.aavma.org) and Brenda McClelland, DVM (http://www.energyworkdoctor.com)

Is this do-it-yourself cat chiropractics? Not that this would be much worse than having it done by a *professional*.

[Lisa Simpson]

Originally posted by pyewhackett
Is this do-it-yourself cat chiropractics? Not that this would be much worse than having it done by a *professional*.

On Season 1 of Bullsh!t, Penn and Teller showed how to do at home kitty chiropractic. I've always wanted to try it.

[DavoMan]

Yeah I went out & tried it as soon as I saw it on ********. Haha it works.