Homeopatía en perros y gatos | ¿A favor o en contra? 🐶💊🐱¿Es una estafa?

What are you doing?

Well, I've decided to become a shaman. I've been wrong all my life. Come here, let me clean you up. Laura. Get out of here. Get out of here. Ah. Ah. Hello, I'm Carlos, a clinical veterinarian in small animals. Welcome to the Happy Pets and Families Channel. Today I bring you one of those controversial topics that leaves no one indifferent. Because today I'm going to talk to you about ch. Homeopathy is open to the light. It's a sign of nature. Homeopathy is a technique that is based on healing yourself by stimulating your own body system with substances that are diluted in water in an infinitesimal way. That is, they are not even detected. These substances are usually provided in the form of small capsules of sugar water. A technique? Well, yes, it is a discipline. The people who practice it almost call it a science, but, well, that is a bit under review. Why am I going to talk to you about homeopathy? Because I'm seeing that it's becoming increasingly important in veterinary clinics. While working in my own clinic, I've often come across animals that had been treated with homeopathy. Specifically, I'm going to tell you about the case of a lady whose dog was getting worse because it had a disorder. They were giving him homeopathic treatment because she firmly believed in homeopathy. But the dog wasn't getting any better. When he came to the consultation, I had to examine him and do some tests. Well, I'll tell you the outcome, the story, and what was wrong with the dog at the end of the video with my personal opinion, so there are no spoilers, and you can stay until the end. Of course, today I'm going to get into some serious trouble and I'm going to get all riled up because you know that I like to get my hands dirty. I'm going to tell you the arguments that people who trust homeopathy use in favor of it, and also the arguments that science provides against it. And as you know, in this series of videos that we make for and against, at the end of the whole video, I give you my personal opinion. Oh, how strange. A veterinarian taking a position in favor of homeopathy. I can't imagine what you might think about it.

Well, believe it or not, there are many veterinarians who use homeopathy. So I'm going to leave it to you. I don't know if much you're going.

To say something like, don't kill me. I don't know what I don't know how much? No, let them kill me and let them give me comments up and down and whatever they want. I sacrifice myself for my audience. You're not being harsh, aren't you? Today I'm being very harsh because this topic touches me deeply and not to mention other parts of my body. Well, we're talking about homeopathy, but this has nothing to do with traditional therapies or medicines that we could consider ancestral, like for example, traditional Chinese medicine. It has nothing to do with you telling me, well, we gave my dog some herb or something, or I take herbal pills. It's not the same. Homeopathy has nothing to do with medicines or natural or traditional therapies. Okay, but what are the substances that are dissolved in water? Well, there are many and very different ones such as caffeine or plant extracts, such as the very famous arnica, or mineral salts such as phosphorus. In other words, they are all kinds of substances diluted a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot in water and encapsulated in small balls of water with sugar. Okay, come on, this is getting very long. Are you going to start now? Right?

Yes, yes. Lets start with the advantages which, as you know, I like to list first.

Let's start with the first advantage of all. According to people who are in favor of the use of homeopathy, the use of these substances ultimately results in people abusing other drugs and medicines that are taken as if they were almost like junk food. This principle seems very good because people seem to be addicted to many medicines that are frequently sold, such as anti inflammatories like ibuprofen or paracetamol. So defenders of homeopathy say that if you take these types of substances, you will have to resort less to regular medicines that you can find in the pharmacy. Obviously this may have some logic because if you are taking a substance that you believe is having a beneficial effect on you, you will resort less to taking other medicines that may have a more negative effect on your health. In this case, let me say that I am not saying this. This is an argument that is very frequently used by people who defend the use of homeopathy. Now let's move on to the second argument. The second argument is that it would also reduce the cost of medicines in general because as people would consume fewer medicines, they would ultimately spend less on pharmacies. And for example, healthcare systems like the Spanish one that provide a subsidy for the purchase of medicines to make them more affordable would see the cost of buying medicines monthly or annually greatly reduced. Also, don't forget what homeopathy says, you depend on your own internal capacities in your body stimulated by these substances. Therefore, you are not taking anything that cures you, but rather you are healing yourself. So it would be like you are giving something to your body which only activates its healing capacity. Yes, it could be like that. Think about it. Because if this works, it would be the best thing in the world. Look, you are taking a substance that will not harm you, and you are stimulating your own body to fight against diseases. Because in the end, you will end up becoming an immortal being who will be able to fight against everything and there will be nothing that can defeat you. Another of the great advantages of homeopathy, according to the Spanish Society of Homeopaths, is that the relationship between the homeopathic doctor and the patient is very close. Because you spend a good while in the consultation talking to the doctor, and he more or less makes a kind of assessment of how you are, how you feel if he finds something in your body that is unbalanced. In the case of a homeopathic veterinarian, since they can't talk to the dog or cat who simply walk away so as not to hear them, what they do is conduct a short interview with the family and spend some time talking and asking them about their family's perceptions of their pet, whether they've found anything to be amiss or if there's something wrong with their body. And after this interview, and knowing exactly what disorders the patient has, the veterinarian or homeopathic doctor ends up giving you the ideal and precise substance to cure all your ailments or, well, to your dog or your cat. Okay, but I have a question. When you talk about a homeopathic veterinarian, are you referring to a veterinarian who has studied veterinary medicine?

Okay, yes. Whenever we say homeopathic veterinarian or doctor, it means they have studied veterinary medicine or medicine, that they have chosen this path, that they have chosen this discipline. There is a difference between these and those who are simply homeopaths, because to practice homeopathy, it is enough to take a course that qualifies you to be a homeopathic. Another of the great advantages of homeopathy is that it can be used on animals, also on people who are pregnant, pregnant animals. Because of course, logically, as these substances are harmless to the body, they cannot have any negative effect on the fetuses they carry in their veins. Given this, conventional medicine cannot combat it, because there are some drugs that can be dangerous for the fetus that the mother is carrying. Well, Now I bring you the last advantage is which, which is the jewel in the crown. As you know, one of the main disadvantages of homeopathy is that its detractors say that it works because of the placebo effect, because the person makes self suggestion that by taking a little pill it will have a beneficial effect even though the pill at a given moment does not have any specific effect. Well, defenders of homeopathy say that if homeopathy works in animals that do not have this effect of autosuggestion, it really works and exerts beneficial effects on the health of animals. It is because your dog cannot distinguish between oh, my owner is giving me this little pill to cure me of my heart disease. And as we all know, conventional medicines cure from oh, my owner is giving me this homeopathic pill. And since I believe in homeopathy, well, in the end I also end up curing myself. I put on an Instagram mask so that you can see my dog's face well, but not everything is going to be so pretty. Now come the arguments against it. Okay, you have to be aseptic to begin with. No one has been able to demonstrate that substances diluted in sugar water to infinite levels, that is to a level that is no longer even detectable by chemical analysis, can have any type of effect on the health of either people or animals. In order for something to be scientifically evaluated, studies must have been carried out. The thing about conventional medicine is that, for example, a group of dogs suffering from an illness are given conventional medication to one group and not to the other. And then at the end of the study, or the data is taken and the response of the animals that were given the medication compared to those that were not. As seen, that doesn't happen with homeopathy. What we have are isolated cases of animals that have been able to recover or respond to homeopathic medication. But who knows why, because since it hasn't been scientifically reviewed, well, believe that result or not, look into the reasons why that animal responded. Another argument against homeopathy is that it seems that they deliberately use very ambiguous language. For example, a homeopathic doctor bases his argument on clinical signs or symptoms, such as your dog reacting very badly to morning air or seawater, for example. This, as you well know, cannot be measured. It is only a personal perception of that doctor. But in no case is it something that can be quantified. And after all, another doctor may have a completely different perception because there is no scale to measure how the dog reacts to the morning air. Because if for example, you come to the consultation with your dog. I can take its temperature by applying a thermometer and know if that temperature is high or low. Why? Because I know that between 37 and 39 your dog has a normal temperature. This scale of measurement is precisely what is missing in homeopathic medicine, because it is based solely on the personal perceptions of the homeopath, and even more so in homeopathic veterinary medicine, because you are the one who interprets what is happening to your pet, and it is the homeopathic veterinarian who in the end interprets what is happening to your dog based on what you tell him. In short, a mess. And therefore, how are we going to cure an illness if we cannot even start from a reliable basis of what is happening to the dog? On the other hand, homeopathic substances do not follow the same authorization process as a normal medicine. In order for a homeopathic substance to be authorized, it is simply necessary to demonstrate that it does not harm health. And it is not necessary in any case to demonstrate that said substance has a beneficial effect or can cure you of some illness, which is precisely what is required of conventional medicines. If we follow this principle, a glass of water can be a homeopathic medicine that is very good for hydrating you and making you feel good and well. It is essential for life. Obviously, a glass of water will not do you any harm, but in no case will it cure you of an illness such as rheumatism. For all these reasons, in the United States it is mandatory that all boxes of homeopathic substances be written that there is no type of scientific report that supports that said substance will have a beneficial effect on health. Another of the main arguments against homeopathy is that it is used for minor illnesses or those with acute symptoms such as the flu, a headache or a cold, or to treat some of the side effects of more serious illnesses, such as nausea caused by chemotherapy. In a person who is being treated for cancer, it is only used for illnesses that usually end up being cured spontaneously and that suddenly disappear naturally without having to take any type of medication. It is not necessary to take a pharmacy medication or a homeopathic medicine to overcome a flu that will disappear after seven days, or a headache that will perhaps go away if you sleep a little more that night. And regarding nausea from chemotherap, well, we know how chemotherapy works. It does not affect everyone in the same way. And it is possible that one day they give you chemotherapy and you feel nauseous, and the next day when you go back for the next cycle, they give you it and you feel absolutely nothing. And note that in the case of nausea resulting from chemotherapy, homeopathy is not trying to treat the serious illness that is cancer, because there is no homeopathic medicine that does so. Instead, it simply tells you about the side effects because you may have them one day or they may end up disappearing. Yes or yes, naturally. Now, in some cases, some type of medication may be necessary, but if you are taking homeopathy, in the end it can also end up going away normally, and you believe that it is the effect of homeopathy that is making your nausea go away. And in contrast to one of the main arguments in favor of homeopathy, which is that it can be used in combination with conventional medicines, what its detractors end up saying is that the homeopathic substance that is being used together with the conventional medicine is doing absolutely nothing. Because what ends up curing you is the medicine that you are taking and the one that has scientifically proven its effects. And therefore the homeopathic substance is not doing you any harm or good. It would not be doing you anything. I have already told you the main arguments for and against that. The defenders and detractors of homeopathy have at least the most important ones that I have considered when preparing this topic. And now I am going to offer you my personal opinion, which will be. Drumroll. I can only be against homeopathy.

What a surprise. I did not expect this turn of events.

The first thing I want to say in all this is that there can be no half measures here. I cannot be a little bit for and a little bit against and agree with one or the other, because homeopathy is really not playing in the same league as conventional medicine. It does not have the same rules of the game. Conventional medicine is always required to demonstrate what its beneficial effects are and that it does not have any type of harmful effect on health, or that the harmful effects are always less than the beneficial effects it may give you. Ultimately, conventional medicine is required to cure diseases. However, homeopathy is not required to do that. Homeopathy can simply register as having some type of benefit if the homeopathic substance is not harmful to health, that is, if it does not cause you any harm. They do not have to conduct any type of scientific study to support what those benefits are. They simply base their own experiences on their own experiences in order to tell you that a tiny capsule of water with sugar, in which a substance that cannot even be detected by scientific analysis is infinitely diluted, has some type of effect, because the substances that are dissolved in that solution of water with sugar are so, so diluted that no chemical or physical method can demonstrate in most cases that they were there. I have to believe it because you are telling me so. So, in the end, for example, thinking maybe a little badly, who tells you that there has been a process of dilution of that substance and they are not simply giving you a rather expensive candy. I can sell you this candle as an effective method to make the sun shine and there are no hurricanes around me. Well, and it seems to work b.

Careful because someone still believes it.

Oh, well, I'm selling it very cheaply. €3,000 per candle. For me, this alone is enough of an argument to completely invalidate homeopathy. Obviously, I am a veterinarian and I practice conventional medicine because it is what I have studied and it is what I know works in most cases. There are in some cases in which, either because the disease is very advanced or or because a virus or bacteria is resistant to the treatments that are being given, the animal does not improve or is not cured with conventional medicine. But this does not mean that in the rest of the animals it is not working. Precisely in those cases that are exceptions to conventional medicine, homeopathy advocates grab hold of the idea to sell you a substance that they say will have some kind of effect on you, taking advantage, in this case, of your desperation when you see that your pet is not receiving a response from conventional medicine. And this seems to me like they are playing with your emotions and feelings when trying to cure your pet. And let's be clear, homeopathy kills. It is clear that homeopathic substances are harmless. That is to say, you are taking them and they will not have any adverse effects. But there are many people who stop giving their dog medicine to treat a potentially fatal illness and start giving them only homeopathic medicines, thus causing the illness to progress. Because logically, they are not giving them an effective remedy to cure their dog or themselves. Furthermore, both veterinarians and personal physicians have had to study for many years to understand exactly how the human body or the body of your dog or cat works and to know how to deal with the different diseases that can affect it. There are many times when homeopaths are not even doctors or veterinarians, but have simply entered the profession through a short course that costs a few thousand euros. And thanks to it, they have people's lives and dreams in their hands without having any type of specialized training for it. This happens because homeopathy is not really a Science, it is not regulated. And anyone can set up their homeopathic shop and have a lot of patience without anyone asking them what their real training is. Well, now I'm going to tell you how the anecdote ends about the dog that they started treating with homeopathy and that they did not know what it had, because the fact is that the dog had a kidney disease that was not being treated. When we started giving him the treatment, his owner, who had not yet realized that the mistake had been treating him only with homeopathy, ask me to please continue giving him the homeopathic medicine. And I told her, well, if you want us to give it to him, I will continue giving it to him because it is only water with sugar, but I will only do it on one condition, and that is that this treatment does not replace the kidney treatment and that in no case does it hinder your dog's recovery. After several days in hospital with the drugs that we had to give him for the kidney and also the homeopathic medicine, as I was saying, the animal improved a lot and now has a completely normal life, although his owner continues to give him homeopathic capsules, but without stopping the medications that I prescribe. I have no doubt that if we ask her, she will probably attribute all the benefits that her dog has had to homeopathy because we never stop taking it. Of course, I've had many more cases like this, but this is an example that can make you see that the only thing that made the dog better was the medicine that actually works, conventional medicine. And for this reason and for everything I've told you before, I am completely against homeopathy being called medicine and homeopathic substances being labeled as medications, and three, being used indiscriminately and as a substitute for conventional medicine. And that's it for today's video. If you liked it, give it a like. And if you're pro homeopathy, give it a thumbs up. But let me know in the comments what you think I'd like to know. Remember that you can subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, and you can share this video with everyone, with your aunt who takes homeopathy, with your aunt who doesn't believe in homeopathy, or with your grandfather who likes mints. I don't know, I don't care. And if you also want YouTube to notify you every time we upload new content, hit the bell so you don't miss anything. Thank you very much for following the Happy Pets and Families channel and I'll see you in the next video. And now let's move on to the question of the week. But since I don't have one, I'm going to entertain you by eating a burning match.

No, no, don't worry. I have one for you.

Oh, Melanie Hill asks us. Hello. I wanted to ask you. I have a dog that hurts when you open her back legs. She's adopted. She suffered. What do you recommend? Thank you for this little tip. Hello, Melanie. Well, my dear, what am I going to recommend? That you take him to the vet. The truth is that these questions come to me a lot. I'll never be able to tell you what's wrong with your dog because obviously I'm not examining him. I don't have him in front of me and I don't have all the necessary tests. Obviously all of this has to be seen at the vet's office. If you notice, I never establish any type of diagnosis online because I think it is irresponsible to ask for it or to give it. To tell you the truth, these types of questions frustrate me a lot. But if this helps you make a good decision and end up taking your pet to the vet, well, welcome. And to everyone else, if you have any questions about any of our videos or want to leave me a comment so that we can post the question of the week, all you have to do is write it in the comments. We will select some to put in this section. See you next week. I have a lot of fun answering comments. No, you never do it in your life.