ASK THE VET: 'Natural' treatments don't mean 'better'
Mr. Green came in with Itchy, a dog who had developed a large red rash and was licking and chewing at it constantly.
The rash was caused by a superficial skin infection that normally disappears in a day or two when the dog is given antibiotics.
When I suggested this course of action to Mr. Green, however, he said he would much rather use a “natural” treatment instead of antibiotics. He had some tea tree oil at home and was going to treat the hot spot with that instead.
Three weeks later, Itchy was back with a much larger area covered with the rash and blistered skin.
He reluctantly agreed to try antibiotics, and in three days the rash was nearly gone. (It did take a few weeks, however, for the skin to recover completely from the chemical burns caused by the tea tree oil.)
Unfortunately, Itchy had suffered from the consequences of a fairly common attitude that anything dubbed natural is somehow far safer and more effective than any medication produced by an evil pharmaceutical industry that is only out to steal our money and make us sick with their drugs.
In the case of tea tree oil, it kills bacteria the same way that dousing a rose bush with gasoline and lighting it on fire kills aphids: The fire is technically natural, and the aphids are most assuredly dead after the treatment, but it is difficult to say that procedure is in the best interest of the rose bush.
This is not to say that all natural treatments are harmful or ineffective. The major issue with most natural products is that there is little to no scientific understanding of what they’re doing physically, and no regulation that requires them to be proven safe or effective.
The actual dosage of the active ingredients in a package can vary, so there is no way to tell how much you may actually be giving to your pet. Sometimes you get lucky and get the effect you were hoping for, but it can be a roll of the dice as to whether you get effective treatment, no treatment or toxicity.
Of course even well-researched and carefully controlled drugs can have negative effects, but those are usually well-documented, so when they happen at least we know where the problem is coming from.
It is a myth that anything deemed natural will be free from harmful side effects; it is more true that the side effects are just not well-described.
There are many ways to approach treatment to most conditions, and choosing natural treatment doesn‘t mean it won’t work or will cause harm, but remember that the drugs available today have passed a course of rigorous testing that has shown them to be safe, effective and predictable.
Don’t buy into the hype that pharmaceutical companies are just out to kill us all.
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Anne Pierce is a Colorado Springs veterinarian and co-owner of High Plains
Veterinary Hospital, a Colorado Springs small-animal clinic. Reach her at
petdocs@highplainsvet.com.
