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Placebo effect in pets
#1
Most of us are familiar with the placebo effect in medicine. When given medicine people will respond by getting better even when they were given a placebo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

Studies are being done to understand this effect in veterinary medicine. It is more complex because animals are given medicine by a care giver. The pets don't have the expectation of medication working, their care givers have expectations.
This is further complicated by the fact that the animal might have been recovering naturally, but can't tell us that.
Because the owner is giving medication(even if it is a placebo) and paying more attention this also might help the animal improve.

A real placebo effect happens when the owner gives the medication and perceives that the animal is improving even if it is not.
This is a problem in veterinary medicine. The animal can't tell us how bad things are or just how much pain they are in. If we as  human care givers believe that we are effectively treating pain we might actually see signs of improvement that are not real.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...bo/601489/

Particularly in pain treatment the placebo effect could be a very negative experience for our pets. I can take a placebo pill and my headache goes away because I think it will go away. The headache is still gone.
I can give a placebo pain killer to a pet and believe that the pet's pain has gone away. I feel better about it, but the pet is still in pain.

This effect is going to need to be considered by veterinarians when treating our pets. It is going to effect how they evaluate new treatments for various animals. Certainly it would be better to treat our pet's pain even if we are not sure they are in pain. If a veterinarian suggests pain killers we should take the suggestion seriously and we should follow through in giving the medication.
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Catherine

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#2
This is very interesting !

Such a thing could conceivably happen with an animal who is very bonded emotionally to its human. I'd never thought of that before.

With some minor ailments, all that is needed for healing is time, kindness, and a positive attitude....that applies to people and animals.

So it's possible that giving an animal a homeopathic remedy might give the illusion of the animal getting better as a result of the pills.
And I have also noticed that sometimes they work quite well.

But I do not think anyone should rely on that kind of medicine for treating pain. Pain is a whole different ball-game.
Even with herbal medicine, which I have worked with since the 1980s, I never found a 100% reliable pain treatment. Even though I used herbs for everything (for myself) I always took a painkiller tablet if I had pain.

Animals can mask pain sometimes. They can "soldier on", especially if they are getting positive feedback from their human whom they adore. Sometimes it can look like an improvement.

I totally agree with getting advice from the vet re: pain treatment, and using it, if signs of pain are present, or if in the vet's estimation, the animal may well be in pain (such as after surgery or on other occasions.)
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#3
Quote:I totally agree with getting advice from the vet re: pain treatment, and using it, if signs of pain are present, or if in the vet's estimation, the animal may well be in pain (such as after surgery or on other occasions.)
I think this is the whole point of the article. We can perceive the animal is better because of something we have done. We see a pain free pet because we believe the pet is pain free. That may not be the truth. It would be better to have a vet  assess the situation and take their advice. Also our pet might want to appear pain free because they sense that is what we want. Either way it would be better to do something to be sure our pet actually is pain free.

It isn't easy to evaluate the effects of medications. Evaluating the effects of veterinary medications is much more complicated.
Our relationship to our pets adds another layer of confusion to the issue.
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Catherine

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