Unless I missed it, there is no mention of acupuncture, chiropractic treatments or herbal medicine on the BCVMA website.
Many of the supporters of alternate treatment veterinary methods are actually in the veterinary profession and are members of the BCVMA. It seems unlikely that the group will make any statements to the public. Alternative treatments are quite popular with many clients, so they’re big money makers for the veterinary profession. Where there’s a demand, somebody will supply it.
The only country that has banned alternative therapies appears to be Sweden. Vets can lose their licences there for using them.
I don’t believe that there are any regulations guaranteeing the effectiveness of alternative treatment and there are no quality controls on manufacturers that I know of.
It takes a courageous veterinarian to speak out. In Britain the courageous laboratory owner, Dr Morag Kerr, runs a website for her Veterinary Voodoo Society.
http://www.vetpath.co.uk/voodoo/
It is well worth a few hours’ study. Dr Kerr was one of the people who gave suggestions about retesting Riley, our little Persian who was falsely diagnosed as being positive for feline leukemia back about three years ago, so I have the greatest respect for her judgement.
I have only one personal experience with alternative practice. Alley Cat, a little SPCA fellow, was dying, probably of liver cancer. He just vomited most of his food. Regular veterinary medicine had nothing more to offer so we did seek advice from a veterinarian who specialises in alternative treatments. In no way do I blame the vet. Alley was just beyond any help. Alley was too sick to visit, so the herbs were prescribed to him, sight unseen. I guess that herbs are considered to be pretty harmless. We were told to stop his tapazole and we were given the following herbs.
1. the pill curing- “to release the stagnation in the stomach” (vet’s notes) (1 pellet 4X a day)
http://www.drshen.com/chineseherbproducts.html
2. nux vomica- “a homeopathic anti nausea” 1 pellet 4x a day (contains strychnine)
http://www.naturalstandard.com/index-abstract.asp?create-abstract=/monographs/herbssupplements/nuxvomica.asp
3. the ShouWu (?) – leonaurus, treats hyperthyroidism and supports the spleen, kidneys and the liver. 3 drops 3x a day. Leonaurus is kept in alcohol so one needs to evaporate the alcohol by putting the three drops into a teaspoon of boiling water and feeding it to the ailing cat.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:tCzE-YsoB6UJ:www.jackal.net.au/w01-2.html+leonaurus+herbs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=ca
Some of the Chinese herbal sales web sites make for an interesting read. There are herbs to cure every ailment under the sun. Whether they work or not is debatable.
I prefer to stick to the traditional scientifically-based approach.