World Changing Book - Do You Believe in Magic by Dr. Paul A Offit

This book is the package insert that should come with any alternative medicine treatment. 

A must read for any medical professional today. 

Don't misunderstand, the book discusses the potential and sometimes scientifically validated benefits of some alternative therapies. However, like any form of treatment there are always benefits AND risks. 

Even as the holistic veterinarian I work with knows, just because something is called "natural" doesn't make it safe. 

As this book describes, just because something was the way people did things for a long time doesn't mean it was the right way to do things. He cites statistics that less than 18% of Chinese rely on alternative therapies, and acupuncture is almost exclusively used by the rural poor. 

Any treatment should not be based on whether it is "natural" or whether it is ancient but on its own merits - what are its risks and does it work or not?

The book describes what big business alternative medicine is, what lobbyists they have to support them, and what tools they use to prey on the vulnerable - especially individuals with cancer and parents with sick or autistic children. He describes clear set of guidelines for when alternative medicine has crossed the line from something "probably not harmful" into true exploitation. 

He talks quite a bit about supplements specifically and especially how the 1994 supplement act has crippled the FDA's power to protect us. 

Since the FDA cannot require safety studies, cannot recall products, cannot require label changes, or require the company give warnings about product dangers, the FDA has *less* ability to protect us from supplements than they can protect us from unsafe foods. 

He describes the system that so often drives patients to alternative therapies. He suggests that one of the biggest draws of alternative practitioners is their ability to comfort patients and make them feel like they are getting individualized care in a medical system that feels ever more like an assembly line. 

We have to remember to be healers of people not just of diseases. 

He also talks about the very real power of the placebo effect and how we might harness that power to help people without exposing them to the potential risks of some alternative therapies. 

An absolutely compelling book and vital for anyone willing to know the whole story about alternative medicine. 

Complicated Contracts Of Dog Walkers Continued

After my last post, I was able to reach out to Pet Sitters International (PSI) with the guide Kim Fields, Chris Wooten, and I developed to help educate and protect pet sitters.

After reading my "Complicated Contracts of Dog Walkers" post, the PSI president Patti Morgan put me in touch with an expert on insuring pet sitters, Mr. David Pearsall of Business Insurers of the Carolinas. Mr. Pearsall has been working with PSI for a decade to protect pet sitters and pet owners.

He was able to give me some additional insights into these complicated contracts.

Animal Safety Pt. 3

Here is the next installment of the Animal Safety series. This document is adapted from the Pet Sitter Safety Handout I, Kim Fields, and Chris Wooten created. Learn more about what inspired this document in my blog The Complicated Contracts of Dog Walkers.

I have just learned I will be speaking at the Pet Sitters International conference in September in North Carolina on these topics.

Our last post (Animal Safety Pt. 2) discussed how to identify pets that are scared or agressive. In this installment we discuss how to safely handle scared or aggressive pets.

Animal Safety Pt. 2

This is the next installment in our animal safety series inspired by my mission to keep pet sitters safer on the job.

Animal Safety Part 1 talked about how to protect yourself from pet diseases. Below we will talk about how to identify scared or aggressive pets.

Animal Safety Pt. 1

I am proud to finally present Introductory Animal Safety.

This document is a labor of love, created over the past 8 months originally as a resource to help keep pet sitters safe.

You may remember my post in February, The Complicated Contracts of Dog Walkers, where I said I wanted to create training resources for new pet sitters to help them stay safe on the job.

Two excellent pet sitters, Chris Wooten of One of a Kind K9 and Kim Fields at Everything and the Dog generously gave of their time to make sure this document would be helpful to new pet sitters in their field.

I would also like to thank Lili Chin, Dr. Karen Overall, and Elsevier Publishing for making the animal behavior images in the document available for non-profit use.

Since I could not find any similar documents available through the two major pet sitting organizations I will also be sending this handout along to them in the hopes they can use it for their members.

Since this safety information is helpful for all pet lovers I will present it here too. It will be split into at least 3 posts. This first section focuses on how to avoid catching animal diseases:

The Complex Contracts of Dog Walkers

Have you ever hired a dog walker or a pet sitter? I interviewed dog walkers for Riley this week and it was enlightening experience. Who knew it could be so complicated? 


Did you know that most pet sitting contracts say that if something bad happens to your pet sitter while they are watching your pet, you are responsible for all of the medical bills?

Whoa!

Can you imagine just how costly pet bites, scratches, and diseases can be?

What if you pet bit your pet sitter's hand? It could damage nerves in their hand and cripple them for life. If not properly treated by a doctor, cat bites can become deep abscesses that spread infection throughout the body damaging internal organs. Did you know that your cat might carry Cat Scratch Fever? In some people, this infection can be deadly. Parasites can be spread by pets too; roundworms are transmitted through pet's poop and causes blindness in rare cases. 

I was not prepared to pay millions of dollars in medical bills. Are you?

Even if these situations are rare, that a contract felt like a gamble. Unfortunately, every dog walking company I interviewed had this clause in their contract. 

I had to ask myself, if that much is on the line, how does anybody hire a dog walker? Here were a couple of questions I asked the companies and their responses: