HomeoPet in the United Kingdom:
The trials in the United Kingdom are being overseen by Professor Daniel Mills of Lincoln University. Initial Baseline results are now in the public domain and are available via the veterinary record. These form part of a full PHD research program and are broken into four seperate trials, each exploring a different aspect of homeopathic action.
Results for these trials are not yet in the public domain, but publication of the remaining three trials is pending.
The following is an abstract presented by Ms N.R. Cracknell, it deals with the follow-on study from Cracknell and Mill (2008), titled 'Comparison of two homeopathic treatments for fear of firework noises in dogs: Consitency of effect'.
Comparison of two homeopathic treatments for fear of firework noises in dogs: Consistency of effect
N.R. Cracknell, D.S. Mills
Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare group, University of Lincoln, Riseholme Park, Lincoln, LN2 2LG, United Kingdom;
A blinded follow-on study from Cracknell and Mills (2008) investigating the effect of two homeopathic treatments formulated for canine fear of firework noises was undertaken. This report examined the consistency of effect both between studies and within the current study of different formulations.
Dogs with a fear of firework noises were enrolled and randomly allocated one of two homeopathic preparations: Treatment A, which was previously evaluated against a placebo (n=37), or Treatment B, a different homeopathic formulation (n=36), which unknown to the authors had been registered as an improved formulation of A. Owners were instructed to administer treatment once daily for 4 weeks before and through the November fireworks period, and similarly before and through the New Year season. Owners were unaware that they were giving the same treatment on both occasions as they were briefed only that two formulations were being assessed.
There were no significant differences in the response to Treatment A in this study compared to the previous study, indicating that owner reports are consistent and not affected by knowledge of placebo involvement. Significantly more owners administering Treatment B reported some degree of improvement during each firework period (P≤ 0.029) and a significantly greater improvement (P<0.05) in 2 of the 15 individual behavioural signs assessed. The reported improvements that followed each treatment were similar across the two firework periods, but there was a consistently different pattern of behavioural improvements between the treatment groups. This might indicate that the two treatments have different effects, or result from biases between populations. A crossover study in a larger or different population of dogs is therefore warranted to investigate the uniqueness of the response pattern to homeopathy and its potential benefits for alleviating canine fear of firework noises.
Reference
Cracknell NR Mills DS (2008) Vet. J. 177: 80-88