New Horizons in Patient Compliance

Posted on | July 13, 2009 | No Comments

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Sheep Field Study

Energetix Sponsors Animal Research Project
New Horizons in Patient Compliance
Counting Sheep

by Erich Worster

Zen, a four year old Border Collie is helping to round up the subjects of an ongoing Energetix study. Using a dog to acquire a study group may seem unusual, but when your subjects are two month old lambs it really works.

Zen helps round up sheep

In April, Vickey Russell, owner of Blue Dog Academy volunteered to assist Energetix in a study to see if some of the Energetix homeopathic and botanical remedies could help fortify sheep to better resist certain parasites. In particular, a round worm named “Haemonchus Contortis” that is believed to be developing resistance to current drug therapies.

Every clinical study has to address the issue of patient compliance but sheep can be particularly difficult to keep on a program. Leaping out of stalls, running through fences and the desire to stay with the flock at all costs can make maintaining compliance hard work!

Vickey Russell Sorting Sheep

Thirty lambs, mostly Katahdin Dorper mixes, were born in May of this year. For the first three months they lived with their moms and grazed and nursed. Step one in the study was to split the sheep into two similar groups. This would provide a “study group” and a “control group”. The study group will receive homeopathics and botanicals via their water supply while the control group will not.

Seeking to eliminate as many variables as possible the lambs will live in the same pasture and share the same water source but the field is divided and the two groups will drink from different water troughs.

One of the habits of sheep is to stay together, the flock represents survival, and trying to divide the flock into two groups shows how resourceful a lamb can be when it wants to overcome a barrier.

Lambs

As of this writing the lambs have been successfully divided, after a few learning experiences for the would-be experimenters, and should start receiving their supplements in a few days. We will be checking the lambs weekly and continue to post their progress.

Patient compliance can be a real struggle but having a dog to help is not an option for most practices.