Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (48 page)

The American Veterinary Medical Association has taken an interest in acupuncture and has encouraged scientific documentation of its results. According to Allen Schoen, DVM, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, one of the pioneers in the field of holistic medicine and the one who introduced acupuncture to the well-known Animal Medical Center of New York City, the kinds of conditions that acupuncture can best help include:

• Musculoskeletal problems, such as arthritis, slipped disk, and hip dysplasia (malformed and dislocated hip joint)
  
• Skin diseases and allergic dermatitis
  
• Chronic gastrointestinal diseases, such as chronic diarrhea or vomiting, equine colic, and prolapsed rectum
  
• A variety of other problems such as chronic pain syndrome, breeding prob lems, respiratory arrest, and coma
  

Dr. Schoen notes that acupuncture, like other alternative healing methods, may take time and repetition to produce results. He asks new clients to commit themselves to at least eight treatments in chronic cases. “If someone has six treatments without seeing any results, and then stops, it doesn’t mean that acupuncture doesn’t work. It can take a while to stimulate the body to heal itself,” he emphasizes. I have found the same thing in working with homeopathy—that it takes more time to observe the healing process happening than we expect from our experience with suppressive drugs.

Like any system of medicine, however, acupuncture has its “miracles.” Sheldon Altman, DVM of Burbank, California, an active teacher, writer, and practitioner of veterinary acupuncture, tells of a Doberman suffering from panosteitis (a painful bone disease). With only one treatment, he walked out pain-free after six months of limping. The pain did not return. Don’t we all wish such results for our own animals?

One of the most wonderful things about a holistic system like this is how apparently hopeless cases can be so helped. Dr. Schoen recalls the case of a golden retriever with a paralyzed esophagus who had vomited about 16 times a day for the previous year and a half. All conventional therapies had failed, and the owners had to use special feeding techniques to keep the food down. After four acupuncture treatments, her vomiting finally ceased. Treatments were tapered off and she has remained well since.

As you might guess, such an approach can also be used to
prevent
disease, much like getting a “tune-up” for the body. In fact, the ancient Chinese, who developed acupuncture over thousands of years of practice and observation, emphasized prevention above all else. They resorted to acupuncture or herbs only when the preferred methods (meditation, exercise, massage) were insufficient. Most contemporary acupuncturists emphasize a total approach to health and include advice on the use of food, herbs, and lifestyle recommendations, as well.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, like homeopathy, is a complete system that stands on its own. For that reason, it is best not to combine it with homeopathy, because, in my experience, the two can interfere with each other. Some practitioners use it along with naturopathic and manipulative therapies, and an experienced practitioner can best determine the suitability of this.

HOMEOPATHY

We now come to my own particular love, the science of homeopathy. In my search for effective holistic therapies, I started out using
nutrition and herbs. I still do, along with naturopathic methods. But, by themselves, they didn’t always address every circumstance. Excellent as the nutritional approach is, there are instances when the animal simply will not eat or will reject all but the most specific foods, a limiting factor. Also, some severe illnesses, like bacterial or viral infections, simply progress too fast for nutrition to make a difference. One wants a treatment method that will act decisively in these situations, restoring appetite, enhancing resistance against the infection, yet work with the body’s healing process.

So I kept my eyes and ears open for a more effective system. I kept hearing praise for homeopathy. Finally, I decided to examine it for myself. That decision was a turning point that expanded my horizons to embrace a medical approach of unique elegance, order, and effectiveness.

Homeopathy is practiced on both people and animals in most of the world. Because it is so powerfully effective, it deserves far more attention than it presently receives in the U.S. The contributions of homeopathy to our general understanding of health and disease have been enormous. Because of its many virtues, I hope it will become a prominent medical art of the future.

To further this goal, in 1992 I began a post-graduate course for veterinarians, and it has continued every year since. In 1995, some of us who were practicing veterinary homeopathy started a professional organization, the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, which accredits training programs, holds an annual conference, publishes a journal, and certifies veterinarians as qualified to practice. As of 2004, over 400 veterinarians have participated in this training and incorporated homeopathy in their practices.

The real beauty of the homeopathic system lies in the simplicity of its basic principles, combined with richly researched detail to guide the practitioner in choosing the most suitable remedy.
The Science of Homeopathy
, by George Vithoulkas, is an important modern discussion of the principles involved and is invaluable for a person interested in
any
form of holistic therapy.

Homeopathy was founded on one basic unifying principle, “Like is cured by like” (
Similia
similibus curentur
), known as the Law of Similars and recognized by Hippocrates and many others. This principle has remained the foundation of homeopathy ever since the early 1800s when the German physician Samuel Hahnemann originated the system.

What does this phrase “like is cured by like” mean? Remember that earlier in this chapter we talked about the allopathic method of countering symptoms? Homeopathy is just the opposite in its approach. Medicines are used that stimulate similar symptoms in the body. “Whoa,” you may think, “this doesn’t make any sense. My cat is already sick; he doesn’t need more of this.” Allow me to explain.

Dr. Hahnemann noted that some herbs that were really, really helpful in curing some diseases would produce similar but milder
symptoms of the illness if given to a healthy person. In other words, it is one thing to treat a sick person, but what does this herb really do in the body? He tested this theory by using herbs in healthy people to see what changes would occur. What he found is that an herb (or other substance—we will get to that) that could produce mild but similar symptoms to the disease condition being treated
acted to stimulate the body’s healing mechanism
. He had actually found a way to enhance recovery from disease by using the body’s own natural processes.

How does it act? Let me give you an example. Before I go into this I want to make clear that
very small doses
of homeopathic medicines are used. One of the fortuitous discoveries that Dr. Hahnemann made was that it took quite tiny amounts of this similar medicine to do the trick. Keep this in mind when we look at my example.

Let’s say that you have an allergy—certain foods will set off a painful skin eruption of raised red welts, bumps that itch and sting. These bumps appear all over your body, along with a bad headache and feeling sleepy and sluggish. The only thing that gives relief (short of powerful painkillers) is to put a cold cloth over the worst places. The headache is slightly better from pressing on the head with the hands. What a terrible condition to have!

To treat this homeopathically we can use a
different
substance (it is important that it be different than the food that set it off) that will result in symptoms like this. Is there such a homeopathic medicine? Yes, made from honeybee venom. It was discovered by carefully studying the effects of this venom that it can result (in people stung, for example) in a skin eruption just like this—raised welts like nettle rash, relieved only by cold applications. Not only that, but some people will get a headache that is relieved by pressure and also feel sleepy and out of sorts. A good match, wouldn’t you say?

To treat this, the person will be given a tiny dose of bee venom by mouth. How small? Much smaller than a drop—perhaps a millionth of a drop. This is when the miracle occurs. No sooner than the homeopathic pills are put in their mouth than symptoms start to clear up, often in just a few minutes. It is like a miracle—indeed, it is one when you are the one suffering.

So this is the basic principle: the medicine used is known to cause similar symptoms to what the patient has, and when given in very small doses, it will trigger a reaction that allows the body to heal itself.

A good practitioner can read a whole set of signals flashed by a disease. Rather than prescribing one medication for a headache, another for an upset stomach, and a third for depression, the homeopathic doctor will offer a
single
remedy for the whole set of symptoms that are present in the patient. She will choose the one medication that would produce all three symptoms if given repeatedly to a healthy person.

The specially prepared remedies used in homeopathy contain minute doses of botanicals,
minerals, or animal products, such as bee venom and cuttlefish ink. These substances are diluted and repeatedly agitated many times, so that only minuscule amounts actually remain. Sometimes dilution is so extreme that it goes far beyond the point where the substance could act on a molecular level. While there is much debate about how such diluted materials can work, many homeopaths (myself included) believe what Dr. Hahnemann originally said about it—that the specially prepared medicine carries a healing energy derived from the original material, what he referred to as “potency.”

HOW HOMEOPATHIC MEDICATIONS ARE PREPARED

Most homeopathic preparations can be purchased in a specific strength. For example, if treatment for nausea requires
Ipecac
3×, you simply purchase the medicine at that strength.

The number following the name of the remedy indicates how many times the original substance has been diluted.

For example, 1× indicates that one drop of medication has been added to nine drops of alcohol and subjected to energetic shaking. The medication is now at 1/10 of its original concentration. If you add one drop of this 1× mixture to nine drops of alcohol, the solution would be labeled 2×, at 1/100th of its original strength.

Thus: 1× = 1/10 concentration; 2× = 1/100; 3× = 1/1,000 and so on. These same numerical indications of remedy potency also apply to powders, which are diluted with powdered milk sugar.

The same process applies to the making of the “C” preparations. Most of the prescriptions I suggest in this book use medicines as “30C,” as in
Belladonna
30C. Making this series of homeopathic remedies differs only in that each dilution is 1/100 instead of 1/10 (as above). Thus a 30C potency has been diluted 1/100 thirty times.

In rare instances, the “Quick Reference” section directs you to dilute certain medications on your own. For example, you may be asked to dilute
Echinacea
by adding ten drops of the tincture to one cup of water. Simply follow the directions in the “Quick Reference” section as you would a recipe.

I can testify from my own experience of more than 25 years of use that homeopathic remedies do work—and very, very well. When I am able to recognize the unique
symptom picture—taking into account the mental, emotional, and physical levels—and match it to the right remedy, I can be certain the patient will respond.

The essential requirement is a very close similarity between the remedy and the pattern of the disease. Think of it like this: the remedy has the ability to
stimulate
the healing process of the patient because its pattern is so similar to the illness itself that the body cannot tell it apart. As a result, the patient’s life energy will “try harder” than before to restore the body to normal healthy balance. It does this through all the normal mechanisms of healing—fever, inflammation, discharge (sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, drainage from a wound), production of interferon, production of antibodies, etc. And because it is given in such dilute form, it does not cause unwanted physical side effects. So we have the advantage of a treatment method that stimulates and accelerates natural healing forces without causing side effects. You can see why I was excited to learn about homeopathy!

To identify what conditions a remedy can cure, it is first tested by a group of human volunteers who take the substance in a diluted form for several days or weeks. Each day they note their changes—mental, emotional, and physical—in a diary. Combining this detailed information with that of the cases it has cured and the poisonings it has accidentally caused, homeopaths develop a characteristic “symptom picture” of each substance, known as proving. Eventually, it is added to a
Materia Medica
, a reference that catalogs the effects of hundreds of medicines. The chief reference work I use for this purpose is a ten-volume set of books called
Hering’s Guiding Symptoms of our Materia
Medica
that contains information on hundreds of homeopathic medicines.

S
OME
E
XAMPLE
C
ASES

Let me tell you about a few animal cases that demonstrate homeopathic treatment.

When I was first learning homeopathy, I encountered Misty, a cat suffering with septicemia, a rare, post-surgical reaction following a routine spay. It involves bacterial spread in the bloodstream and a general breakdown of the blood-clotting mechanism. She was in pitiable condition, with a high fever and vomiting. Dark blood leaked from her back, stomach, legs, feet, mouth, and vagina. I also detected bleeding under the skin (dark blue swellings under the eyelids and ears). Though antibiotics might help, I was not sure they would act quickly enough in this crisis situation—it often does not. She seemed to get worse even while I was examining her!