Paws to Heal

I realise as I progress through my most prescribed medicines that many cases use a number of remedies over the course of healing.

In order to continue to present portraits of specific medicines from personal experience, it becomes necessary to note instances where the medicine has helped to open or advance a case whether or not it results in complete remission or cure.

There are many cases in which I have used ignatia, St Ignatius Bean.

Many of these occasions are as a result of the symptoms being associated with loss, grief or separation from a significant individual. This theme ties ignatia closely to its chronic, nat mur with the intense relationship issues of the natrums.

I have used ignatia as an acute medicine and also as a mainstay to therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder, such as feet chewing in the ‘fluffy whites’.

It is also an important seizure and spasm medicine and has advanced the treatment of epileptic cases considerably. When I think of ignatia I think of ‘spasm’, rarely ‘hysteria’ for which it is associated by early homeopaths and perhaps there are still cases in humans where individuals express hysteria as a sign. Hysteria following the same word root as hysterectomy or vice versa is a female definition and ignatia is largely a female medicine. I find this to be less the case in animals and both genders are equally represented. I find that animals do not express the extreme of emotion unless they have physical brain inflammation and require different medicines like belladonna although hysteria can also be interpreted as an epileptic seizure. ‘Spasm’ has therefore become a more common keynote in my practice with regard to ignatia. In this instance it needs to be distinguished from things like cimicifuga and cuprum.

Containing the alkaloid, strychnine like its associated medicine, nux vom, ignatia is understandably erratic and reactive. These plants themes tie in nicely with the sensitivity expressed in the nervous symptoms and mentals of ignatia. Sometimes it comes down to a choice of animal, mineral or plant remedy. For example, a case I had of a small dog licking herself to granuloma formation and for the rubric ‘occupation ameliorates’, we have the choice of all three in sepia, ignatia and silica with ignatia and silica appearing again in ‘monomania’. Ignatia is often confused with pulsatilla as well since many patient look alike in these medicines and they are both worse for heat. Ignatia is more tubercular and pulsatilla is sycotic which can help to differentiate.

It can assist the choice of medicine to look at what characteristics are most dominant in the behaviour or nature of the patient. I use the simplified keynotes of jealousy/aggression for animal, routine and restraint (autonomy and confidence) for mineral and sensitivity for plants. Of course, we know that all of these qualities are interchangeable but the feel of the case can help to distinguish the most appropriate medicine.

Ignatia cured this dogs behavioural lick granuloma.

A case I especially recall because it remained hidden for years, is one of a chronic skin case that seemed to respond partially to a few medicines but nothing holding or advancing the case. Finally, the owner said to me one day that this dog had never been the same since the older dog died and instantly we had the simillimum in ignatia. A single high potency dose of ignatia cured the chronic skin disease. This experience taught me to ask questions of all cases regarding changes like loss in the history but the other difficulty in veterinary medicine is often the lack of this kind of information or the lack of opportunity to follow cases over lengthy timeframes. Like some of my colleagues I have started using ignatia in cases with uncertain backgrounds of animals from shelters or rehoming, in the chance that these events may be significant to the symptomatology.

In this way, ignatia has also become another avenue for ‘opening a case’ in much the same way as thuja for suspected vaccine involvement and sulphur for cortisone usage.

One of the difficulties I encounter most frequently is the choice of potency.

With ignatia, I tend to use an M for known grief aeitiology and often Lm for skin cases or feet chewing. I also use Lm for post ictal seizure recovery in cases that are not cured and 200 as an acute for laryngeal spasm, cough and muscle spams.

In cases of known grief aeitiology, ignatia has worked very well alone to correct the imbalance in the early mental symptoms of a case including inappetance and has probably averted further pathology. The other interesting parallel I discovered recently is that ignatia is a tubercular medicine and as many of my cases skirt around a range of tubercular remedies without fully curing, I am reminded of the potential for miasmatic therapy. I have started employing tuberculinum in these intractable cases and am eagerly awaiting results.

Maybe I am hankering for days of yore in more ways than one since I believe we may have been happier, better vets when we were ‘Jack of all trades’ in our profession. Whilst this brought inevitable challenges to our skill and at times we had insufficient experience in certain areas, it seems that the specialisations that are popping up everywhere can have a downside, namely lack of business in a world that finds many of the services unaffordable. It is increasingly concerning that new vet graduates may not find employment because there are too many of them for the market. The cost of training to become a veterinary professional are very high and it is now estimated that a female vet graduate will take 37 years to pay the debt incurred. You need a strong determination to undertake this prospect.

The lure of specialisation is strong in certain areas and whilst we all want to be the best we can be, at the end of the day there needs to be enough work for us all. Fortunately animals are not being hit by cars so much these days owing to reformed dog and cat local laws and regulations so arguably there is less call to orthopaedic surgery for trauma for example. Most veterinary orthopods these days spend their time perfecting or reinventing cruciate surgeries, hip replacements and deformities brought about by poor management and breeding which is in itself is an indictment. If we bred and fed these animals better then these surgeries would also probably be less common. In fact, recent research and current understanding is that desexing dogs contributes to bone growth disorders, cruciate ligament rupture and bone cancer rates.

I have a personal conflict that rages in me everyday about how to fix the world without fully acknowledging that all of us are doing the best we can.

Some of us are aware of the bigger picture whilst others are valiantly providing excellent services in the hope that their livelihood and expertise will be sustainable in a world gone mad.

A surgical specialist in my city is offering preventative, low invasive endoscopic surgery (gastropexy) in healthy dogs considered to be at risk of gastric dilation volvulus (GDV). This is because the emergency centre sees cases of fatality when owners cannot afford life saving emergency surgery. I was surprised that my first reaction to this news was one of anger and I have been trying to work out why I may have this emotive response. Then I remembered that it is no use getting angry with anyone or anything because we are all under the influence of circumstance doing the best we can with what we know and the skills we have. This vet is a very good person and a highly trained professional offering a valuable service to owners of deep chested dog breeds.

It is tragic that many of these dogs die in distress from gorging themselves on unnatural cooked cereal based commercial diets and twisting their stomachs and this vet is doing what he can with his skill to prevent this from happening in predisposed dogs.

Whilst it still remains a bit of a mystery as to why this occurs in each case, I happen to know that we can reduce the incidence of this condition in the vast majority of cases by simply advising that owners feed a raw meaty bones whole food natural diet to their dogs on an ongoing basis and stop feeding kibble altogether.

I have since been trying to find out why I struggle so much with accepting situations like this that others don’t think much about and I realise that it started when I woke up.

I remember reading Yogananda Paramahansa’s Autobiography of a Yogi many years ago and whilst it was undoubtedly the most exciting book I have ever read, also made me angry. To some extent I have been intermittently angry ever since. I am not angry with anyone or anything but ignorance itself. I realized that we had largely been duped for centuries by our refusal to pool our common wisdom as humanity. This book reminded me of some of what we all know and need to regain. We could better utilize our abilities, our innate wisdom, logic and knowledge without criticising each other or doubting ourselves. I find it hard to accept that there is a heavy veil of ignorance under which all of us exist and those who are awake are striving very hard to lift from the world. My anger arose from the failure to pool our combined common sense and resources to the greater common good.

Human progress is not all about the newest, latest and greatest inventions, discoveries or techniques but by best combining what we already know with what needs to be changed; ourselves.

We need to create a sustainable, peaceful world in which we are all content to live. I try every day to attain my own inner peace largely through my practice of meditation and some days are more successful than others.

 Do You Want To Change Yourself?

Do you want to change the world?
Then change yourself first.
Do you want to change yourself?
If so, remain completely silent
Inside the silence-sea.

Try not to change the world. You will fail. Try to love the world. Lo, the world is changed. Changed forever.

Sri Chinmoy

We relinquish
Anger
To establish peace.

Sri Chinmoy

Sodium Chloride AKA Salt.

Salt has been a valuable commodity on Earth for many hundreds of years. It is an essential mineral for maintenance of fluid balance and physiological function in most organisms on Earth. We humans have depended upon it for food preservation and our livelihood, even to modern times. Once upon a time it was even used as currency, hence ‘salary’ from Latin,‘sale’. Romans were paid in salt stamped into coinage.

I always like the interesting parallels homeopathy brings to my understanding of the world. Homeopathy is a foundation practice of Holistic Veterinary Medicine. As a system of medical practice that has the power to take us well into the future, it is affirming to find that homeopathy has also been the truth of our past.

In the book of Genesis, for example, when Lot and his wife were warned to escape the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were also warned to not look back. Not looking back is having no regrets, not succumbing to grief. Lot’s wife, as we all know, was turned to a pillar of salt as she looked back. There are many interpretations of this action and perhaps I choose to accept that the salt represents the grief of leaving things behind, ‘silent grief’, as the homeopathic proving of nat mur gives us. Natrum is about relationships and attachment.

I used to get confused about the neediness that natrum exhibits when it is known that nat mur individuals are closed and function very well independently until I understood that sodium cannot exist in nature without being bound to a cation. The various cations and salts, principally chloride(muriaticum), carbonate, phosphate, sulphate give rise to the variations we see in the natrum medicines.

I prove nat mur myself when I swim in the ocean for longer than half an hour. The lining of my mouth becomes very dry and then coats my palate with the signature ‘egg white’ discharge or ‘fish slime’ of nat mur. The ‘egg white’ also pours from my nose afterwards for a while.

In my animal patients, following a case example from Ed de Beukelaer, I attempted to cure an infertile Labrador Retriever bitch with a history of repeated failed matings and foetal resorption with nat mur. Ed’s case was that of a dairy cow with a similar history but the main observation in both cases was ‘sadness’ and a dull, bristly, lacklustre coat/hair. The other consideration in my dog was that she would have repeated bouts of inexplicable gastritis and vomit ‘coffee grounds’. This helped me to differentiate from sepia that vomits blood and has the hormonal difficulties described above. I have to say that when the owners mentioned that this dog’s mother would always chew her feet after whelping and never at other times I envisaged an ignatia causation in the family history. I have recently been discovering some epigenetic correlations like this in homeopathic prescribing. This Labrador regained a vibrant shiny and dark coat and full health with no further vomiting but the owners stopped trying to breed with her after many failed attempts, the last being after a few months of nat mur and before we could try other medicines that may have built upon this initial improvement.

I have used nat mur to help save a ruptured eye in a horse, to treat kidney failure in cats, to treat cat ‘flu’, and in many cases either constitutionally or with it’s association of being chronic of ignatia.

The major keynote for prescribing in my animal patients is their lack of desire for company, preferring only one friend usually the main caregiver but is generally and obviously aloof. I often don’t see the desire for any company in these animals but some of them stay near one person especially. They take themselves off and are aggravated by attention. Many cats are like this and given that many modern cats are also dry food addicts (salt), nat mur is a common prescription in this species especially with their preponderance for chronic renal failure which, in turn, is likely to be a result of dry food dependency.

As a hot, thirsty medicine it is distinguished from apis which is a hot, thirstless medicine in cases of fluid imbalance or oedema and it is behaviourally different as well if we are looking for a closer simillimum in cases of effusions and oedema. Apis are more manic or busy/territorial, in general.

I think most of the nat mur dogs I have seen have been in a nat mur state rather than them having a true nat mur constitution. I recently saw an overweight golden retriever that was sluggish and not responding well to calc carb that was described by the owner as ‘having the sads’. As it transpired, this dog did not respond as well as predicted to nat mur but subsequently developed pancreatic and liver/bile duct symptoms with bright yellow diarrhoea that turned out to be nat sulph. This was a nice reminder of looking in the natrum family if nat mur doesn’t give the desired response. Nat mur are generally wiry or lean and this dog did not drink as much as you may expect of a nat mur.

The cases in which I have used nat mur successfully bear out the importance of achieving the totality of symptoms. The simillimum is the medicine that matches as many of the essential rubrics as possible and takes an animal to cure.

As homeopaths in a modern world, perhaps we should also remember the sage advice of Sri Chinmoy

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If we can take criticism
With a grain of salt,
Then we can run extremely fast
Towards our Destination.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 28,

This is a common homeopathic prescription in veterinary practice as it covers most of the musculoskeletal injuries and growth problems especially in young animals. Being a combination of calc and phos it also covers a range of personality types in small animals. It has the some of the openness and friendliness of phos but is more closed and fearful than a full phosphorous type. Constitutionally we are looking therefore, for an animal that exhibits both the fears and insecurities of Calc combined with the slighter build, sensitivity and energy of Phos.

I have used this medicine almost exclusively and predominately for growth problems in dog breeds predisposed to osteochondritis or dysplasia, delayed dentition and retarded bone healing.

I will also use this a lot as an intercurrent medicine in most cases that I suspect as a failure of proper skeletal or dental development. I find myself wondering if it would be strong enough even to unravel the genetic template of the brachycephalic breeds and give them some relief from dental malocclusions and nasal stenosis if used in correct potency. The calcs are good developmental medicines.

Perhaps my most ‘famous’ case of calcphos is one of a six month old black boisterous and mischievous Labrador that had been diagnosed as having a rare and bizarre cardiac pre-excitation condition necessitating the prescription of lifelong medication and carrying a guarded prognosis. Following case taking in this animal I was struck by the concurrent presenting signs that his episodes of cardiac irregularity were always preceded by a gut attack of pain and inappetance that the referring veterinarian could not explain. Being one to get at the nub of things I wanted a pathogenesis to explain the link and wondered what, in puppies, attacks both the gut and the heart and the answer is parvovirus amongst other things. Using a vaccinosis starting point with Thuja and following with calcphos as a restorative and constitutional medicine, this dog grew into perfect health and sired litters of puppies. You could rightfully point out that thuja cured this dog and I also believe it did but I think calcphos took him through to perfect health and vitality over many months with no recurrence of clinical signs. I felt initially that the gut signs in this case could be covered by phos and the cardiac nerve conduction issues have a calcium component and these further informed my choice in this case. Interestingly also is the link between this dog and his first litter of pups, half of whom have now been prescribed calcphos for suspected dysplasia and growth problems. The dam was treated for serious mastitis during the whelping and neonatal period, which may have precipitated these pups ensuing growth problems.

These epigenetic factors, once considered exclusively dietary in cases of ‘inherited’ dysplasia and OCD must have a calcphos component any way you look at it. The progeny seem to be responding well to date to calcphos. Given that it is highly likely that osteopchondritis dessicans (OCD) is a result of poor diets and lack of good quality raw diets with optimal Ca:P ratio, fed over generations, calcphos is also validated.

Cases of acute arthritis in calcphos responsive young dogs like this may also benefit from tuberculinum intercurrently. I am still waiting for results of these programs before I can speak authoritatively about this approach

I have seen calcphos heal a pathological bone fracture in an old dog with cancer and employ it routinely in conjunction with symphytum for bone fractures of any description.

Miasmatically as a tubercular medicine it reinforces the concept of a growing pains medicine under the ‘teenager’ label it often attracts in human medicine.

I have used it for assisting dentition in under developed jaws in Staffies and Rotties and if the malocclusion is not too extreme it works well to effect an alignment. Combined with Bowen this is a good program. The tubercular component comes from the phos looking for attention and affection elsewhere, wandering and not tolerating confinement or enclosures.

Calc phos is a first choice in young fast growing animals that are experiencing setbacks or joint problems. Calcium phosphate is the framework of bones and the source of the medicine.

I don’t see a lot of Arsenicum constitutions or maybe I do but I miss them.

My colleagues describe the fearful intense patient that clings to the owner and will bite if you come near because they are so frightened or anxious. Chihuahuas?

Mostly Arsenicum is used in my practice of Holistic Animal Medicine as an end of life palliative. It has taken many animals to a peaceful and natural death when their time has come and it is an invaluable adjunct in this arena. It is also one of the coldest medicines in our repertory, which may assist in prescribing. The coldness of extremities could look like secale and if you were in a region that had below freezing temperatures, arsenicum could be a good medicine to have on hand. Vedic seers of the hoary past, in the Himalayas used to take arsenic to keep warm in caves on freezing nights.

Other common applications are as a first aid for acute gastroenteritis medicine, although animals rarely get ‘food poisoning’.

Arsenicum trioxide (ars alb) is also used in material doses as a treatment for promyelocytic leukaemia in people which is a derivative of homeopathic lore, “like cures like”, since the compound causes this disease. It was used historically as a sheep dip for ectoparasites and as an intravenous injection to kill heartworm in dogs. The toxicological picture is therefore very well known after centuries of use and abuse.

I have taken Ars alb in homeopathic doses myself on a few occasions but the incident that springs to mind most and demonstrates a keynote of arsenicum is a bizarre and acute episode of extreme photophobia I had recently………….after midnight!! There are numerous photophobia medicines but this experience was as though I had a bright light shining in my eyes while they were closed in a dark room after midnight. Eye, pain burning, night. A single dose of Arsalb200 had immediate and hours duration of effect until I needed a top up around 4am.

The pathogenesis of this disease initially concerned me as much as the watering and pain until I realized it was probably from swimming in the sea earlier that day as it was closely reminiscent of this sensation, albeit more painful. The thing I remember is how clearly this experience demonstrated the ‘after midnight’ keynote of Arsenicum that I so often remind my patients to use as a guide to using it.

I have come to realise, with homeopathic medicines, that the little personal insights we have into the essence of the medicines can often be the main prescribing indication despite a paucity of other parallels in the clinical picture. More and more often in this modern world, the clinical pictures of these medicines that have been developed over centuries are becoming more clouded by obstacles and interferences brought into the mix by our modern environment and lifestyles. It is only the strong keynotes at times that shine through this cloud. An increasing number of my canine patients these days demonstrate anxiety but I don’t usually give them arsenicum. I am now considering what it may take for me to see that arsenicum may be helpful to more of my patients since anxiety is becoming an increasingly difficult disease to cure.

Animal pictures can be even more difficult to see because they don’t often give us enough information apart from the physical. With arsenicum that could be dry flaky skin, acute gastroenteritis, malignancies, restlessness and anxiety especially after midnight. They are generally chilly, thirsty patients. Arsenicum is associated with short bursts of exceptional physical ability and we can be reminded of the racehorse in this picture. It is an excellent pick me up for added energy and endurance. There is  controversy over the death of PharLap and the involvement of material doses of arsenic as it was used as a racehorse tonic in the early 1900’s.

I am not confident that I could pick a young arsenicum. The older ones are a little easier because I think that arsenicum is also a feature of aging and losing control of oneself and ones environment. The picture is one of the ensuing attempt to keep a close, controlled world as they get more routinised and fastidious as the necessity of losing control or dying, demands.

I have an enormous debt of gratitude to the provers of arsenicum for providing me with such an invaluable medicine for supporting animals to a natural death with Holistic Animal Medicine.

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At the end of our life’s journey
God wishes us all
To come back Home safely.

Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, Part 14

When we think of snakes we often get a bad idea about the types of animals and conditions that may respond to or need a snake medicine.

My experience with the small animals I have treated with lachesis are a little surprising at first glance as they are not the classic aggressive or savage animals that are so often associated with this medicine. They do, however, all share some similarity in their demeanour that I will endeavour to impart.

Lachesis belongs to the Crotalidae, a snake family that includes the pit-vipers, rattlesnakes, lanceheads, moccasins and copperheads, which are the vipers of the New World, the Americas. In Classical Mythology, Lachesis is the Fate who determines the length of the thread of life.

Many animals that have responded to lachesis in my practice have been quite nice and have had a power about them that has not resorted to savagery or attack. In fact, if you think about the amount of energy a snake requires to manufacture venom, it is unlikely that they would want to waste it unless necessary for survival.

Urine spraying in cats can be an act of aggression and the first and most memorable case of the effectiveness of lachesis was a case of a young male Birman cat that I was asked to see because a veterinary surgeon wanted to amputate his pinna to prevent a mast cell cancer from spreading or growing.

This handsome cat sat high on furniture and looked at you in a calculating and imperious but non threatening manner. He was very secure in himself and knew how to manipulate his owners. They even said to me that they wouldn’t be surprised if he got cancer just to get more attention. Contrary to what we may have developed as a picture of lachesis, this cat was big but not enormous, nor black nor aggressive but his power was evident. His animal nature was expressed by urine spraying in front of the owners to get his own way in a defiant and desperate gesture as he was confined to the house. Lachesis is tubercular and will not stand confinement. Urine spraying in desexed cats is also a sexual outlet.

Cancer has themes of rebellion against confinement or restraint as have the snake medicines. It is also increasingly apparent that immune mediated diseases respond to snake medicines and I use lachesis quite often for cancers like mast cells and allergies if other parameters ring true. I also think cats are snakes with fur until proven otherwise. This cat’s ear was saved, cancer disappeared and he used lachesis effectively, whenever he needed, to curb his spraying on and off for a year until he was permitted outside in a new house.

Another case I only saw once as a new homeopath and it surprised me as well.

Maybe the element of surprise is also snake! A small older farm terrier came to see me for a seasonal respiratory allergy that had been recurring for years. I recall as I was examining this little dog and looking for clues that it was especially reactive in a stilled, silent and strong manner when I was palpating its throat area. Lachesis sprang to my entirely open mind and was reaffirmed by the Spring onset and the allergy theme. A single dose of lachesis cured this dog, with no recurrence, after years of allopathic attempts.

Some cases have taken a little longer to arrive at lachesis but with no less success. I treated an old Golden Retriever with seriously bleeding nasal polyps with lachesis after trying many other medicines including phosphorus which is directly related to snake venoms. The keynote for the eventual prescription in this dog was his jealousy and the effectiveness of lachesis once again surprised me as he was not a big, black savage dog by any means. After many years of entrenched behaviour that was considered normal, he also became more open and friendly with the other dog in the household as well as living comfortably with reduced and non bleeding polyps. Perhaps this is not considered a cure but was certainly a life saving intervention in this resilient old dog.

I have long regarded lachesis as the cleverest medicine in our repertory. All the animals I have successfully treated with lachesis have been very clever and I could even say that they have a wry or wicked sense of humour. Loquacity is an unreliable rubric in my cases; except in my talkative teenage son who has used lachesis effectively for Spring onset asthma. Perhaps the dog equivalent, rather than barking or licking, is a sneaky nip that requires mental planning to execute with accuracy. This brings to mind our heel nipping Queensland Blues and other cattle or stock herding dogs that can be extremely clever.

On repertorisation I sometimes find it difficult to differentiate between lycopodium and lachesis which may seem an unusual choice given their differences of source. They both have salivation, can be base or nasty (bully), arrogant, spiteful, worse in the morning or waking and actually complement each other quite well according to Kent. I wonder whether lycopodium is the plant version of the Supreme’s curse cast upon snakes, whereby they must go without legs upon the earth as lycopodium was also cast down to be a lowly club moss from a once enormous, prehistoric tree.

Case summary notes or ‘guess the remedy’ for lachesis animals so far would read as, clever, powerful, funny, manipulative, admirable, resilient, allergies and immune mediated diseases, Spring, cancer, throat, head, neck, tubercular, generally phosphorus responsive if bleeders and occasionally aggressive.

All good fun really unless you get bitten.

I have decided to make my practice experiences more accessible to those interested in homeopathy for animals and I will attempt to present a medicine portrait every few weeks along with some case examples from my own clinic.

It is also important for veterinary homeopaths to share their experiences of what they see as constitutional animal pictures so that we can develop animal repertories.

Silica/Silicea:

I use silica quite a bit in my practice and see a range of individuals and conditions that respond well to this medicine in homeopathic doses.

It is the second most common element in the Earth’s crust, next to oxygen, so it is likely to be helpful in many conditions given that it is so prevalent on Earth and in nature. Silica is used in material doses for constipation and strengthening bones, hair and fingernails.

As with all homeopathic medicines, the full clinical picture of the medicine can take many years to master and the art of homeopathic repertorisation and the depth of materia medica can be both daunting and exciting.  The major polychrests like silica have been used for so long now that a fairly accurate picture has developed in human medicine but the use in animal medicine is still being fully developed and adapted from the human experience.

I have had the added advantage of watching silica transform my son into a confident and capable young man over many years. This has helped me considerably to recognize the medicine in animals.

I find silica to be a nice gentle temperament that can anger but not wish to hurt.  Silica dogs can be tense and nervous but in my experience very rarely bite. Cats the same. There is a likeability in these animals but that may be a personal rather than a general feature because I also find pulsatilla animals quite unlikeable in contrast to some of my peers. We therefore need to identify our own reactions to medicines in order to understand them better.

Over time, once we develop a case load of successes with a medicine, the picture becomes a little clearer and we start to see more possibilities.

Then there are also the little parallels I like to find such as silica (sand), when superheated or activated becomes glass. Glass shatters. It is an irritant in its crude form (grit/abrasive) and becomes beautiful once transformed by heat into glass. There is a fragility and also a transparency in silica, they are often uncomplicated individuals with no hidden agenda. I think that is what I like about them. It feels like sweetness but may be more of a genuineness.  A common keynote is ‘lack of grit, moral or physical’ but they are not immoral just trusting and easily influenced. Maybe another reason I feel kindly towards them because they need rather than ask for protection. They can also be irritating at times but easily forgiven.

A grain of sand (silica) becomes a pearl inside an oyster and calcarea carbonica can often finish the healing action of silica and vice versa.

I find them to be self contained individuals that do not interact very much on a personal level and be easily overwhelmed by the expectations of others or by overstimulating environments. They are sensitive and reactive like plants and their monomaniacal behaviour can be misinterpreted as animal/territorial when it is actually stress induced rather than driven by instinct.

Many plants contain high levels of silica such as equisetum and lycopodium and we may see similarities and cross over in these and many other silica containing plant medicines in regard to physical signs and symptoms. They are often delicate or fine framed individuals but not generally weak or feeble. There is a resilience in them even though they may be timid and irresolute. A pulsatilla can become silica and with this can develop a rigidity or inflexibility both mentally and physically.

I have used silica for cases of vaccinosis, arthritis, chronic infections, inflammatory bowel disease, scar tissue from injury to eyes or soft tissue, luxating patellae with tendon contraction, birth/head trauma and lack of confidence in offspring, ‘autism’ in dogs, abscess and foreign body removal, anal furunculosis, blocked anal glands and tear ducts and even constitutionally for some of the above to a deeper, fuller level of cure.

As a first aid medicine it is invaluable for draining abscesses and removing grass seed foreign bodies. It is important to remember that it will cause implants to migrate so should not be used in animals that have bone pins, plates wires or screws unless you want the body to expel them sometimes incompletely and uncomfortably if impeded in exit.

There is some disagreement amongst homeopaths about miasm theory and classification and whilst leading modern homeopaths like Sankaran have silica as sycotic, I tend more to Banerjea and place silica as syphylitic and principally tubercular.

In fact, a recent case of inflammatory bowel disease in a dog was cured with silica by the direct association with the bowel nosode Gaertner Bach (tubercular) having been highly effective.  It can be difficult sometimes to clearly differentiate silica from other similar medicines and a deeper appreciation of the relatedness of medicines can be helpful as with the above case.

I sometimes have difficulty differentiating the routine or fussiness of silica and arsenicum.  They are both chilly and can be opinionated but overall silica is less destructive. They can both have dry flaky skin, gut upsets and similar time modalities. I do not see many true arsenicum animals except at end of life when it helps almost all constitutions to a peaceful end. Many silica signs and symptoms are similar to Calc Carb. I occasionally use these medicines interchangeably to effect. I usually rely upon body condition to differentiate but this may prove unreliable. There are also physical symptom similarities between Alumina, Silica and Phosphorus as they are all Row 3 minerals and have nervous paralysis. The mental and behavioural differences of these medicines help distinguish them. Even though they may all seem a bit slow to comprehend, phos and sil are generally sharper than alum.

I have occasionally run into a quandary about the choice between mercury and silica because they are inimical and I worry about getting the wrong one. It is usually eye cases or abscessations of a chronic destructive nature that leaves me wondering if merc would be better suited and it can be tricky to differentiate with a paucity of other information.

In fact, there is often a lack of information in animal cases in general because we rely on observation, intuition and inference rather than directly verbalized sensations from our patients. I am not very good at leading or allowing clients to give me accurate information although this skill improves over time and some owners are very good without prompting.  Ideally we should receive the case rather than direct it and this is a different skill from regular veterinary practice where we are in charge. Without a doubt, the information the owners give us forms a major clue to the simillimum but it is difficult to not influence this process by our own thoughts and preconditioning.

Hahnemann reminds us that we must clearly identify what it is that needs to be cured and then adapt the healing powers of the chosen medicine to effect a cure.

In the final analysis, a system of crosschecks can ensure an optimal prescription.

Check the main presenting pathology, the causation if known and the miasmatic tendency.  If the mentals can be identified clearly they are very helpful but I am discovering a lot of variability in animal cases in this regard and this is still a process of discovery. Whilst animal minds are not highly developed, they are still catalysts to deep disease states in an increasing number of cases. We need to be careful to properly represent out patients in this regard so that they can be heard and cured.

                 “Simplicity is an Advanced course”  Sri Chinmoy.

I haven’t had asthma since I got out of a smoking environment and divorced my husband in the series of unrelated events we call life. Of course I am certain that homeopathy also had a large bearing on my improved health in recent years.

Louise Hay says that asthma is ‘smother love’. Inability to breathe for one’s self. Feeling stifled. Suppressed crying. I can relate to all of the above and the opposite is ‘it is now safe for me to take charge of my own life, I am free’.

Well we can’t all get divorces to improve our health and in other cases taking that action, in itself, triggers its own set of health issues.

Our pets are also mostly stuck with us as well, unless they run away.

I have a colleague in Tasmania who practices Buteyko and is investigating ways to bring this into her veterinary practice.

Lung exercise whether through Buteyko or other techniques brings awareness, control and focus to the breath. I am sure that learning to meditate was another factor in my own cure.

Many people may also not be aware that our Australian Olympic swimming teams of the past few decades largely comprised asthmatics because swimming was considered to be a major therapy for asthma. I found that swimming exacerbated my asthma because I lived and swam in a cold climate, which is probably why the majority of our champion swimmers tended to hail from sunny Queensland.

All of this brings me to the point of this posting and that is to consider why cats get asthma. In another paradox, cats have been blamed for causing asthma in children for many years and many people have allergic reactions to cat fur. Horses also suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma by another name. There are minor arguable differences in these terminologies but if the airways don’t work and you can’t breathe you care less for the name than getting oxygen.

So why do animals get asthma?

I would suggest that wild animals don’t get asthma but I suppose we will never know for sure. Domestic pets get asthma for the same reasons we do. They live in the same environments, mostly eat the same food (commercial processed grain based diets), often have immune system interventions and also have  developing minds and emotions . They worry, get frightened and stressed and have a burden to carry should they be unable, or wish not, to escape.

Put simply, inflammation causes asthma and stress precipitates inflammation.

The stress can be physical such as certain smells, chemicals, pollens and allergens or mental/emotional like worry, fear and anxiety. Asthma is a spasm of the bronchial muscles that causes airways to narrow and this is an unconscious nervous and immune mediated response to the triggers I have mentioned. Severe pulmonary inflammatory cascades can be triggered to inhaled allergens like grain dusts and dust mite.

And there is the fact that some animals get asthma whilst others exposed to the same conditions do not. This comes down to identifying predisposition or, in homeopathic terms, constitution.

Diagnosis in cats is usually based on ruling out other causes of respiratory distress coupled with history of intermittent onset interspersed with periods of complete recovery.

Treatment depends on necessity, not all cats require medicating and the experience or choice of the prescribing veterinarian and owner. Invariably cortisone is the first choice of medicine in conventional clinics. I also used to prescribe bronchodilators and vaporisation until I discovered that identifying the deeper cause of asthma gave better results than treating the symptoms alone.

As with all cases of disease these days I would investigate the animal’s medical and family history, conduct a complete physical examination, advise on appropriate diets and make recommendations for optimizing environmental or managerial factors to reduce the chances of triggering asthma. And naturally I would prescribe some homeopathy!

Taking an holistic approach in itself is often a breath of fresh air.

One of my earliest memories of consulting in small animal practice occurs from clinical rounds whilst still in final year but it bears out the necessity of preparing graduates for the real world and of our ongoing responsibility to keep ourselves fit and well in our line of work.

Most veterinary schools conduct clinics for primary accession of public cases, supervised by registered veterinarians for the benefit of the student. Here is a recollection of the trials of such an experience and a reflection on their importance in our training.

Perhaps the most important and enduring lesson is to listen.

My case was an Old English Sheepdog and I can’t recall much else of the details at all because I have since learned that anxiety derails the learning process including being able to listen.  I wonder whether if fewer than thirty years had elapsed between now and then I may recall some of the details but the overwhelming recollection is narrowly escaping having my face bitten off.

We weren’t told too much before being introduced to the clients and their animals but in hindsight I recall this owner saying that the dog did not like being looked at or words to that effect. Be careful of the face etc?  I filed that away or perhaps only half heard it until it rebounded in my red faced ears moments later.

These days I have learned to read the animals much better and also give them time and space to acclimatise to me and their ‘scary’ surroundings but back then I was on a mission and had a job to do. Investigate.  Coupled with the ridiculously small room we were crammed into (not unlike many consulting rooms I have since worked in), the combination of my intent, the dog’s anxiety, my lack of awareness and the absence of any adjustment/comfort time, led to a potentially dangerous situation. It is possible that the reason I still can’t tell you why the dog was presented nor anything else is because I was  either, rapidly relieved from duty ( a commendable action of the supervisor) or I blindly and incoherently stumbled through with my mind solely focussed on my narrow and lucky escape, not hearing anything that followed.

The best thing to come out of it however was a sharp learning curve for life after graduation.

This short account bears out the necessity of being caring and attentive to the messages and directives being given by the animal and the owner. In the way I practice nowadays I am even more acutely aware of my own reactions and feelings during case taking and how these may also be reflected in the case at hand.

It is also worth noting that within the confines of a 15minute consultation these things get lost; especially if they run into back to back consultations over a number of hours. We need time to keep ourselves and our environment conducive to calm and effective practice.  It is not always possible in busy practices to keep space between clients but if you have that luxury you can attest to the benefits. Keeping ourselves fit with exercise, good diets, optimal hydration and being happy will greatly enhance our skills as a practitioner and maintaining a quiet, clean welcoming consulting space does wonders to attract and retain clients as well as calm animals. Many people who leave a practice do so because their animal or they themselves, was stressed by it.

There are many little tricks and tips that we can offer each other from our own experiences as they unfold and I was heartened by the efforts of a colleague recently who conducted a webinar presentation on calming techniques for the consulting room.  These included things such as being aware of smells, sounds and stimuli and providing treats or essences to reduce anxiety. Fortunately there are also members of our veterinary community these days who conduct seminars for personal development and enhancement of our veterinary services through self awareness.

Undoubtedly the most beneficial lesson I have learned in recent times has been the art of homeopathic case taking.  This builds on my premise that the art of listening is far more important than the breadth of knowledge one may have. This technique is an immensely valuable tool that can be easily learned and applied to all situations whether or not you prescribe a homeopathic medicine. The actual case taking itself is a thorough, deeper more insightful look at the case in hand than any other consulting technique I have employed previously.

As a testament to the benefits of this technique comes many comments from my clients about how much they value being listened to and how they believe that the things otherwise considered unimportant by other veterinarians in regular consultations are often the owners main concerns.

It may be true that as regular veterinarians we may have no need or time for these pieces of information, eg; he likes ham but not fish, but it is important for the animal, the client and believe it or not, often for the success of the case.

Above all else, if you don’t listen you won’t hear even if you don’t always know what to do with the information.

We are always trying to find the best way forward and do things well, but we all know that life has a way of challenging us in unexpected ways.
Finding the trust in this experience can be difficult especially when faced with situations that seem disastrous. Things are never as bad as they seem but we, as the person in charge, take responsibility not only for our actions but usually and unnecessarily for the outcomes thereof.  This can sometimes seem overwhelming when things go awry.

I remember, as a new graduate, the fretful and stressful situations that we find ourselves in when we lack appropriate supervision and guidance in our new profession. With time, we learn to be more confident in our abilities and the services we provide. There are always going to be unpredictable events throughout our entire working life but if we are to survive we develop better skills and abilities. Much of this is personal development.

Sri Chinmoy says we must always take failure as an experience. We should not take failure as a finished product or as a culmination of an experience, but rather as the process of an experience.

It’s the ability to accept these experiences that will determine how we cope in life. We all find our own ways to learn to manage stress and how we operate as individuals. Now that the technological and commercial world is changing faster than we are evolving both as human beings and as a planet, we and our Mother Earth, are under more pressure than ever before, seen or unseen.

This morning’s meditation from ‘My Life’s Souls-Journey’ by Sri Chinmoy reminded me how I manage to find meaning and direction in my own life.

“Inner obedience is the conscious recognition of one’s higher life, higher reality, higher existence.”

“Inner obedience is a supreme virtue. Inner obedience is the achievement of one’s true knowledge. When we obey the higher principles, higher laws, we love.
When we love, we become. And when we become, we come to realise that we eternally are the Eternal Now. We listen to the Inner Pilot, who is guiding our destiny, who is moulding and shaping us in His own way. A seeker also tries to obey his inner voice. But very often a wrong voice will create unimaginable problems for the seeker. How will the seeker differentiate the real from the unreal, the right from the wrong? A sincere seeker will be able to distinguish a wrong voice if he notices that the voice wants him to get satisfaction from its message in a specific way, with specific results. If the voice makes him feel that satisfaction will come only if victory dawns, if success comes, then he knows it is a wrong voice. When defeat looms large at the end of his action, and the seeker is doomed to disappointment, then he has to know it was a wrong voice. The right voice, the divine voice, will only inspire the seeker to right actions. The right voice does not care for results as such. “

“Each divine thought
That comes to you
Will come to you, without fail,
Like the sunrise.”

Following a meditation lifestyle has enabled me to stay afloat in a world of challenges. Prior to this period I was buffeted by doubts and demands that both the world and I, myself, put upon me.

Fortunately, I have always had a good sense of humour but until recently had not known how to use this asset to my advantage.

“The most wasted of all days is that during which one has not laughed”. Nicholas De Chamfort

This doesn’t mean that my life is perfect, far from it, but it gives me a firmer foundation to base my decisions and actions knowing, that in large part, they are guided from my higher self.

Keeping priorities determines success. Identifying them can be difficult.
Trusting in them is the key.

Of the people I know who manage their lives well there are very few who have not developed this awareness of their higher selves.  Practising with humility and love whilst maintaining strength and persistence can be difficult.
A mind of division and competition can destroy the inner peace and oneness that is necessary to continue to practice, serve and live well.

I am privileged to belong to a profession with members who recognise and value these inner qualities and who also strive to bring them to the fore. The clients attracted to our practices are appreciative of our skills in these areas as much as they are of our professional expertise because it is a foundation for deep trust in a client-patient-veterinarian relationship.

It is easier to be a better citizen of the world when we are happy and when fewer things go wrong. Ironically the more we seek to control, the more elusive this becomes. Once we surrender, with trust, to the higher inspiration, to our inner voice, to our wide surprise, we realise there are no such things as mistakes.
We are all just having experiences together.

This post is dedicated to my colleagues, Charissa, Kate, Megan and Susan with gratitude