Homeopathy for Pets
Events: Remember, you can always check our website calendar or the events page on Facebook (insert links to both) to see what we have coming up.
Canine Massage Appointments: January 15 and February 19. Call 816-331-1868 during regular business hours to make an appointment for your achy dog.
Due to unpredictable weather, we will not hold a seminar in January. Watch for announcements about free seminars this spring. In the works, Homeopathy for Pets; Essential Oils; and more!
And on that note, this month’s topic is Homeopathy! The seminar will cover it in much more depth, with Q and A and a list of more remedies you may wish to have on hand. But for now, here’s a brief overview. For more information, check out Washington Homeopathics at www.homeopathyworks.com and the National Center for Homeopathy at www.homeopathycenter.org
HOMEOPATHY FOR PETS
Homeopathy and Herbal or Holistic medicine are often confused. Homeopathic remedies are part of holistic medicine, but are not herbal in nature. They are extremely diluted forms of various substances, some herbs and some other compounds. The process of dilution and “succussion” which is a specific way of preparation induces an energetic pattern into the water used with each dilution. Thus, homeopathic remedies are not drugs, and are not even chemical in nature. The energetic patterns have been demonstrated to be real and individual for each remedy in numerous quantum physics-based experiments and you can find videos on YouTube about “memory of water” and related topics.
Proper use of homeopathic remedies requires an exact match between the symptoms and the remedy. You don’t use a remedy for a cough. You find a remedy for the cough based on severity, sound, presence of other symptoms like nasal discharge, chest pain, productivity of the cough, presence of fever or appetite, etc. Reference books called Materia Medica and Repertories are used to match the symptoms to the remedies. When you find the right match, healing produced by these remedies can be almost miraculous. The wrong match usually means nothing will happen. The principle behind homeopathy is that “like cures like”. These compounds, NOT diluted, cause the symptoms that they will treat in the highly-diluted homeopathic form.
Here are a few remedies to have on hand. While this article is written for animal use, these remedies are also used in people. To administer to your pet, the easiest way is to use the lid from the container to toss a few pellets into your pet’s mouth or to stick to the inner lip. You can also dissolve them in water and administer a few drops of the water for each dose. Remember the remedy is on the outside of the pellets, so don’t handle the pellets with your fingers or you’ll rub it off. Dosing is TO EFFECT, meaning if the symptoms are still resolving you don’t give another dose. If they stop improving, you can re-dose until cure is achieved. If three doses have been given with no effect, the wrong remedy is being used. In people, the pellets are usually dissolved under the tongue. Do not give with food. Obviously, for a severe injury or illness you should seek medical attention for your pet, but you can go ahead and give these as well as they can be negated or have reduced effectiveness due to some medications, but will not themselves interfere with conventional medicines.
Arnica Montana: given for any condition that is caused by trauma. Bruising, swelling, muscle soreness from over-work. Also great to give just before surgery to reduce bleeding and swelling and again after as needed to improve the healing process.
Ledum: For puncture wounds, to help expel infection. Great for bite wounds, alternating with arnica.
Hepar sulph: For abscesses, to encourage them to open and drain.
Calendula: Can be given internally or applied as a gel to improve wound healing. Causes the top of the wound to seal over, so don’t use on puncture wounds until they have healed deeper down.
Hypericum: For nerve injury. Especially useful for crushing injury to highly innervated areas like toes, tail tips, etc. Used “when small wounds hurt much” (like paper cuts)
Symphytum: From the plant Boneset, is dosed daily for several weeks to help heal broken bones. Do not use until the bone has been set by a professional. Also referred to as “arnica of the eye” and can be used for traumatic injury to the eye.
Belladonna: For sudden high fevers, especially when associated with redness or right-side issues. Often associated with abnormally bright or dilated eyes, and ear infections.
Apis: For bee stings, wasp stings, any swellings associated with redness and heat typical of an allergic reaction such as hives.
Ipecac (the homeopathic version): for coughing so severe as to cause retching. I used this once for an asthma attack with immediate and amazing results.
Causticum: for first degree burns associated with redness and pain but no blisters. Think scalds and sunburn.
Cantharis: for second degree burns associated with blistering. I have also used this and the results were nothing short of miraculous, after fiddling with the wrong remedies (hypericum, causticum) for a couple of hours, I finally figured out to use this one just as blisters were beginning to form on my hand after grabbing the handle of a pot fresh out of the oven. Within 10 minutes the pain was gone, the blisters were disappearing, and I was able to have a good night’s sleep after only two doses. I took a third in the morning as I was feeling a little tingling in the hand. That was all I needed. Blisters never formed, and pain never returned after the first dose.
