Homeopathic Treatment of Pets on Conventional Meds

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF PETS ON CONVENTIONAL MEDS

Covering homeopathic care of healthy pets that are on common, routine preventative medicines like…

***Monthly flea and tick treatments

***Monthly heartworm preventatives (though there is an effective 3-month preventative!)

And covering case management of ill pets on medications…

***Working with dogs on Thyroid hormone replacement

***Working with cats on thyroid suppressants (methimazole, tapazole, etc)

***Managing diabetics on insulin (and diet is a huge obstacle to cure here)

***Even pets on corticosteroids (prednisone, depo medrol, etc) can be treated homeopathically

And finally, what to do with pets that receive short term conventional medication (antibiotics, steroids, vaccines, etc) during long term constitutional homeopathic care.

 

CHAT BEGAN AT 20:58 EDT

Moderator: Welcome, Michele Yasson, DVM, CVA. Dr. Yasson will be answering your questions on how to use homeopathy with your animals when there are a variety of obstacles to cure.

 

Dr. Yasson: Good evening all.  Let's start the chat with some basics - food for thought for tonight's topic.  Enjoy!

 

Obstacles to Cure in (Homeopathic) Veterinary Medicine

Michele Yasson, DVM © 2009

www.holvet.net

 

While inquiring into the state of a chronic disease, carefully ponder and scrutinize the particular affairs of the patient (ordinary occupations, usual living habits and diet, situation at home, etc.) to find out what there is in them that may arouse or maintain disease, and whose removal may further recovery. [Aphorism 94, Organon of the Medical Art, Samuel Hahnemann.]

 

Many patients in veterinary practice respond beautifully to homeopathic treatment. They have easily discernable, relatively rapid improvement leading to full cure with little aggravation. Others start down that road and then abruptly stop, or they just never start at all. Still other cases limp along, gaining some bits of improvement here and there, only to lose it again.

 

Other than suboptimal remedy choices, here are some possible stumbling blocks to look for and ponder.

 

Owners/Guardians

Many owners will give (or stop) their pets’ medications, supplements, and even homeopathic remedies during the course of treatment. These changes can interfere with long term progress of chronic or acute disease cases

Training and Pack Environment

Lack of training and ineffective leadership is a crisis for many dogs. Behavioral problems abound often because owners are simply lacking the education needed in order to raise them well and provide a favorable environment.  A very, very common situation for dogs is the lack of good (in the dog’s view) leadership. This can create what I call dominance by default. A dog that is not a natural leader may feel forced to fill the void and may “lead” inappropriately with excessive protectiveness and anxiety (knowing they lack the personal skills or size to do the job). A dog that has no firm leadership is also likely to act as a pack leader appropriately (again, for a dog) by doing things like guarding resources (eg. snapping at approach of the dog with a bone or toy or food), being disobedient (since leaders give directions and don’t automatically submit to them), and not allowing unsolicited touch (eg. the dog that gets violent during a vet exam).

 

Physical and Social Environment

Fighting family members (both pets and people), overpopulated pets, lack of exercise, lack of fresh air and sunshine, lack of stimulation, and prevention of other species appropriate environmental factors.  For example, a cat spraying (urine) around the house may continue to do so despite skilled homeopathic treatment if the owner is continuing to attract feral cats close to the house by feeding them. This is normal, natural, and instinctual territory marking in a situation which is, for a cat, a very abnormal, stressful condition.

 

Non-verbal Patients

Just like preverbal human infants, animals’ symptoms are often interpreted incorrectly through the filter of human experience. People tend to anthropomorphize even when they are not trying. For example, a dog that rushes over and pushes in when another dog is being petted is not necessarily expressing jealousy. It is more often just a “me too” behavior in an individual who enjoys petting.

It is always best to use objective symptoms and rubrics that don’t need interpretation. A horse pacing in a stall could be fear/anxiety, boredom, frustration, or pain. However, the objective aspect is the movement, the restlessness. This is the most reliable trait to on which to prescribe.

 

Diet

Huge factor in obstacles to cure.  Huge. You can’t put today’s unleaded gas in a car from the 60’s and expect it to run right (Am I dating myself here?). It is going to “knock and ping” – remember that phrase? A fuel additive was created for those older cars to add the lead back in with each tank fill. Mechanical system, biological system, it doesn’t matter. When you use a fuel that the system wasn’t designed for it will never run optimally. If an animal species did not evolve on canned food, kibble, dry grass and grain with molasses, etc. it will function poorly. I always say that I wish we humans evolved on ice cream sundaes and chocolate, but alas, I grew up in the wrong universe. That’s why I eat a predominantly raw food diet, and the closer you come to raw prey as a diet, the better your carnivore pets will do. The closer you mimic open prairie, the better your horses will do, etc.

 

Vaccination and Conventional Medicine

Another mega-obstacle to cure: Monthly treatments for parasites – Frontline, Advantix, Heartgard, etc., and (mostly unnecessary) annual vaccinations, can all create repeated interference with progression toward cure during homeopathic treatment. As one consequence, I use Thuja occidentalis and other vaccinosis remedies more than my human treating colleagues.

 

This is not necessarily a complete list. But, it is certainly a good one to start with. Pay close attention to these factors in the course of a case and you may start to see the pattern as I have over the years.

DWH: Dr. Yasson, Can we talk a bit about constitutional treatment for emotional problems in animals (and, specifically, prey animals)? I know that's not really a good question, but I'm having difficulty treating my horse constitutionally. Her issues are very deep seated. I also wonder if things like fly spray antidote remedies.

 

Dr. Yasson: Interpreting behavior is tricky, since we can't relate readily as prey animals. It is easy to make mistakes and anthropomorphize (see my list of obstacles for review). Fly spray could antidote if it has strong odors (and what doesn't?), especially camphor or eucalyptus, or mint, of course!  But not every remedy response will get interrupted.

 

DWH: Yes, I've been avoiding fly spray (poor horse!).  I'm wondering what would be a good re-dosing schedule, given that others spray their horses.

 

Dr. Yasson: It's hard to go wrong with LM potencies with cases that risk frequent antidoting. Daily dosing helps the case to swiftly "recover" each time there is interference.

 

Jackie: I have a comment and a question.  My comment is this: Some of the obstacles to cure with animals are fairly obvious -- failure of communication (what hurts where and how and when, etc.) and differences between disease pictures for humans (for whom repertories are largely written and with whom provings are done) and animals. 

 

Others are less obvious. One that has been eye opening for me is the anthropomorphizing of animal emotions. For years my sensitive Arabian horse paced rapidly in her stall for as long as a rainstorm lasted. If rained for hours, she paced for hours. And, for years, I assumed it was just "something she did." As a human, and a predator at that, I lacked sufficient understanding of her mind to explain her pointless behavior. I'm not a flight animal. She is. Noise doesn't scare me. So, I didn't understand that it scared her -- and that her response was to try to flee.

 

Anyway, live and learn, I guess!  I eventually figured out that she was scared to death, the poor thing.  Since then, I've logged in excess of 120 hours horse-sitting her while it rained (I stopped keeping track this spring) and trying to demonstrate, in terms she could understand, that it was nothing to be afraid of. I've had some success in my efforts. I think. It's hard to say for certain because, if I'm there, she's calm. If I'm not -- well, who knows? I get very spotty information from others at the barn where I board. 

 

Over the last months, I've tried Aconite (200c and 1M), Apis (100c and 200c), Arsenicum album (200c and 1M), Chamomilla (200c), Coffea (200c), Rhus tox (200c), Phosphorus (200c), Silica (200c) and Stramonium (200c). I would have tried Stramonium in 1M, but the idea of a Stramonium aggravation in a 850# horse scares me, so I never did! 

 

I only gave 1 or 2 doses in 200c (and no 1M) of Chamomilla, Rhus tox, Phosphorus (she doesn't really seem like a Phosphorus horse), Silica.

Dr. Yasson: Seems like you have tried a lot, including some of the classic T-storm remedies. I couldn’t say what to try without taking her case. I would recommend using very objective rubrics.  Better for company? Or occupation <?  Truly fearful?  Or just restless?  Or combo?  Have you tried taking her out in it?  <?  >?  Or putting her out? Is she a pacer at other times? These are all things to consider.

 

Jackie: Better for company?  Absolutely. When I'm there, you can't even tell there's a problem. Better for occupation? Yes, but she's only occupied while I'm there (so it falls under "company"). Truly fearful?  She's a fearful horse -- much, much better with many hours of work, but innately fearful.  A little restless at times, but not usually. She's fine out in it. She will pace at other times when she's excited, but not usually.

 

Also, do you have a recommendation on a dosage of valerian powder to give her?  I might have to try that for a while to see if it helps her. Many thanks! Jackie & Star

 

Dr. Yasson: No, sorry, not an herb I have experience with. Of course, it will only palliate. I hope you can get a curative response with remedy, and soon!  Good luck with her.

 

Pamela: I have a Tibetan Terrier who has two main issues: a chronic yeast infection in his right ear, and elimination in the house. He is 3 years old.

 

He had a variety of other behavioral concerns before his neutering, which responded very well to a single dose of Merc Viv 1M given by the vet. After the neutering, everything spun backwards and he developed the yeast infection in his ear. The vet kind of shrugged his shoulders, so we found a prescription via one of those energy machines [Histaminum for the indoor elimination].  Then with the yeast infection occurring, the vet said the yeast was from detox issues [we tried treatment, finally putting him under general anesthesia so they could clean it out, followed by nyastatin in the ear but the infection recurred], we found a homeopath who would treat him.

 

The thing is that I believe that this is either a breed-wide problem or a breeder-specific problem, because although it mentions nothing in the books about it, my breeder thought it was perfectly normal for a dog to pee on my bed!  She said she has some that do the same, it's to be expected.  They also used carpet remnants for housetraining the dogs, but it seems like a dog should be able to re-learn that.  And there have been long periods of times where he predictably eliminated outside, asked to go outside, etc. Then suddenly, he'll just go inside. TT's have a reputation around here with those in the animal "industry" [vets, trainers, pet store folks] as being problem dogs ... lots of behavioral problems, including housetraining, which made me wonder about the breeding of the one breeder in this part of the country [the same one who thought it normal for a dog to pee on the bed and poop in the bedroom].  I wish I'd known before I spent all that time on a waitlist and all that money.

 

Dr. Yasson: This may be a complex problem – two parts.

 

Yeast is common and most often mainly a diet issue, as it is with us. There’s one obstacle. The first (probably not only) step is to take all grain out of the diet.

 

For urination and defecation in the house, training is needed. Another common obstacle. I’m not talking about house training, though those measures will help. I’m talking leadership training for you. Find a trainer who will train you first and the dog second. Any dog who “pees and poops on (the owner’s) bed” is displaying leadership/dominance and claiming territory. That’s just what good dogs do in a pack. No need to vilify the pup. Most will simply and instinctually test to see who is the leader, and the best dog wins. If there is no response from other pack members that the dog interprets as a good leader response he is the default leader and he owns everything.  This is how, more or less, how social behavior works in successful packs.

 

It helps to ensure that the pack always has the best leader at any given time. (That’s also the reason many small dogs can be fearful, anxious, and snappy. Small size is not a set up for a good leader and they know it. If they perceive no good canine/human leadership in their pack, that causes a lot of anxiety!)

 

 

Mazur: How would you handle a situation that seemed as though the obstacle to cure was the owner's pathology?

 

Dr. Yasson: I have very open, compassionate, and frank dialogues with my clients.  Nothing is off limits, and there is no guilt.

 

mazur: Would this include, for example a dog exhibiting neurotic behavior that seems to stem from the yelling an dysfunction is the family - so talk to them about family counseling or what do you mean?

 

Dr. Yasson: I might suggest that I believe there is a Master Plan and that perhaps the dog is there in their lives as a reminder to be loving and gentle with each other. Corny, perhaps, but that's me.  And it gets the job done with compassion.

 

Margit: Chestnut is a l5+ year old lab mix who has recently been diagnosed with myelopathy. He is otherwise healthy, loves to eat, sleeps a lot, but totally gets excited to go out for his daily walk.  He has usually had enough after half a mile. Sometimes he walks fairly slowly, but at times will trot along at what was once his regular pace, and will still occasionally run and leap over flower beds, and if a cat is in sight, he acts like a greyhound.!  I took him to the vet about two weeks ago after he fell trying to get up the stairs. And from that visit received the above diagnosis. I wonder if homeopathy can help him?

 

Dr. Yasson: Margit, Sorry to hear of Chestnut’s diagnosis. Myelopathy is a disease characterized by progressive weakening nerve function. Chestnut may not be able to feel exactly where he is placing his feet (loss of proprioception), and his feet may not be going exactly where he is telling them (motor nerve dysfunction).  Homeopathy may indeed help, esp along with other supportive care, but it is complicated, and it is a stubborn, chronic disease.  While I like to encourage pet owners to treat injuries and minor acutes on their own, a well trained, experienced homeopathic veterinarian is your best bet for success with Chestnut.

 

Catherine: What about a herniated disc after a fall?

 

Dr. Yasson: Catherine, I'm not sure I understand the nature of your question.

 

Catherine: Are there specific remedies to try with spinal issues? Or can you find the correct remedy by new symptoms?

 

Dr. Yasson: There certainly are injury remedies that "center" on nerve injuries. The question tonight is - are there any obstacles to cure? If the patient is an obese dachshund, there is an obstacle for addressing the chronic disease.

 

Lily: Are there natural treatments for tapeworms, fleas, and periodontal disease in cats so as not to have to use conventional meds that interfere with homeopathic treatment?

 

Dr. Yasson: There are natural treatments for many things, they sometimes work better than conventional treatments and sometimes not. They sometimes antidote and sometimes not. I use some conventional stuff on rare occasion when I think it will suit the case best.

 

mazur: As to diet, are you recommending raw meat or "as close to it as possible" for cats?  and dogs? and does that recommendation change with certain pathologies, say kidney disease?

 

Dr. Yasson: Oooh.  Can-o-worms, mazur.  Glad you asked. Raw is best for ALL of us!

Meat/ appropriately high prot diets do not harm the kidneys. And I have helped many "kidney failure" cases by putting them on a raw meat diet. The kidneys handle protein *passively*. Check your college phys texts.

 

mazur: So how do you assess "appropriately high" and do you recommend adding any veggies or grains or supplements or just the as close to natural raw meat diet?

 

Dr. Yasson: I see the best responses to 50/50 raw meat/pureed veg, NO grains, with bone meal and multivitamin.

And, by the way, dry food kills cats. There's a huge obstacle to cure. Put a desert animal on dehydrated food and watch the chronic malnutrition begin. Cats live years longer on canned or home prep.

Think about that one folks, and tell everyone you know!

 

Member: What about dry food moistened first?

 

Dr. Yasson: Soaking beef jerky will not make it filet mignon again.  The damage has been done.

The problem is that as a desert species cats don't have a natural sense of thirst. They just tolerate dehydration and live in that state. It causes MANY problems (just as it would for us!!)

 

mazur: If an owner "wants" to feed a pet more often than necessary, do you see any harm in smaller portions more frequently? Can overfeeding be an obstacle, not necessarily overweight though?

 

Dr. Yasson: Carnivores are meant to eat once or twice a day after a successful hunt. It is a burden on their physiology to eat more frequently than that, but often not great harm.

 

Member: What do you do about the cat that has had Friskees or some other dry food for a long time and refuses to eat raw or wet foods?

 

Dr. Yasson: Cats get addicted easily to certain foods. It's a long process to switch them over (if it's gentle), but it's rare to find one that won't switch.

 

Member: How do you switch them over, then?

 

Dr. Yasson: Switching cats from dry food depends on the individual's needs and is a bit too involved to write out here. Check out the tips at www.holvet.net.

 

mazur: Trying to figure that out - wouldn't a desert animal have an even greater need to know when it needs water?

 

Dr. Yasson: Cats are designed to get all their hydration needs met through their food - literally via the body fluids of their prey. They recycle their water very well. They evolved without open sources of water to drink from.

 

Lily: I've heard it said that domestication has changed the physiology of cats so that mimicking life in the wild does not apply.  Is this true?

 

Dr. Yasson: A few thousand years of domestication does not change millions of years of design by evolution (or God, if you like).  A camel is still a camel, even if it is in your backyard.

 

Mary: Our little Scottie scratches constantly. She has no fleas or other parasites. I have tried Mez, Psorinum, Sulph, Puls. all to no avail.  We put her on allergy dog food, took her off eggs and milk.  No change. Thanks for your help

 

Dr. Yasson: Mary, you may want to review all the obstacles to cure listed in my opening article. There may be several you are missing. As for diet – raw meat and pureed veggies or grain-free kibble at a 50/50 ratio is the best I’ve found for optimal health for dogs and cats.  Skin issues like this, as you may well know, are neither local to the skin nor simple acutes.

 

Carol: Many thanks for sharing your expertise. I have two feral kittens, now 8 months old, that we rescued from a window well and drain pipe before they were weaned.  After the rescue, we didn’t want to separate them.  A vet diagnosed cerebellar hyperplasia in the female when the kittens were neutered; she said it was quite common in feral animals.

 

The effects of the hyperplasia are poor coordination and stunted growth.  Sophie is spunky, but half the size and speed of her brother.  She has had a lot of difficulty learning to walk, corner, jump and climb.  We often hear her before we see her – the clunks as she hits her head on the bed frame, belly-flops jumping down from the couch, or trips over herself on a bare floor.  When we play, she must fall on toys to catch them. She does not seem to have as much appetite as her brother, and eats almost nothing but kibble. She tends to leave the soft food to her brother.

 

Dr. Yasson: Carol, what a lucky kitty to have you watching over her. I believe you mean cerebellar hypoplasia.  There is a quick video of such a cat at youtube…

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJQG6V1MOVY

 

It may be possible to address and improve with homeopathy, but the obstacles to cure here are that this is a congenital and anatomical disease.  It is not possible to create healthy function in tissue that is missing.  However, you may be able to help her develop good compensation and coping mechanisms with HP.

 

Dr. Yasson: With cases like this I lower the dosage enough to lets the vital force shine through - in other words, I allow some symptoms to show. This shows the Vital Force has some elbow room. Then I treat what I see. When there is improvement I reduce the dose again for more symptoms and treat again. I do this with diabetics on insulin, hypothyroid patients on thyroid meds, etc.

 

savigny: I have a question about my cat Jade. My cat is female, 8 yrs, I had her for 7 yrs.+ . I received her from my younger sister who had to move into an apartment (her boyfriend bought the cat from a pet store). Jade is very shy, scared of the doorbell, someone knocking, she listens to a car pulling in, if it's different then ours, she will run and hide. When my husband and I go on vacation, we have friends watching her (and my other cat Jasmine). Jade will hide for days and I have to go down to the basement to find her before she will come out. Even the sight of seeing our bags she will go hide. What can I do?

 

Dr. Yasson: It sounds like a chronic personality issue. Good constitutional prescribing is needed. See if you can find a homeopathic veterinarian in your area.

 

cally64: One of my cats has moderate gingivitis on the right side of her mouth, top and bottom, two FORLs on the premolars, top & bottom  My vet feels we're dealing with vaccinosis due to her history, so far we've used Silica 30c 2x day for 2 weeks and most recently single dose of Thuja 200c.  Much improvement with her breath, but the swelling hasn't gone down.  All my cats are fed raw home prepared food, that has meat chunks in it, I feed small pieces of cutup cornish hens (the boney parts) for extra tooth cleaning about 4 x a week.  Any suggestions to this tough problem of gingivitis?

 

Dr. Yasson: Sounds like a good start to the case with good prescribing. I tell my clients to give me time for four remedies/prescriptions to get a case in hand.  Hang in there.

 

Vi: Can homeopathy treat a dog with Lyme's? even if it has already had a LOT of antibiotics, which didn't help?

 

Dr. Yasson: Yes, especially if it had a lot of antibiotics that didn't help (that shows the vital force was not deterred!). Lyme is horribly overdiagnosed. 94% of all dogs are immune.

 

Heaven: I feel diabetes can be reversed with homeopathy but what if the animal suddenly becomes blind by it? Would you still proceed or is it a permanent obstacle?

 

Dr. Yasson: It depends on the pathology of the case.  It may be curable or not.

 

Moderator: Thank you, Dr. Yasson for your time this evening to answer all our questions. And thank you, participants, for some great questions.

 

Dr. Yasson: Thank you all. What lucky pets you have that you would be here for their sake!

 

Visit me at www.holvet.net if you have further questions!

 

 

CHAT ENDED AT 22:08 EDT