How to use Homeopathy on your Pet

Homeopathy, a popular form of natural healing throughout the world, is rapidly gaining adherents in North America among health-conscious individuals interested in helping themselves and their pets as well.  Serving these animals are several hundred veterinarians who use homeopathic remedies exclusively, or along with other treatment techniques, for problems ranging from trauma to chronic diseases.   The veterinarians say that just about every condition encountered in a general practice can be treated wholly or in part with homeopathy.  Often the animals they see have undergone conventional treatment that hasn’t worked or has caused too many side effects.  Homeopathy offers a safe alternative.  It is also an excellent complement to surgery and is frequently used to reduce post surgical pain and accelerate the healing process.

Homeopathy utilizes remedies made from DILUTED amounts of natural substances—such as herbs, bark, seeds, berries, minerals, and animal matter.  The remedies activate the body’s own healing mechanisms according to a principle known as “like cures like”.  It works this way:  If you were to give these substances in large doses to healthy individuals or animals, they would produce the same symptoms that they help heal when given in diluted homeopathic doses.

Two examples will help illustrate the point.  A large amount of coffee can cause nervousness and prevent sleep.  In homeopathy, a remedy made from coffee is used to calm the nerves and help promote sleep.  Sulfur, in a large dose, can cause a rash.  In homeopathic amounts, it helps to heal rashes and skin problems and is a popular remedy for those conditions in animals.

Homeopathic remedies are so diluted that there is virtually no trace of the original substance.  For this reason they are not toxic.  Homeopathy works as an “energy medicine.” The healing power comes not from the substances themselves, but from matching the energy vibration of a specific remedy to the energy pattern of the patient.

“Homeopathic remedies provide information to the body,” says John Limehouse, DVM.  “Imagine those card keys that open your hotel room.  The right information on that magnetic strip will open the door.  Similarly, homeopathic remedies contain magnetic resonance information.  The right remedy contains the right information to stimulate the body’s vital forces to do the work of healing, repair, and maintenance in a more efficient way.”

Homeopathic remedies are identified by a name and number, such as Arnica 6X or 30C.  The number tells you the potency—that is, the strength—of the particular remedy.

Homeopathic medicines are created by a special process of consecutive dilutions in distilled water followed by succussion (vigorous shaking).  X potencies refer to substances diluted 1 part to 9 parts of water.  The designation 6X means the remedy was diluted and shaken 6 times.  C potencies mean a substance has been diluted 1 part to 99 parts water.  Thus, 30C means a remedy that underwent thirty rounds of dilution and shaking.

This process is called “potentization.”  The more a substance is potentized—that is diluted and shaken—the longer and more deeply the remedy acts in the body and the fewer doses are required for treatment.

Stores generally carry potencies of 30C or less.  Higher potencies should be used cautiously and, ideally, under the guidance of a professional.  That’s because higher potencies are more likely to trigger what is called a “healing crisis,” in which symptoms may at first appear aggravated before they improve.

Homeopathic veterinarians typically prescribe a remedy or series of remedies with a single ingredient.  Over-the-counter homeopathic remedies include single remedies as well as user-friendly combination formulas for people with little knowledge of homeopathy.  Such combinations include products for pets that have multiple ingredients to cover such problems as fleabite allergic reactions, scratching, stress, motion sickness, and diarrhea.  If you find that a combination does not help, it should be discontinued and the right single remedy found.

Homeopathic specialists emphasize the importance of good nutrition and say that true healing is difficult without it no matter how many remedies they prescribe.  Some degree of illness is always going to be present unless an animal has a good nutritional basis.

(This column is authored by Carol Koenigsknecht, Herbal Practitioner and owner of Terra Ken Herbals.  She is available for consultations, classes and lectures, and can be reached via her website at http://www.TerraKenHerbals.net or by phone, (706) 797-0091.  She also owns and operates Carol’s Critter Care, a pet-sitting service.)

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this column is intended for educational purposes only.  It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  Please seek the advice of a QUALIFIED veterinarian or health care practitioner before using any herbs, supplements or other natural approaches to health discussed in this column.