Working powerfully yet gently to truly cure illness

The science of homeopathy was founded a couple of centuries back by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in Germany. It is above all gentle, deeply acting, and curative when its clear principals are followed carefully. And the fact that animals respond to it so well really puts to rest the idea that it's only acting by placebo effect. They don't know placebo effects; they either get well or they don't, it's that simple.

The Best Introductory Book is Free!
There is no better book to introduce you to this wonderful modality than the following, authored by Timothy Dooley, N.D., M.D., who, like me, has dedicated his entire practice to this effective system of medicine. This link will take you to his book, free to view, and I urge everyone interested in learning what this system of medicine is all about to read this thoroughly. It is not only enjoyable reading, but will make you better able to work with your homeopathic doctor, whether he works with you or your animals.

http://www.beyondflatearth.com/

There are two general categories of disease, both of which are treatable homeopathically.

• Acute: those diseases that are relatively short in duration, often begin somewhat suddenly, and don't linger beyond a week or two maximum. They can be serious and even life-threatening, like parvovirus diarrhea in the young dog, or distemper.

The commonest acute diseases are the traumatic ones -- a dog or cat hit by a car, a horse who runs into barbed wire, or a cow who steps on a teat. Another category of (usually) non-life threatening acute diseases are the gastrointestinal upsets like the horse who eats a totally different feed or too much of a familiar feed and colics; or a dog who knocks over a garbage can and gorges, or a cow with bloat. Cat bite abscesses, bee stings, or a scratched cornea are other examples of acute illness.

These are diseases that can often be treated at home with careful selection of remedies and careful observation of response. If you've never done this before, it's best to get some books (see Recommended Resources) and a kit of remedies. I recommend a home remedy kit for all my patients who are at any distance from a store that carries homeopathic remedies. (You may contact me at for more information on purchasing your own). The cost of the kit is more than paid for in the first avoided emergency room visit. At first it is best to consult with your homeopathic veterinarian till you get the hang of acute prescribing, but this is a very powerful tool. I remember well my own bee sting pain disappearing within 30 seconds of getting a dose of apis on my tongue.

• Chronic: those diseases that last longer than a couple of weeks, or crop up repeatedly. The commonest are itchy, allergic skin, ear infections, arthritis, thyroid disease, kidney failure, disk disease, or laminitis. These are also curable homeopathically, but really take a trained veterinary homeopath to work with you to achieve lasting success. Here, unlike in acute disease, it's not looking for the "magic bullet" remedy and expecting all symptoms to disappear quickly. It's rather more case management, trying to turn around a long lasting condition that, by necessity, will need more than one remedy, carefully chosen and evaluated before the next is administered.

How to Find a Homeopathic Veterinarian
There is a lot that is flown under the banner of homeopathy today. My advice is to seek someone who practices the way it was originally found to cure patients with serious chronic disease, called classical homeopathy. This method seeks to find the best single remedy for the patient's state of illness at the time, and use it carefully with attention to how the whole animal is progressing. If the remedy is correct, the whole animal gets better. If it is not, another remedy must be reckoned by careful case analysis. In chronic disease, there will need to be more than one remedy to cure the patient, but the principal of one remedy at a time, carefully prescribed and evaluated in the patient is the tried and true method.

All of this takes training to do well. And it takes really dedicating one's practice to this modality if one is going to understand it and practice it well. It's very difficult to "keep a foot in two canoes" in practice, i.e. suppressing some patients and trying to cure others. A practitioner doesn't become adept at seeing the patient's symptoms as an expression of the vital force trying to right a wrong when he or she also sees that symptoms need turning off with drugs. So, look for a practitioner who is trained, certified ideally by an examining body of professionals, and whose practice is mostly or only homeopathy.

Here are a couple of resources to help you on your quest. The first is the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, which both trains and certifies graduate veterinarians in classical homeopathy. A national organization of veterinarians training other veterinarians, and holding regular advanced training and yearly conferences, I feel this is the best place a veterinarian can get training today.
I'd urge any veterinarian who wants to really offer his patients a profoundly holistic method of healing to explore this option for becoming a practicing veterinary homeopath. I rank my training here as the best I've had in my entire schooling.

A list of vets practicing this modality is here at the AVH website: http://www.theavh.org

Dr. Richard Pitcairn, who has trained most of the veterinarians practicing classical homeopathy through AVH courses, also provides a list of practitioners here. Also at this site is information on upcoming courses for graduate veterinarians.