Disclaimer: the information provided below is not intended
to replace or override the advice of your veterinarian. Both the author
and the site owner assume that this information will be used to work with
your vet in planning the best treatment plan for your cat
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?
Homeopathy is a system which deals with the whole individual (ideally, mental as well as physical aspects). It was developed in the 1800s by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann from Germany. It is based on the principle of "Like Cures Like" i.e. a substance that would produce certain symptoms in a healthy person, would cure a sick person exhibiting those same symptoms.
HOW DO I DETERMINE WHICH REMEDY TO GIVE MY CAT?
When you take your cat to a vet trained in homeopathy, s/he will "take"
kitty's case. What this means is that the veterinarian will ask detailed
questions about your cat. Examples of questions asked can be:
General ones such as: Does your cat seek warm places? Does kitty
want to be comforted or left alone?
Physical ones such as: Is kitty limping (right side or left side)?
Are the gums bleeding? Is there an odor coming from the mouth?
This process usually takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. At this point, depending on the difficulty of your cat's case, the vet may prescribe a remedy on the spot or call you with the name of the remedy. This remedy should be chosen based on the totality of your cat's symptoms, and as such is referred to as kitty's "constitutional remedy".
WHY CAN'T I JUST BUY AN OVER THE COUNTER COMBINATION REMEDY FOR MY CAT?
You can, but beware that combination remedies have not been proven; only each of the remedies that is a part of the combo has, so the effect of them all taken together is unknown. Do you really want to use your cat as a guinea pig? It is possible that one of the remedies that is a part of this combo will help your cat, but how do you know which one? And what damage would the other remedies that do not match your cat's symptoms, cause to your cat?
Besides homeopathy does not work like allopathy. You cannot just take a remedy for a given disease such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Two cats with IBD might need two different remedies based on their unique totality of symptoms.
WHAT DO THE DIFFERENT NUMBERS AND LETTERS ON THE REMEDY BOTTLE INDICATE?
The higher the number, the higher the potency. Usually remedies below 30 are considered low potencies; those between 30 and 200 are medium, and remedies above 200 are high potency. Cats being small, delicate creatures, it is not a good idea to give cats remedies in high potencies.
The potency is determined by the degree to which the original substance (known as the Mother Tincture) has been diluted and succussed. If a remedy is simply diluted - by mixing it in water, it's potency stays the same. However, if this diluted mixture is succussed (usually 100 times) i.e. held in one hand and rapped against the palm of the other hand (or on a hard surface), then it's potency changes.
An X is diluted in a 1:9 ratio of remedy to alcohol/water. A C remedy is diluted in a 1:99 ratio. In Europe and Canada, D potencies are the same as X in the U.S. and a CH designation is equivalent to a C in the U.S.
DOES IT MATTER WHETHER MY REMEDY BOTTLE HAS PELLETS OR PILLS?
No. Homeopathic remedies are available in different preparations: tablets, pillules, pellets, and liquids. The liquid remedies are the mother tincture diluted with alcohol (as a preservative) whereas the rest are prepared by coating sugar pills with the liquid homeopathic remedy. It does not matter in what form your kitty gets the remedy. But my preference is to mix 2 pills/pellets/pillules/tablets in spring water in a dark dropper bottle, and administer by mouth. This "liquid dosing" technique is gentle and effective. It works faster and is less likely to cause aggravations because by succussing between doses, one can change the potency ever so slightly.
HOW SHOULD HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES BE ADMINISTERED?
It is usually recommended that remedies not be taken with food or water because this might either render them ineffective or reduce their efficacy. Also, withhold food or water 30 minutes before or after giving your kitty his/her remedy.
Some cats will tolerate a dry dose which can be given by crushing the tablets or pills between two clean pieces of paper. However the liquid dosing technique described above, works very well indeed. If kitty spits out part of the liquid, it doesn't matter. A dose is however many pellets are taken at one time so it does not matter whether you take 1 or 2 or 10 pellets.
HOW MANY DOSES OF THE REMEDY SHOULD I GIVE MY CAT?
Redose kitty only if you see an amelioration in the symptoms of the original complaint. As long as the old symptoms are being helped and there is room for improvement, you can give kitty another dose. When you reach a plateau, it is time to consider a higher potency of the same remedy. If you see new symptoms appear at any time, stop and re-take the case. A different remedy is indicated at that point.
An aggravation is when the original symptoms worsen. Some homeopaths
feel that this initial
aggravation occurs because the Vital Force (akin to Chi in TCM or prana
in Ayurveda) is being stimulated, and is thus responding to the remedy
taken/given. An aggravation should not last very long, and soon you
should see an improvement in your kitty. Yet other homeopaths feel
that aggravations occur when the correct remedy is given in too high a
potency (or as a dry dose). To that end, they feel that if one sticks
to low potencies, aggravations (which are unnecessary) simply will not
occur.
A proving occurs when either the wrong remedy is administered or the correct remedy is repeated too often. Again, there is more likelihood of this happening with the higher potencies. What happens is that the cat exhibits the symptoms of the remedy so let's say a cat does not have heart palpitations and one gives the kitty one or more doses of a hi potency of Crataegus Oxycantha, the poor kitty will develop palpitations.
ARE THERE ANY GOOD HOMEOPATHY BOOKS FOR CATS/PETS?
Alas, not too many but here are a few:
Often it is easier to use a Repertory used for humans, and extrapolate from there. Naturally, this is a challenge when talking about cat specific symptoms such as - flicking tail, third eyelid showing, etc. We do what we can while we await a cat Repertory and Materia Medica :)
A repertory is a book of detailed symptoms a.k.a. rubrics. Homeopathic remedies are "proved" by healthy individuals. The provers who were healthy individuals volunteered to take remedies and record meticulously the symptoms that resulted from taking the remedy. If a very large number of provers experienced a particular symptom, then it is denoted as either bold font (in Kent) or Italics (in Boericke). Symptoms not reported by all the provers or a majority of them, are listed in regular font.
Different Repertories are categorized differently e.g. Robin Murphy's is alphabetical so Wrist problems show up toward the end. But Boericke for instance, has Wrist under "locomotor system" because the Repertory is sectioned by body parts in the old Hahnemannian way.
The key is become very familiar with one's Repertory and get used to the scheme for listing symptoms. That way one can go directly to the section that interests you e.g. Skin for Ringworm probs. This is what one would do for acute prescribing where you are treating just the one self-limiting condition. Acute conditions are self-limiting, and are those that without treatment will eventually resolve themselves. Chronic problems are ongoing ones. This is where it is best to consult a homeopathic professional.
If you decide to look for your kitty's constitutional remedy yourself, then u have 2 choices: either write down all your kitty's symptoms and then look for them in the appropriate section in the Repertory, or go through the Repertory page by page marking down all symptoms that match.
Some people only look at the major symptoms; others look at them all. Still others focus primarily on what are referred to as Strange, Rare, and Peculiar (SRP) symptoms. Homeopathy is as much art as science, seems like. But be patient and do things right instead of looking for a short-cut. If you stick with it, you will be amazed at the results in your cat.
Once you have identified the key symptoms, you will see remedies listed for each. Some general symptoms will have as many as 40 remedies whereas an obscure symptom will have 1 or 2 remedies. If u use Kent, then remedy names in regular font are counted as 1 point, italicized ones are 2, and bold fonts are counted as 3s (Boericke's is different - regular is 2 and italics are 3).
Write down all the remedies that show up along with their corresponding weight(s), and then add up the number(s) for each remedy. The remedy with the highest number of "hits" as some refer to it, is *the* constitutional remedy. Sometimes two or more remedies make the final cut. Regardless, once you have one or more remedies you think are a close match, open up your Materia Medica, which lists symptoms for each remedy, and read up on it.
Here's the URL for Kent's Repertory online: http://www.homeoint.org/books/kentrep/default.htm
And here is Boericke's MM available for online viewing: http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/default.htm
All books are available through our bookstore
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