Homeopathy for pets (lengthy)

There is an interesting article about this on pets.ca, i was happy to see it on such a prominent site!!

My take on homeopathy:
My mother told me about her accountant's dog and it got me thinking. A few years ago when she went to her accountant for the annual tax filing she saw her dog and it looked horrible - that dog had skin problems to the point of being mostly hairless and she was a young dog. Traditional vets tried to put her on special foods, etc and she was still the same. The next year my mom went to that same accountant and saw the dog and it looked completely different, she had fur and looked well. Apparently what happened during that time is that the dog was taken to a Homeopathic Dr. (one that usually treats people but accepted a dog in this case) and under the direction of the homeopath the dog's skin condition improved and she regained her hair.

I have been reading about homeopathy a lot since then and most claims are that its a purely 'placebo' effect. But this cannot be true in a case involving animals.... animals cannot 'talk or believe themselves' into being better.

I am generally a majorly skeptical person and tend to side with science. But my confidence in traditional medicine and doctors has been shaken when i got into raw feeding. How could vets scream no to it when i witnessed it working greately first hand.... this got me thinking about human medicine as well. Who is funding all the reserach? the drug companies... so if there were simpler, cheaper and easier ways to rid of disease,no one would tell us.


I guess my ultimate goal with this post is to hear from people on this forum about their experiences with homeopathy for pets -- (or for hoomins :D).... please share!!!

Shortly after my :rip: :cat: grrl Duffy was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure, I sought out guidance & help from a Homeopath Vet to help her in the here & now, not the wait & see approach of the conventional vets. Now I would never go back to a conventional vet on a regular patient basis, only if needed in an emergency situation.

The philosophy of treatment is something that really struck a chord with me, as I began to read more about homeopathy, homeopathic remedies, raw feeding, natural healing choices (IMS, physio, chiro, energies etc) it all clicked.

Think about this - 100+ years ago there was no such thing
- as commercial dry kibble or canned food - what did people feed their animals? raw food or cooked left overs
- modern antibiotics - what did people use to treat illness? Herbs, plants, natural foods etc

What do antibiotics do while they are "curing" infections? They suppress the immune system to the point it can't do it's job which is fight back, there is no guarentee the infection will be cleared and then the animal/person has to fight to regain immunity that was compromised and try not to get sick in the mean time from either the initial infection or a new one.


Every single cold medication I have ever taken never works for me, if I'm congested & take anything with even a hint of a decongestant in it, the water works are unrelenting :rolleyes: Last year instead of a conventional cold med I took a homeopathic remedy, for the first time I had immediate relief without constant watery eyes & runny nose. :thumbs up

I've never been one to go to a dr myself unless absolutely necessary :shrug:

I've ascribed to non-western therapy models for a loooong time. That's not to say I don't see doctors ~ I most certainly do. I would have been dead a long time ago if I didn't. And I have always used it with my animals well. Not everything is effective of course ~ our body chemistry is unique to each of us.

I use alternative medicine/ therapies as a prophylactic, a diagnostic, a first approach to treatment and as a complimentary approach to traditional medicine. And not just homeopathy either.

In my mind, people discount the placebo effect and should not. Your brain/body is a powerful tool in prevention and in healing. Think about what happens when you get scared ~ you get a rush don't you? Well ~ guess what an epi pen is? Guess what they inject into your heart when your pressure drops and your heart stops? Guess what can give you sudden cardiac arrest? Adrenaline. The "placebo" effect has negative connotations and should not ~ using your brain and your body to heal yourself just makes sense to me.

Thanks for the replies. It's interesting to see what people think of it and their experiences... i definitely agree that if the placebo effect can help you -- why not?? there is nothign safer than that. With animals there is no placebo effect though... so its more a matter of 'does it really have a chemical/physical effect'...