Application of Homeopathy in Veterinary Practice

DR MD MOIN ANSARI ,Professor/Chief Scientist ,Division of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology ,FVSc & AH, SKUAST K, Shalimar -190025, JK, India

Abstract

            Homeopathy, have a definite place in veterinary practice today as complementary and alternative therapies.  It is routinely practiced in dogs, cats, horses, ruminants, and birds. Its use in other exotic species is growing. Homeopathy is clinically useful as an adjunct therapy to manage post-operative pain and to speed up of injuries healing.  Both acute and chronic diseases are amenable to treatment with homeopathic remedy. The objective of homeopathy is to heal and cure the animals so that animals can live healthy productive lives. Veterinarians are definitely becoming more aware of the need for and showing more interest in homeopathic remedies as non-invasive adjunct therapy in veterinary practice.

Keywords: Application of Homeopathy, Veterinary science, Animal.

Introduction

        Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the principle of similars; that is, the symptoms or syndromes that a substance causes experimentally (at pharmacologic or toxic doses) are those that it may resolve in individuals experiencing similar symptoms and syndromes when it is given in specially prepared, exceedingly small doses. Meanwhile, homeopathy’s place in veterinary medicine remains a source of contention. The word “homeopathy” is derived from the Greek words “homios” meaning “similar,” and “pathos” meaning “disease or suffering.” The underlying basis of homeopathy is the principle that ‘like cures like’, or that a substance that is capable, in toxic doses, of producing a set of symptoms is also capable, in much lower doses, of curing the same set of symptoms regardless of their perceived cause. Homeopathy is a “treatment” based on the use of highly diluted substances, which practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself. In practicing homeopathy, the symptoms that an animal exhibits are all-important in choosing the appropriate remedy to stimulate a healing response. Whereas, in conventional medicine, the thinking may assume that symptoms or signs represent the disease itself and need to be controlled or eliminated, in homeopathy, a symptom or sign is seen, not as the disease itself, but as a signal of it. Removing or suppressing a symptom or sign does not necessarily affect or remove the cause of the symptom or sign. Homeopathy has existed in various forms since ancient times. Homeopathy is a distinct philosophy of medicine that has its roots in 18^th century Germany, and subsequently spread to Europe, India, Australia, South America, the United States, and Canada. The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital has continued to operate and, in India, homeopathy has thrived, partially due to the lower cost of homeopathic medicines and homeopathy’s non-reliance on expensive technologies. Homeopathy has been used in veterinary medicine in Britain since the early 1900s; in North America, it has seen an increase in usage only in the last 20 years. Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association consider veterinary homeopathy to be the practice of veterinary medicine and, as such, licensed veterinarians in those countries can only legally practice it. As veterinary homeopathy gains acceptance, there are an increasing number of veterinarians in private practice who possess the necessary training and experience.

Principle of Homeopathy Practice

A variety of practices based on homeopathic principles have been described over centuries, but homeopathy was not organized and practiced in a systematic way until the late 1800s. The fundamental principle of homeopathy, that  ‘like cures like’, was proposed, in 1796, by founder of modern homeopathy Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician, developed the science of homeopathy, as an alternative to other therapies then in use; primarily herbalism, bleeding, purging, emesis, blistering and sweating. In choosing a homeopathic remedy, all of an animal’s clinical signs, even those that are seemingly unrelated to the primary problem, are taken into consideration, on the principle that all of the symptoms are “signs” of the body’s reaction to external stimuli or internal imbalances.  By 1814, Hahnemann was using highly-diluted homeopathic remedies similar to those used by homeopaths today. Before inventing homeopathy, Hahnemann qualified as a doctor and worked as a conventional physician, then as a translator of scientific articles and a writer. He also studied chemistry. He translated a conventional Materia Medica (William Cullen, 1710-1790) into his native German and found it to be lacking. In its place, he devised and advocated the principles of homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies are based on three central tenets, ‘The Law of Similars’ (similia similibus curantur), ‘The Law of Infinitesimals’ and ‘The Law of Succussion’, each arising from the writings of Hahnemann, in particular his ‘Organon of Medicine’. According to The Law of Similars, signs and symptoms can be cured by substances that can cause those signs and symptoms in healthy individuals. The naming of homeopathic products is usually in Latin. Remedies are listed in homeopathic Materia Medica (Hahnemann 1814, Boericke 2008, several others available at various Internet sites [International Academy of Classical Homeopathy 2016]), together with the signs and symptoms the remedy is thought to be effective. Homeopaths also use repertories, which list signs and symptoms, and for each give the remedies thought to be effective for that sign or symptom. For example, insomnia can be treated by the coffee bean remedy, Coffea cruda (coffee contains the central nervous system stimulants caffeine and theophylline or a common cold can be treated by the onion remedy Allium cepa (onions make the eyes water. For Hahnemann, as for conventional medical doctors in the late 18th century, working before the advent of science and modern medicine, the human body was a black box; a medicine goes in and the effects (any change in symptoms) come out, there being no knowledge of or much interest in ‘the in between’.

The principles underlying the veterinary use of drug-based and homeopathic products are polar opposites; this provides the basis for comparison between them. In veterinary medicine, it is less easy to conceive if and how an animal can distinguish mentally between a homeopathic and drug-based product, if both are identical in presentation and similarly administered. For the huge majority of medical conditions, a placebo effect seems to be unlikely and counter intuitive, particularly as an animal cannot normally be expected to have the cognitive capacity to expect recovery or healing. Various forms of like-cures-like concept were present in medical writings long predating Hahnemann, for example, Hippocrates in the 4th century BC and Paracelsus in the 16^th century and the general concept was present among medics in the late 18th century. The Reverend Edward Stone of Chipping Norton described in 1795 (one year ahead of Hahnemann) the treatment of agues by the willow (bark and leaves) noting, ‘as this tree delights in a moist or wet soil, where agues (fever) chiefly abound the general maxim that many natural maladies carry their cures along with them or that their remedies lie not far from their causes was so very apposite to this particular case that I could not help applying it. As we now know that, there is a conventional pharmacological explanation; the willow contains the glycoside salicin, which has anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects. With advances in chemistry, this led in 1865 to the first synthetic analgesic drug of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) class, salicylate; this then led in 1895 to acetylated salicylate, aspirin, followed by a plethora of drugs of the NSAID category. The general concept of ‘like-cures-like’ has been practiced by many cultures over the millennia.

Homeopathic remedies are derived from substances found in any of the three kingdoms (vegetable, mineral and animal) like herbs, minerals, and animal products, such as bee venom or cuttlefish ink. The substances are diluted repeatedly and agitated numerous times, so that only a miniscule amount, if any, of the original substance is actually present in the final product. This process is called “potentization,” and homeopaths have observed that the more a substance is potentized, the more deeply the medicine acts and the fewer the doses that are necessary for treatment. The following points shows the potencies ‘X’ Potency = substance is diluted at a 1/10 (decimal) dilutions.  ‘C’ Potency = Substance is diluted at a 1/100 (centesimal dilutions). ‘M’ Potency = Substance is diluted at a 1/1000. ‘Nanoparticles’ of the starting material have been demonstrated in some commercially available 30c and 200c remedies made from metals in India, presumably due to imperfect dilution, or contamination after dilution, during preparation. homeopathy, the “law of minimum dose” holds that the more diluted a homeopathic preparation is, the greater its effectiveness will be. Strength of homeopathic preparations is indicated by the dilution ratio (C for a 1:100 dilution; X for a 1:10 dilution) and number of successive dilutions. Thus, a 5C preparation is a 1:100 dilution done 5 times. Dilutions beyond 12C (or 24X) are unlikely to contain a single molecule of the original substance.

Homeopathy involves matching as many symptoms as possible in a patient to the known effects of a remedy. Many of the early remedies were already in popular use in 18^th century medicine. Because patients often showed severe side effects when they received standard doses of medicines, early homeopaths directed their efforts at finding the minimum dose that was still therapeutic. Peculiarities of homoeopathy that make it a very sensible choice of treatment in animals are very safe to use, no side effects if the remedy used correctly, no suppression of symptoms for later, more vicious reappearance, no dependence on diagnosis but only a dependence on symptom observation, remedy appears to work with the body’s own disease-combating mechanisms to effect a cure and this constitutes a most natural, humane and effective method of cure and remedy are generally affordable. Both acute and chronic diseases are amenable to treatment with homeopathy. From the homeopathic perspective, acute diseases are diseases that are caused by external influences, such as injuries, poisonings, infectious diseases, etc. The symptoms that arose in these cases were considered to have an adaptive advantage in that they often resulted in neutralization or elimination of the noxious influence. Samuel Hahnemann later proposed that chronic diseases were also caused by the invasion of an external force, or ‘miasm’. To Hahnemann, symptoms that arose in response to this invasion represented the enduring action of this external force on the body. Some modern practitioners consider chronic disease symptoms as merely an initially constructive response to disease that has become enfeebled and ineffective over time. Chronic diseases from the homeopathic perspective include most common disease syndromes such as allergies, arthritis, skin problems, digestive disturbances, respiratory problems, musculoskeletal problems, organ disease, and cancer.

The components of homeopathic products are water (in some cases alcohol also), dissolved gases, impurities (a variety of inorganic and organic molecules of unknown amounts), and variable amounts of the ‘active’ agent, dependent on the degree of dilution, but less than one molecule at the high dilutions commonly used in practice and supplied as over-the-counter remedies. Remedies may be dispensed in liquid form, but can also be mixed with or dropped or sprayed on to other pharmaceutical preparations to create homeopathic creams, ointments, pills and tablets. Once formulated, there are minimal costs to marketing, only extremely limited regulatory requirements to be negotiated, with no comparisons with other products, homeopathic or otherwise, required. There are thousands of remedies in published homeopathic Materia Medica and available via the internet, with frequent new remedies being homeopathically ‘proved’ and used in practice. There appears to be no restriction on what can be used as an ‘active’ to create a remedy; ‘actives’ include viruses, bacteria, animals, plants, minerals, chemicals, conventional drugs, man-made objects, and physical radiations and energy fields (the last two referred to as ‘imponderables’ by Hahnemann and modern homeopaths). Examples include: honey bee (Apis mel), emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator), duck offal (Oscillococcinum), green iguana (Iguana iguana), human placenta (Placenta humanum [Welsh]), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), lava (Hekla lava), gunpowder (Carbon-sulphur-kali-nitricum), permethrin, condom (Latex vulcani), the Berlin Wall (Murus Berlinensis), Hadrian’s Wall (Vallum Aelium), car exhaust fumes, electricity (Electricitas), magnetic field (Magnetis poli ambo), emanations from televisions, X-rays (X-ray), and light from the planet Venus (Venus stella errans) – all of which can be found listed in homeopathic Material Medica or as homeopathic proving on the internet, and can be purchased from homeopathic pharmacies. Some homeopathic products contain sugar, but this is not claimed to be essential to efficacy (except in the homeopathic remedy Saccharum officinale, prepared from pure cane sugar as the ‘active’). Each remedy is claimed to possess specific healing properties, which can be used to treat only certain signs or symptoms, but not others, or only patients with certain characteristics, but not others; yet homeopaths appear to believe that all remedies exert their effects via a single (unknown) process.

Application of Homeopathy

Applications in practice homeopathy remedy can be used to treat a surprising number of conditions in both large and small animals. The success of the treatment of chronic conditions will vary according to the age of the patient, prior treatment history, diagnosis, and the patient’s vitality. Homeopathy is clinically useful as an adjunct therapy to manage post-operative pain and to speed up of injuries healing for example, in sprains, concussions, and insect stings. In such cases, the appropriate homeopathic remedy can minimize or eliminate swelling and pain, and shorten recovery time. It can be used in many types of inflammatory conditions, such as acute and chronic diarrhea, chronic gingivitis, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, and other conditions that may or may not be responsive to conventional therapies. It can also be very helpful in the treatment of many chronic conditions, such as arthritis and spondylosis.  It can be used to treat all types of acute and chronic skin conditions, including infections and allergies, and if used appropriately, may even be effective in the treatment of immune-mediated disorders. It has been credited with saving countless lives during epidemics of dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever in the age before antimicrobials (antibiotics). It can also be helpful in palliating discomfort associated with cancer. In large animals, indications are much the same. It can deal with many of the acute and chronic medical conditions seen in cattle and horses. It may be a useful therapy in some common conditions, such as downer syndrome in cows, mastitis, and colic in horses.

Common homeopathy remedy tabulated below for day-to-day veterinary practice:

References:

Boericke, W. 2008. Boericke’s New Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica with Repertory 3rd edn. B Jain Publishers.

Campbell, A. 2013. Homeopathy in Perspective: A Critical Appraisal. Anthony Campbell self-published.

Dooley, T. 1995. Homeopathy, Beyond Flat Earth Medicine. San Diego: Timing Publication. p34.

Fraser, J.G. 1922. Sympathetic magic. In The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. MacMillan Publishers.

Hahnemann, S. 1814. Materia Medica Pura. Arnold Publishers.

Hahnemann, S. 2002. Organon of Medicine 6th edn. W. Boericke translation. B. Jain Publishers.

Kayne, S.B. 2006. Homeopathic Pharmacy Theory and Practice. 2nd edn Elsevier.

Porter, R. 1997.  Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. Harper Collins Publishers.

Ullman, D. 1998. Homeopathic medicine: Principles and research. In Schoen AM, Wynn SG eds: Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine: Principles and Practice. St. Louis: Mosby. Pp. 469-484.

Vockeroth, W G. 1999. Veterinary homeopathy: an overview. Can Vet J.  40(8): 592–594.

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