Page 8 - Spring 14

Lac Fel ‘Biscuit’
This nice mixed breed Patterdale cross came to see me for aggressive behaviour. She is called Biscuit. She had been treated for autoimmune platelet depletion 3 years before this consultation with prednisolone and she had recuperated very well from this episode.
by Edward de Beukelaer, UK
‘The mother was a 1/2 Patterdale terrier, she did not really want the puppy, she was terrified of the two ridgebacks in the home, she was born, so we took her with us. She was very ter- rified, when she came and she was awfully car sick, throwing up lots. She was fine with Bella the other dog we have. She likes to see people but is always submissive. We took her out to equine competitions and she was always horri- ble to all the other dogs, hackles up, always snarling. She took to Bella, our other dog, no problem, always played nicely, they acknow- ledged each other. She has been trying to be more dominating but Bella puts her in her place.
She is cat like, she walks on the back of sofa's, she licks the air, when there is food around. She senses I come up with the Frontline and she is shivering and runs off and hides. She is brave in the garden: she chases the muntjacs (little deer). Once she has a scent, no matter what, she won’t come back, unless I say ‘are you hungry’ and then she comes back.
She likes to get up on chairs, under the table, on the chair, any clothing she wraps her- self up in it, small spaces, a little basket, she will be curled into a small basket. She will snarl at any dog and puts her hackles up and she is very anti social with other dogs. Recently we had friends over, who have really well-behaved dogs. They took no notice of her and she decided to go and snap at the spaniel, she is always snarling.
She does the same to Otis, Bella hates Cesar as well. (Cesar is the new 3 month old new pup in the house, a German pointer dog. The pup is already outgrowing Biscuit). She snarled at the pup right from the beginning. (this is one of the main reasons for the consul- tation). She now will take the things of the pup and runs away with it, I am sure she thinks the pup has a better time than her.
She is very greedy. She never attacked the pup but she will always be at a distance growling.
She was easy to train etc, never begs at the table (Bella
does). She waits in hope at a distance and if you look at her, she looks away. If she sees a rabbit she is gone. She is very successful and she catches and kills the rabbits.
She used to be quite traumatised, when she came back from having been hunting away for some time, she is in a state, we have kept her on the lead for a while, now she is better. If she does not see anything, she is ok. She was on the lead in the garden for a long time and when she came back, she would hide in a cor- ner, she would ignore us. We went out search- ing for her a few times. She used to come back in a state of excitement; she was adrenalized, was going around in a circle and then went in a quiet corner. She had to go off in a dark corner or be somewhere, where she felt safe, She would be there calming down for a long time, she came in running around in circles, running in and out.
She loves to be on our laps, she likes to get in between and sleep right next to us, she was told not to come up and now she does not do this anymore. She is not worried about fire work etc. She does not even acknowledge Bella, when she is worried about the fireworks.
She came down with the autoimmune dis- ease coming back from running away hunting. She was fine going on a walk with the two nice dogs. It was when they came too close, she would start to snarl at them, even after a few days, she would not get on with them. If you pet Bella, Biscuit always pushes in; she always wants to be the favourite.
She was with the two ridgebacks, who played with her, when she was between 8 and 12 weeks, before she came to us, the owner was afraid, they might kill her. She is fine in the car now. She is always very friendly with people, anybody, everybody is fine. She is on her back to have her tummy rubbed: me, me, me, me!
There is hysterical jumping around, when we come down in the morning and she is mak- ing such a noise! When we have been away, she shrieks, wanting attention. She is getting the message of calming down now, when we ignore her.
She refuses no food, she is the greediest dog. She eats till the stomach explodes, she hangs around the pup for food and is always turning around the pup to grab his Kong. Previously she was not interested in Kongs. She snaps treats out of our hands. We have to be careful, otherwise she may catch our fingers. She eats in 1/2 second, she does not drink that
much.
She is not frightened of anything: she will be barking and running around the garden. She will be ratting around the horses but she is not interested in the horses. She has no problems staying
with the grooms. Both dogs sit really close to the Aga. If it pours with rain, she will do a U turn, she does not like the snow, she shivers. She does not tolerate a dog coat; she just stands there and does not move. She had a few sea- sons and they were normal.
The walking over the back of the sofa seems very cat-like. She has an irrational fear of anything that is done to her: removing a tick and putting Frontline on her back really terrifies her. She does not like brushing either. She is never very relaxed with us, she is always wor- ried, you are going to do something to her, I check her skin and she is uptight about it.
She never liked the neighbour, who is a cat woman. She is a very gentle lady. Since the pup has arrived, she has behaved normally to her. She does not like cats and she climbs in the tree to get to them. Since the pup is there, she spends her time in the cloakroom and only come for food.
She is very sensitive to all things that hap- pen to her, she is clever. She behaved like a pup for years and she took a long time to grow up.
After eating she will hold her head in the air and plays around with her tongue, licking the air. Her belly often gets enormously large after eating.
Repetorisation
1 Mind , fear, of being hurt + fear of injury + fear touched + touched aversion
2 Stomach distension, eating after agg
Lac felinum is in this repertorisation (covering the two rubric groups). With all the references to cats in this case I prescribe Lac-fel 30C for 5 days.
She improved in weeks and has come to tolerate the pup. She allowed the pup to lick her face. This improvement is still there 2 years later. The owner does not feel any need for fur- ther prescriptions. She is still a funny girl but nicely balanced.
A few months later she had another funny fear/agitation episode with a distended abdomen, which responded in a few hours to the remedy. T
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