Page 4 - Summer 15

The Human Cat – Feline Lac Humanum case
October 2015, consultation in my surgery
Maya stayed in her basket for 10 minutes, and then came half way out, looking around. She then emerged tentatively, slinking and timid. She then went to the female owner and stayed next to her for a few minutes, before returning to her box. Then she did the same again, and jumped up and stayed on the lady's lap for a while, before returning to her box.
She seemed to have a small body compared to her head.
History
The owner got her in February 2013 from the RSPCA aged 18 months; she was tiny, hiding under a blanket She settled well at her new home, and quickly became confident and curious.
August 2014
On return from holidays Maya welcomed the owners home without sulking, but her coat had gone thin, especially her back, hind quarters and abdomen. It remained that way. The owners did not see excessive licking or grooming, but suspected she did this when on her own.
Maya is an indoor cat, partly by her own choice, showing no interest in going out. If the door is left open she stays inside and watches out the windows. She is very loving, enjoys cuddles 'she sits in my arms like a baby, and latches onto me' says the female owner, Sue.
She often kneads when on Sue. I ask ‘Who are you to Maya?’, and Sue replies ‘the surrogate mother’. I ask ‘what is the most extraordinary thing about Maya?’, and the male owner replies ‘The way she clings and attaches herself to Sue. She wants to be part of the human family – in fact she seems more human than feline’.
‘She would be sympathetic we think, but we are never ill or sad. She is never vicious, and is always sweet and forgiving. If a visitor arrives, she sits observing from the top of the piano. She notices animals on TV. She likes a lap as soon as we return, and occasionally with a visitor that she knows. If there are loud voices she goes to another room’. She drinks normally but the owner describes her as ‘secret drinking’ as if she doesn’t want to be seen.
She has a picky appetite, her favourite food is salmon, and she won’t touch milk, butter or cheese. She eats paper.
Analysis
There is not a lot to go on. She is sweet and gentle, which could be many remedies. The aetiology was probably being left when the owners went on holiday, and the neighbour came in and gave her food; again this could be many remedies. None of the usual possibilities e.g. puls, staph, nat-m, ign or carc seem right.
So what is unusual? Not a lot really!
So I listened to the owners’ words – ‘latched on’, ‘clings’, ‘attaches’ are all words, we would use to describe an animal suckling. The owner
by Geoff Johnson, UK
said ‘surrogate mother’, and ‘lies like a baby’, She is affectionate and likes a lap. She will not touch any dairy products, which is certainly unusual for a cat. A milk remedy would have to be considered. There is a rubric General – food and drinks – paper desires. This rubric originally only had lac-c, but has been expanded to two remedies with the addition of lac-f. This says to me that maybe any lac could be in there.
So I decide to try a lac – but which one? Maya does not seem like a predator, or particularly like a prey animal. The owners say: ‘she wants to be part of the human family’. She has no wish to go outside into nature, but likes the house. I decide to give lac humanum 200c.
After two weeks the owner phoned me ‘nothing has changed’ – so I tell them to wait. After four weeks the hair was re-growing, and she was fine for three months, when the hair again began to thin. So I repeated the remedy, and Maya has had no further problems to this date ten months later.
This is the first lac humanum cat I have had, and the case intrigues me. I had postulated that a domesticated animal needing lac-h might be very vicious, arrogant and dangerous. For the animals on our earth, there is no more cruel or dangerous beast than a human. This is not the case with Maya. I look forward to seeing more veterinary lac-h cases to possibly gain insight into what the animals think of us.
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