Page 20 - Winter 2011

Aggression toward Humans – Two Cases By Sara Fox Chapman, USA
I enjoy treating most behavioural problems with homeopathy. The glaring exception to this is aggression, particularly aggression directed toward humans. There are a few reasons for this. I don’t particularly enjoy the initial consult, where the patient is interested in doing me and/or someone else an injury, and I’m trying to maintain unconditional positive regard. In the longer term, I worry that my prescribing will not be effective or worse yet, that there will be an aggravation. I also find that the owners of aggressive animals may not be the most clued up about their little darling, and are unwilling or unable to take the steps necessary to keep oth- ers safe from their pet.
In the past ten years I have had four patients whose major problem was serious, unprovoked aggression. This isn’t the “I’ll bite you if you do something I don’t like” aggres- sion, but the “I’ll bite you if I feel like it” variety. Two patients were treatment failures. Both of them were chows; their owners could not do anything with their dog aside from feed and walk it. This made giving remedies a challenge, even with liquid LM potencies. I thought the first chow was improving until it bit me on the leg at the second recheck; the owner screamed and ran out of the room. I decided that this was not a situation with which I could work. The second dog did improve, but the owner discon- tinued the remedy because it was ‘too much trouble’ and the dog relapsed. Oh, well. Fortunately, the other two owners were more capable and sensible, and their pets were not
chows.
I first saw Billy, a 3 year old spayed female
Vizsla (Hungarian pointer) in September 2003. Billy had been ‘strange’ since repair of a vagi- nal stricture in October 2002. Before the repair she leaked urine from her vulva, but she was behaviourally normal. After the repair she leaked less urine, but she started biting chil- dren and the female owner. She bites if she feels she is cornered, or if people approach while she is on a bed, or if they bend over her. She may bite if she is trying to get tasty food that is dropped. She is more likely to bite if she is tired. The owner can predict the attacks at times because Billy stiffens and gets a fixed look in her eyes; the attack may follow very quickly, so there is not always time to prevent it. Billy has a dog friend with whom she goes for walks; she is afraid of some dogs and bossy with other dogs. She has never bitten another dog, and she will run to the owner if another dog ‘picks on’ her. She tries to keep other dogs away from “her” owner, pushing between if another dog solicits petting from her owner.
Billy has an underdeveloped vulva, with a very large opening with poor tone; she urinated during the examination. The rest of her physi- cally is normal. She dribbles after urinating and during sleep. She sometimes passes stringy yellow mucus from her vulva. Her diet is a very high quality kibble with supplemental meat and vegetables. She picks at the rug in the office, mouthing it and pulling at it gently; the owner reports that she does this with bedding at home
as well. Billy wants to be with the owner at all times and follows her through the house. Billy is sensitive to minor changes in the house or environment, noticing immediately if there is anything different anywhere on their walks and alerting to it repeatedly. Billy is extremely active in the office. She charges in and wants to meet and jump up on everyone. The owner keeps her back, and warns people about bending over her. When Billy is to be treated, it is safest to muzzle her first, because she acts as if she would bite.
I sent Billy home with Ovary 6 C twice daily to see if this could help the leaking problem. Long story short, it didn’t, and the owner con- tinued phenylpropanolamine.
The rubrics used for repertorisation were:
MIND, Irritability with sleeplessness MIND, Domineering, dictatorial MIND, Company desire
MIND, Jealousy
MIND, Desire to bite
MIND, Gestures, grasping, picks at bedclothes FEMALE, Infantile genitals
BLADDER, Urging , Involuntary urination GENERALS, Hypersensitive
The remedies which appeared prominently in the analysis were Lycopodium, Hyoscyamus, Arsenicum alb, Phosphorus, Nux-vom, Lachesis, Stramonium, Pulsatilla, Staphysagria.
I prescribed Hyoscyamus LM 1, once daily until progress, report in 2 weeks; recheck in 4 weeks. The owner was advised to decrease the
18