Page 11 - Spring 23

dermatitis. Homeopathy was tried as a last resort before euthanasia. He had been fine for the first 3 years of life, then developed intense itching. Treatment with conventional medicine didn’t provide any long-term alleviation. He was treated with Kali carb. and Nat mur. before finally receiving Positronium, whereupon all symptoms improved dramatically.
Then Helene Widmann from Austria enrichened us on the value of the use of bowel nosodes in gastro-intestinal disease in rabbits. First we got a brief reminder of the basics in rabbit medicine and general treatment before Helene presented 2 cases from practice:
1. Flocki, an entire male with a head tilt and poor general condition. He was treated by another vet for E. canniculi but he had also overgrown teeth and was only eating grated or liquid food. His droppings were small and smeary in spite of intensive supportive care. After trying other remedies, he received Sycotic Co C200 because of the strong affinity to mucosal membranes and chronic
irritation of GI tract, offensive stools etc, with which he improved long-term.
2. Sunny, a castrated male with a previously fractured metatarsus, which was treated with a cast. He had also struggled with dental problems until he was presented in the clinic with gastric overload. He recovered on conventional treatment, but his droppings remained smeary and not well digested. After Nux vom. and Colocynthis he was given Proteus, because of his outbursts of violent temper and sudden acute GI symptoms. He never needed to be treated as an emergency again.
The next contribution came from Walter Baroni, Italy, who is not a vet but a sociologist. He presented a very interesting take on ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Science, Mythology and Reality of Scientific Work’. His interest in this subject was spurred on during the pandemic with its daily bombardment of advice, views and
opinions from different specialist and medics, who also criticised each other for not being responsive or responsible enough. He explained what in his view science means to Italian pandemic experts: science can be considered a synonym for scientific rigour, peer review, blinded experiments; pure longing for truth, modesty, worldwide sharing, discussions bereft of personal or selfish interests, and only devoted to the greatest good for humanity; years spent in the tense atmosphere of laboratories breeding the best and brightest talents of the word. Walter posed the question ‘So what really is science?’ His answer: It is not only the scientific method – notwithstanding the latter's importance – or the interplay of data sharing and refutations or empiricism. In its original Greek formulation, science arises as a critical enterprise against the mythological explanation of the cosmos. Science is an anarchic experience , not a law-and- order experience. Scientific anarchism and human conflict are science's innermost essence. And we must preserve them.
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