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of prescription from the constitutional approach or the pathological option to organ prescribing and consideration of the bowel nosodes. He described his way of conducting the consultation and history taking, where he concentrates on the critical aspects for the remedy selection. This was illustrated by a number of cases and sometimes only a photo of the patient, where we could try and guess the remedy from the appearance of the patient.
Then Peter Gregory presented in his familiar style the subject of Beatles, Bach or Beyonce, looking at the use of music rubrics in animals. He showed how his own dog reacts to his accordion playing, and then discussed some of the rubrics he has found useful. He presented a case of a Dobermann with skin disease where the rubric Mind - Music ameliorates was critical in indicating Aurum muriaticum natronatum.
In the evening, we all met up for a cocktail dinner and music with dancing till late.
Sunday started with a presentation from Cinzia Ciarmatori from Italy, relating the sad but heart- warming story of ‘Harlock’, a female Blue-and-Yellow Macaw who had been exhibiting symptoms of feather- plucking syndrome for at least 5 years. She had been treated for Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD). despite having no confirmatory symptoms or testing.
Finally, under Cinza’s care , a change in diet and an integrated medicine approach, including homeopathic Pulsatilla, Bach Flower Remedies, and nutraceuticals set Harlock on her healing journey.
We then had the privilege of meeting the first Slovenian presenter, Veronika Preskar, who presented Molly, a 13- year-old Gordon Setter, who had suddenly become
anxious and nervous, impatient and restless, and had a wart on the right eye lid (a Meibomian mass). We heard how Argentum nitricum helped the dog – both with the local and the metal symptoms. Veronika then presented Arg. nit. as a remedy with all the indications it represents. After the break we were ready to hear Doerte von Bremen from Germany talking about the daily challenges of a mixed practice in Bavaria using homeopathic treatment. According to Doerte, the advantages of treating with homeopathy are many, but she highlighted homeopathy’s gentle way of treating different species effectively, in acute as well as chronic cases; also how you can treat many conditions in many patients with only a few potencies of the most used remedies. Doerte presented cases to illustrate her approach to managing fever in a ewe with an infected teat just after lambing, a cough and bacterial infection of a hen and a recurring sore eye during heat in a minipig.
After that we had the pleasure of another Slovenian presenter, Špela Suhač on treating a geriatric horse with elevated ACTH plasma concentration with classical homeopathy. Špela presented the clinical signs of Equine Cushing’s disease and how it is diagnosed with a blood sample. Then she presented a case of a 30-year-old castrated warmblood horse diagnosed with Cushing’s. The horse had been in Špela’s care since 2015 and she therefore knew the horse very well. The horse was given Ignatia in high potency and pituitary gland in low potency as an organ support. Six weeks after start, the blood levels dropped significantly, but most importantly, the general well-being of the horse improved alongside.
After lunch, ‘over to something completely different’ as they say... Flemming Wested Larsen from Denmark had been asked to give a presentation on the Effects of CBD (cannabis) oil and his extended experience, with the
history of and application of CBD oil in patients. He talked about the End-cannabinoid system, which all living beings have and how the cannabinoids have been shown to work with this system in the body. He also touched on legislation within the EU and how the different cannabinoids have receptors in different organs in the body. This is obviously not homeopathy but another modality which can be used to support animals in illness and health.
Last presenter was Malene Jorgensen, who had the pleasure of trying to keep people awake after so many interesting lectures that late in the day. She gave a lecture on Bones and raw food (BARF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats. We can now stage CKD and by measuring SDMA in the blood it can be detected earlier. The causes of CKD lie in the way we choose to feed most cats with artificial dried food, but also by changing their diet and giving them supplements and other ‘strange’ and unfamiliar things, such as medication and remedies. Perhaps less well known is the fact that cat vaccines are grown on feline kidney cells, which, when injected into cats, cause a chronic low-grade inflammation, each booster compounding the problem and eventually resulting in interstitial nephritis. Malene described some physiological specifics that make cats so prone to CKD and how these characteristics make them especially sensitive to feeding with commercial diets, above all the lack of hydration and the effect of dried food on kidney function in cats.
Malene finally gave her take on how to feed ‘kidney’ cats with BARF and how to treat these cats with homeopathy.
A very well-planned and delightful congress had come to an end. We thank the Slovenian colleagues for the hard work in planning and executing such an event. Next year we will meet in Germany ... watch this space!
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