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A Tail of Two Brothers by Chris Almond, UK
Nine years ago I treated a ginger & white neutered male cat called Squeak. The owner had acquired him and his brother Bubble from the Cat’s Protection League two years previously. Squeak had a large sym- metrically placed area of severe ulceration in the midline of his anterior thorax. He had had several doses of vaccine and other injections in the area, which had become ulcerated. He was being treated with Ovarid at the time of my examination, and appeared very depressed. He spent a lot of time hiding in cupboards. The symptoms, which I used in the repertorisation, were:
Mind-Restlessness-anxious/Mind consolation –agg./Face itching/Head heat-flushes of/Skin-itching-scratching-raw;must scratch until it is/Stomach eructations;Type of-food/Generals-wounds-penetrat- ing, punctured/Generals-Vaccination after/Generals-Heated,becoming
The most striking symptom described by the owner was that Squeak frequently had flushes of heat, which affected his ears, the top of his head and caused him to scratch the lesion on his thorax violently. He became overheated easily, even though he liked to be out in the sun, which made his condition worse.
The repertorisation placed sulphur 4th in line using the sum of symp- toms and degrees.
Squeak was prescribed Sulphur 200c twice daily for 5 days, and the dose of Ovarid was gradually reduced from this time. Prednisolone 6c was used as an intercurrent remedy to counteract the effects of the Ovarid. Within a few days of starting treatment, Squeak stopped scratching the lesion and it began to heal. The Ovarid was stopped after 3 months. Complete resolution of the lesion took nearly a year and the
IAVH Newsletter
President’s letter
Dear friends,
Here in the Northern hemisphere, the nights are getting shorter and the days longer; the light is returning. Because the majority of our members, and all our officers, live in such areas, it easy to forget that ours is a global organisation, and we already have
several members in the Southern hemisphere, including countries such as Australia, South Africa and Brazil. We can now welcome more colleagues from South America to our midst in the form of the Fundacion Instituto Colombiano de Homeopatía. We offer a warm welcome to Marcela Muñoz, the Colombian National Representative, and her colleagues.
On the European front, we hear that the EU initiative to investigate
Sulphur was repeated on 3 further occasions when there were signs of a relapse. Eventually hair grew back on the site.
At the time I was treating Squeak, his brother Bubble appeared to be healthy. He developed problems after his owner moved house. Both Bubble and Squeak looked identical in appearance. They were both rather overweight ginger and white cats. After the house move, Bubble started to scratch his chin. This area appeared red and swollen. He tended to be dominated by his brother and appeared to be jealous of him. He had stopped going out into the garden, since a pheasant and also a dog, which had got into the garden, frightened him. Before his current owner had rescued him, he had been shot with an air rifle and also attacked by a dog. In contrast to his brother, he was a very chilly individual, who was always finding warm places to sleep, and he refused to leave the house in the winter. He could appear very irritable and could become vicious when stressed.
I was unable to find a suitable remedy using repertorisation. Using kingdoms and miasms, Bubble appeared to suit a plant remedy associ- ated with the miasms of psora and sycosis. These pointers, together with chilliness and the abuse and injury he had suffered suggested Staphisagria. I prescribed Staphisagria 1M given as a single divided dose. After a week, his owner reported that he had stopped scratching his chin, appeared much happier and was going out into the garden all day. After a month, there were signs of him starting to scratch his chin. The remedy was repeated at the same potency and the condition resolved.
I found treating two brothers, who looked like identical twins to be a fascinating experience. They appeared to be complete opposites, partic- ularly in relation to their heat modalities.
alternative ways of treating and preventing bacterial disease in farm ani- mals has been approved for funding, so we look forward to making an input into this project. And now to some exciting news for all our mem- bers, wherever you may be. You may be aware that for some years, Jacques Milleman has been working on our behalf to create a veterinary homeopathic materia medica (its official title is ‘Materia Medica Veterinaria Homeopathica’, or MMVH). Many members of the IAVH have contributed material, and Jacques collated it all, and translated it into French. Subsequently a version was published in German, but so far we have been unable to create an English edition. After much negotiation we have come to the decision that we will attempt to publish it in sections, exclusively to our members. We hope to circulate a pdf file by email four times a year. For this we have to thank Edward de Beukelaer, our Belgian colleague, who lives in the UK, who has volunteered to do the transla- tions. This is an enormous undertaking, and will occupy Edward and the
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