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coronary band. Neither of these was apparent in this case. Hep has the ability to encourage either drainage, when a low potency is used, or absorption of the abscess, when given in high potency. High potencies can be particularly beneficial in cases where drainage might cause additional complication or discomfort for the animal, where it’s difficult to predict where the site of drainage would occur, or when there’s the possibility of drainage into a body cavity. When administered in an intermediate potency, such as 30C, Hep tends to support the body in healing the abscess through drainage or absorption, whichever is optimum.3,4 All things considered, Hep was the obvious choice in treating the first fawn. Having seen a clear positive outcome in that case, I made the same choice when the second fawn appeared with a nearly identical presentation, again with good results.
Comments on Dosing Options
• While medicating the water carries the risk that
other animals will also drink from that source and receive a dose, the associated risks are far fewer than with pharmaceutical drugs, particularly if the homeopathic medicine is given in a lower potency.
• That risk might be further mitigated by providing multiple water sources and medicating only one. It has often been observed that animals will sense the presence of a homeopathic medicine and choose whether to drink from the trough that has been medicated or the one that has not.
• Controlling the frequency of dosing is often imprecise, but it can be managed by removing the medicated water after the animal being treated has visited the source. If it’s possible to observe the animal visiting the trough it’s easy enough to monitor dosing. If not, we can surmise when a dose has been taken based on the frequency of visits to the area (e.g., after a day in areas where a herd of
deer passes through once a day, or perhaps after an
hour or two for a bird who frequents the area).
• In some circumstances it may also be possible to offer the homeopathic medicine in a food source. Since homeopathic preparations are readily palatable, it’s unlikely the animal we’re treating will resist taking it. It may also be easier to target the animal we want to treat, as in the case of placing the pellets in an apple and offering directly. In other cases it may be necessary to treat a supply of food (e.g., medicating a ration of seeds offered to birds), similar to the way a water source is treated, in which case the same principles would apply as described
above.
While none of these scenarios is ideal (we’d rather administer a homeopathic medicine directly to the individual on a controlled dosing schedule) the option to offer aid to an animal in the wild is one of the gifts we enjoy as homeopaths. And as both cases demonstrate, with the ability to choose a homeopathic medicine without a definitive diagnosis, homeopathy puts us ahead of the game from the start. We have a unique opportunity when we choose to be watchful of the condition of wildlife in our midst, and to take action even when we have minimal information or access to the animal. The rewards can be significant and obvious for the wild animal, as in the case of the deer with lumpy jaw. But the rewards are enormous for us as well.
References
1. MJR Miller, RD Dawson, and H Schwatnje. Lumpy Jaw. Manual of Common Diseases and Parasites of Wildlife in Northern British Columbia Second Edition, 2014.
2. http://wildlifedisease.unbc.ca/lumpy_jaw.htm
3. Murphy R. Lotus Materia Medica: 1,400 Homeopathic and Herbal Remedies, 3rd edition, New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers, Ltd., 2010.
4. Boericke W. Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica, Comprising the Characteristic and Guiding Symptoms of All Remedies [Clinical and Pathological], 9th edition, Philadelphia: Boericke & Runyon, n.d.