Page 13 - Spring 14

Epidemic Homeopathy
– a case report By Neil Coode, UK
Background
A local dog rescue charity works with a kennel in Ireland. Dogs abandoned there are brought back to England for rehoming. Often groups of twenty to thirty abandoned pups are collected. Unfortunately, in most cases, they bring disease with them. The most common scenario is severe haemorrhagic gastroenteritis, starting approximately 48 hours after arrival. It can be peracute - pups can go from happy and healthy to moribund in a matter of hours, sometimes in less than an hour. Faecal analysis on previous occasions has found Campylobacter jejuni most frequently, with some instances of Parvovirus and haemolytic E.coli. Other occa- sional isolates include giardia, isospora and cryptosporidia. Most dogs also have positive worm counts despite being wormed on arrival in England.
This report concerns 21 pups, believed to be labrador crosses, out of a group of 23 brought over together. There were 9 dogs and 12 bitches, roughly 12 weeks old. They were presented over a period of 23 days with vomit- ing and diarrhoea, often including blood. Most were depressed & dehydrated. My practice has 3 vets, but I am the only homeopath, so the ini- tial treatment was conventional. We threw the book at them. Initially pups were given intra- venous fluids, fenbendazole, Prokolin and erythromycin. Those with severe vomiting received maropitant or metoclopramide. Pups were also given other antibiotics (metronidazole and clavulanate potentiated amoxycillin);
Advocate; milbemycin; meloxicam; buprenor- phine; ranitidine; Duphalyte; vitamin B12; and Dorwest Garlic & Fenugreek tablets.
Despite all our efforts, 11 days into the epi- demic we had treated 10 dogs. 8 had died.
It was now the Saturday of my weekend on duty, and we were admitting another 7 pups. The situation could be summarised as follows:-
We had 9 pups in a cattery designed for a maximum of 7.
We were trying to run 9 i/v drips with only 4 drivers.
Mortality was running at 80%. Cleaning up was like painting the Forth Bridge - as soon as we got to the last kennel it was time to start again at the first one.
I called the lady who runs the rescue, to discuss our approach. We agreed that our mor- tality rates couldn't get much worse and that a new approach, using homeopathy, was worth a try. (I found out later that she thought I was going to ask her to take her business elsewhere & would have agreed to anything!)
Our new treatment plan
Stop all conventional drugs; stop all i/v fluids (risky); feed little & often – Hills a/d or Waltham Sensitivity Control plus probiotics (Prokolin Enterogenic).
Oral fluids were given – only water as the pups disliked rehydration fluids.
I also planned to give each pup an appro- priate homeopathic remedy.
At this point I naively expected to find a Genus Epidemicus – a specific remedy with which I could treat all the patients. No such luck. I actually had to prescribe individually for each pup. My final list of remedies used was:
Arsenicum album 30
Phosphorus 12x + Gaertner 30
Aconite 30
Nux vomica 30
Veratrum album 30
China 30
Apomorphine 6 (prepared radionically – pot to pot)
Phosphorus 30
Ipecachuana 30
Camphora 30
The results of the new plan
Over the following 12 days we treated a further 11 pups (plus the 2 surviving from the original treatment). One pup needed i/v fluids and one was given metoclopramide on 3 occasions (when I was not present at the surgery). In this group only 1 pup died - 9% mortality - a con- siderable improvement over the original 80%. The pup that died did so, in my opinion, because I gave the wrong remedy. He pre- sented cold, collapsed & pale. He looked dead.
I gave China, but should have given Carbo veg- etabilis. He died within half an hour of arrival.
Discussion
I found this kind of working very interesting, I suspect that most veterinary homeopaths very rarely get the chance to do this sort of homeop- athy. Usually we see individual patients and obtain a long and detailed history; here I had lots of patients, with virtually no history, literally dropping dead around me. I knew there was emotional trauma - 6 of the pups were brought in in the sack they were going to be drowned in (I didn't know which 6). Ignatia might have been useful.
It was fascinating to realize how much infor- mation was obtainable just by watching the pups. For example:
Demeanour – did they want attention or not? Did they want to lie on the heat pad, or did they
avoid it?
Did they want to eat or drink? How much in one
go?
Were they dehydrated? Were they exhausted? Were they vomiting, having diarrhoea or both? Was there blood? If so, was it fresh or dark? Was there retching? Simple vomiting or projec-
tile / purging?
To select my remedies I started by looking up ‘Vomiting’ in the repertory, and reading through all the black-type remedies in Boericke. I mainly chose polychrests as they have a wider spec- trum of action so were more likely to help even if they weren't the true similimum. They were also more likely to be remedies I actually had in stock.
Remedies in this situation act rapidly - if there was no improvement in 2 hours the rem- edy was changed. Pups were reassessed every 2-4 hours as the picture could change rapidly. Some pups required several different remedies, others stayed the same. I suspect that those with many changes didn't have the true simili- mum. It was necessary to use repeat doses of remedies.
Homeopathy has become rather ethereal in the last decade or so. Here I was using keynote prescribing. I thought it worth including the pre- scribing indications I used for each remedy on my list, to illustrate just how basic pictures can be to still give good efficacy:
Arsenicum album 30: Vomiting and diar- rhoea, chilly, anxious, wary of taking anything, drinks sips
Phosphorus 30: Vomit with fresh blood. Water vomited as soon as gets warm in stomach. Stool involuntary with open anus. Want atten- tion. ‘Milk it’ – look very ill when looking at them but up at cage door if looking at some- one else.
continued on page 13
11