HISTORY OF MY DIET

(Continued)

Enter Homeopathy

I rented a car, packed up Pumpkin and drove the two plus hours to Williamsburg for my appointment with Dr. Jeffrey Levy. Although most homeopathic veterinarians will do telephone consultations, since his office was within driving distance, I elected to drive to the appointment.

An appointment with a homeopathic veterinarian is very different than what you might be used to. When you visit a conventional vet the animal is weighed, it's temperature taken and the ears, eyes and mouth are examined. The vet will then address the reason why the appointment was made in the first place.

A visit to a homeopathic veterinarian usually begins with taking a medical history on the animal, vaccinations given, reactions, past illnesses, medication used, etc. Then the true homeopathic consultation begins. It's similar to a psychiatric examination. Questions such as heat/cold preferences; food preferences; reactions to foods, if any; strange and unusual behaviors; fears, likes, dislikes are asked.

The Appointment

Although I had read everything I could get my hands on about homeopathy, I was very concerned about how this appointment was going. I thought Pumpkin had some horrible disease (like cancer) and was slowly wasting away. Here this vet is asking me if she likes to be near the warmth or prefers cold. My purpose for being there is for this cat to be fixed, not to discuss her temperature preferences!

Dr. Levy was much more concerned about Pumpkin's mental symptoms, which were very complex, than he was about her not eating. A healthy cat will eat just about anything, he told me. He went down the line looking at her food preferences, temperature preferences, etc. After an hour and a half consultation, he picked the remedy Ignatia. Pumpkin received the remedy in his office and we went home.

NOTE 10/31/00: If you have a cat that is not eating, please do not start giving the cat Ignatia in hopes it will make him or her eat. It probably will not. Ignatia was prescribed for Pumpkin's particular symptoms. Since Pumpkin I have not used Ignatia on another cat for anything. Ignatia is a big grief remedy. If you have a cat that is grieving for a lost companion or a queen from a lost litter (or if you are grieving for a lost cat), then Ignatia would probably be a good remedy to consider. END NOTE

The Cure

One of the most difficult things about homeopathy is waiting. Unless it is in an acute case (which Pumpkin's was not), the cure is usually not immediate. I must have drove Dr. Levy crazy calling every other day to tell him there was no change. He kept telling me it wasn't long enough to say that the remedy wasn't working. Give it time, be patient, he kept telling me. I continued to feed Rooney his raw diet, leaving a plate available for Pumpkin, who continued to ignore it. Imagine my elation when, approximately three weeks after her remedy, Pumpkin tentatively dragged a piece of raw chicken off the plate and ate it. She never turned back.

The change in Pumpkin was extraordinary. If it is possible, there was a whole new aura about her. She ate, was more outgoing and less skittish. She truly was a different cat.

My tribe started to grow as I began to show. After seeing the change in Pumpkin, I decided that all my cats needed to be treated homeopathically. One by one I did work-ups on them. This eventually put me in the poor house. It really wasn't necessary to treat all of the cats I brought to Dr. Levy throughout the following months, but I had discovered this miraculous healing method and wanted all of my cats to be under constitutional treatment.

I've since learned a lot about homeopathy and am enrolled in the Devon School of Homeopathy North Atlantic Correspondence Course. I follow the daily homeopathy list at lyghtforce.com, constantly read and learn about new remedies. Although I still consult with a homeopathic veterinarian from time to time, I do a lot of the treatment on my own. Sometimes I find the right remedy right away, sometimes I don't. Homeopathy takes many, many years to learn. I may never master it in my lifetime. Given the option of going to a conventional veterinarian for a problem such as an upper respiratory infection, or looking for the right remedy, I'll go the homeopathy route every time. It's very rare that I go to a conventional veterinarian these days.

What the Heck is Homeopathy?