June 7, 2003

I love homeopathy. It keeps my cats out of the vet's office and me out of a doctor's office. I don't have to spend money on blood tests, x-rays or drugs. I don't have to subject my cats to these procedures. It's all a very wonderful thing.

My cats are probably healthier than most, but they are not 100 percent healthy. They go through their various funks. They have vague symptoms and just seem off. Sometimes they work through whatever is ailing them without intervention on my part. Sometimes they'll need a homeopathic remedy or two.

Olie started going through a funk a few weeks ago. I could see discomfort in her face and eyes. There were no strong, guiding symptoms. She went through a similar funk maybe four months ago. I went through several remedies during that episode and it was Silicea that finished the case.

I spoke briefly with an animal communicator about Olie. I'm not sure I truly believe in animal communicators. I have mixed feelings about them. The pain the animal communicator said Olie was suffering from sounded like acid reflux (interesting, something I've been feeling lately). I chose Mercury as a possible remedy because it had that type of symptom and excessive salivation is there, something Olie had been doing.

To get a look inside Olie's mouth is close to impossible. Like most of my cats, she doesn't like to be restrained. She also doesn't like her head messed with. She had been eating well, so I surmised there could not be anything terrible going on in her mouth if she was eating without obvious discomfort.

Although I know she may have bad teeth or gums, however, since she was weaned on a raw diet and has not been vaccinated, there was a pretty good chance her teeth and gums are in good order.

After the Mercury, she perked up a bit, but did not recover completely. The conjunctive tissue around her left eye became swollen and red. Because I did not feel comfortable that I actually got the homeopathic pellets into her the first time around, I gave the Mercury again.

It is usually not a good idea to give two doses of the same homeopathic remedy. If you feel that you need to dose again, do it using the liquid method. This changes the potency ever so much.

In a day or two after I gave the second dose of Mercury, the left side of her face was horribly swollen and her eye was even more inflamed. Great, I thought, she has an abscess. The normal treatment for an abscess is antibiotics. If necessary, the abscess is lanced and drained. Unfortunately, treating an abscess with antibiotics tends to make the cat more susceptible to future abscesses. Cats seem to be particularly prone to abscesses from fighting. I don't know what is in their claws or teeth, but if I get bit or scratched, I often swell. Cat bites can be very dangerous to some people as they tend to get extremely infected.

Moon and Olie had been involved in several brawls - some quite severe. It all started about a month ago. I'm not positive what started it, they were sharing Olie's kittens, happy as two peas in a pod, then the sh*t hit the fan. I think it may have been due to two of the kittens getting stuck in a box that had tipped up due to their weight. The box was too narrow for either female to get in to retrieve the kittens. I'm sure the kittens were screaming bloody murder because they couldn't get out of the box. The two females probably got frantic because the kittens were screaming and they couldn't figure out how to help them - so they turned on each other. Great logic, right? Such is the mentality of a female cat with kittens. If something freaks you out, you tear up whatever cat is in the vicinity. I came into the room to Moon and Olie in a knock down, drag out fight. Kittens, fur, pee and stool was flying in all directions.

I managed to break them up and put them in separate rooms. It took over a week before they could even be in the same room together. Olie, usually a very good-natured cat, had turned into a Tasmanian Devil. Moon, who is now spayed, was not so driven to kill. She has done her share of cat killing in the past, but she's mellowed considerably.

After a couple of weeks, Moon and Olie could be trusted together with supervision, but I did not leave them alone. They were still having minor scuffles and swearing at each other. I think these violent fights contributed to the kittens' skittish behavior. It seems to be resolving now, but there was a time they were extremely timid.

I wasn't sure if Olie's abscess was due to an abscessed tooth or a puncture wound. She had no obvious wound and was still eating. With abscesses, I immediately think of the remedy, Silicea. Wiley went through an extended period of abscesses. Silicea was very instrumental in getting his abscesses to mature and drain. Unfortunately, since the last remedy Olie had received was Mercury, I couldn't give Silicea. Mercury and Silicea should not be given after the other. I resorted to applying hot compresses until I could figure out what remedy to give her. Olie was about as cooperative as a tiger. She's quite adept at rearing up on her hind legs and pushing my hand and the hot washcloth away.

I have not been as diligent about clipping my cats' claws as I should be. Need I tell you how my hands and arms looked after a few attempts at applying hot compresses to Olie? Remember I told you Olie salivated easily? Hot compresses were causing her to salivate terribly. I believe they were causing the abscess to drain in her mouth. Finally I got the bright idea of clipping her claws - which was another difficult procedure. Darned cat!

Hot compresses, at least not on a frequent basis, were not going to be an option for Olie. I needed to find another remedy to get the abscess to mature and drain. I chose Hepar Sulphuris Calcareum ("Hepar Sulph") - another abscess remedy, but not one I've ever used for abscesses. One of the guiding symptoms was that her puss was mixed with blood. I gave the Hepar Sulph and continued to apply hot compresses as frequently as I could. A day after the Hepar I saw the cut under Olie's eye. It was quite large and very close to her eye. It drained pus and blood and soon her face returned to normal. She was much more cooperative about the hot compresses once it started draining. The pressure of the puss was probably painful.

A couple caveats here. Unless you are experienced in using homeopathy or working with an experienced homeopath, use care in treating abscesses. Hepar Sulph, if given in an incorrect dose, can cause an abscess to suppurate (develop more puss) as can Silicea.

Do not use calendula tea on an abscessed area as calendula will hasten healing and cause the wound to heal prematurely. You want it to stay open and drain.

Antibiotics, even natural antibiotics, are suppressive. A healthy cat should not abscess. Using antibiotics to kill the bacteria is not doing the cat any good. Homeopathy, if used properly, will cure the cat. Killing bacteria is not curing the cat.

I admit Olie is not 100 percent healthy. She's run down right now from raising this litter of kittens. The stress of fighting with Moon has taken its toll as well. Stress makes cats more susceptible. I can only hope that with each episode that I use homeopathy to treat her instead of suppressive medicine, she'll move closer to perfect health.

June 8, 2003

If I kept my concern within my circle of influence - meaning things I have control over — I'd be far better off. Thinking about the sick cat (Sweetie) disrupted my weekend. That should not have happened. I have no control over what's happening to a lady and her cat in some other part of the world. All I can do is send them loving and healing thoughts. Hitting the send button now.

In thinking about what is in my circle of influence, I realize it is not much. Even my own cats are not in my control. They can get sick or die and I may have little chance to do anything about it. Look at what happened to Tippy.

There is a lot to be said for keeping your nose out of other people's business. Perhaps even being on an Internet mailing list is too much of a temptation to try to step outside of my circle. I notice on one list there's discussion about Colloidal Silver ("CS") and homeopathy. I think CS is nothing more than expensive water, I always have. Occasionally, when I'm in a "grasping" mood, I try it, and it never works. If it does kill bacteria, etc., as CS supporters will tell you — that's all fine and good. Even though it's "natural" it's still a killer of bacteria. I wish more people would understand it's not the bacteria (viruses or germs) (hereafter "BVG") - it's the susceptibility of the individual to the BVG. If the individual is healthy, the BVG does not make him ill. It's unhealthy individuals who are troubled by BVG.

So, these people who have cats who have been (or may be) exposed to BVG, or a cat exhibiting URI symptoms, or a puppy with Parvo, or a cat with an abscess, or ringworm, out comes the CS (if they prefer to take a natural approach, if not, out comes the Zithromax, Baytril, or other conventional drug). Maybe it does kill BVG, but is the animal made healthier by use of CS? No. The organism is killed — by a liquid with antibiotic properties. The animal's immune system does little, if any, work towards a cure. It's a crutch, nothing more. A life preserver in the ever growing sea of BVG.

Heck, I saw someone on another list suggest the use of homeopathic cortisone (if there is such a thing) to treat a cat with asthma. This would be used in place of conventional steroids. Is this going to cure the animal? No. I'm sure homeopathy could cure the cat, if used properly.

There are no quick fixes, no silver bullets. Good health takes work — lots of work! No one is going to get a second body. You need to treat the one you have with respect. Think about what you use on your animals before using it. Think, is this going to cure or is it just going to make the symptoms go away? Sure CS may make BVG go away, but what happens when the animal comes in contact with BVG again? Will he get sick again? Most likely.

I have been helping a lady with a kitten she rescued on Thanksgiving. She does not know what happened to the kitten, but when she found her, the kitten's hindquarters and tail were extremely torn up. It looked like an animal had attacked her, she got caught in a trap or hit by a car. She needed extensive surgery during which her tail was amputated. She did okay for a while, then suddenly spiked a high fever and became nearly paralyzed. The kitten's caregiver went the allopathic route and then worked with an inexperienced homeopath. The kitten was not recovering. She asked for my help.

The kitten was down for several weeks before she finally recovered, only to relapse a few weeks later. I expected this and warned the caregiver so she was not overly upset when the kitten got sick again. The relapse was almost as bad as the initial crisis, but it didn't last as long. She relapsed two more times, each less severe than the previous. She's been fine for a couple of months now and I expect she'll stay that way.

Who knows what went on with this kitten or what was causing her illness. She was patched up by a country vet. Maybe his facilities were not as clean as they should have been and she had some latent infection. I was worried about her during the initial illness and first relapse. I didn't think she was going to make it. I have to give her caregiver a lot of credit. She hung in there when many would have given up and brought the kitten to a conventional vet. I considered telling her to go to a vet for an evaluation, but I know from experience, they have no idea about these kinds of weird illnesses. They would have done x-rays, blood tests and prescribed antibiotics and steroids. Would that therapy have cured this kitten? I doubt it.

Unvaccinated (and sometimes vaccinated) kittens tend to go through these vague illnesses. I've seen them go down, spike high fevers and even become paralyzed. They do pull through. Sometimes it takes weeks, even months for them to recover, but they do. The blue patch tabby kitten in Olie's litter went off. She wasn't eating well, got quite thin and slept all the time. I thought about giving her a remedy, but I did not. A period of time (I don't know how long, the days all run into each other lately) passed and she recovered. Currently, the solid blue boy is going through his "thing." I'm sure he'll be fine in his own good time. Meanwhile, all I can do is watch and if necessary, administer a remedy.

Until later ...

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