Introduction to Homoeopathy in the Feline

Introduction to Homoeopathy

General Principles

Homoeopathy is a system of medical treatment that looks at the animal as a whole, not just the illness from which the animal is suffering. The founder of modern medicine was an 18^th century doctor called Samuel Hahnemann at a time when conventional medicine was at best crude and often fatal. The principles of homoeopathy are two fold.

Let like be cured by like.

Homoeopathic remedies are effective in minute quantities.

Consider a common illness displaying symptoms that are easily recognized - a viral throat infection. Apart from a painful sore throat, the patient would be very hot and flushed, the pupils of the eyes can be dilated, there is frequently a headache and in severe cases the patient may be delirious and hallucinating (this is a very common picture in children). Orthodox treatment would only alleviate the symptoms by using paracetamol or some similar painkiller. Homoeopathic treatment would be with Belladonna. Why? Because if Belladonna is taken in too high a dose by a healthy individual it causes a hot, red face, dilated pupils, a headache and possibly even hallucinations. In other words, if given to an otherwise healthy individual, it causes the very symptoms that the patient with the throat infection is suffering from. The normally poisonous substance is rendered safe by administering it in a minute dose prepared in the homoeopathic manner.

Homoeopathy and Orthodox Medicine

Whilst orthodox medicine is often extremely efficient at treating the illness for which it has been prescribed, it can sometimes also produce unwanted side-effects. (e.g. Antihistamines may alleviate the symptoms of hay fever but may cause quite extreme drowsiness - in some cases making daily activities such as driving a car really quite dangerous). One advantage of homoeopathic treatment is that no side-effects occur. There is no clash between the two systems of orthodox and homoeopathic treatments, and most practitioners prefer to think of homoeopathic medicine as complementary, not alternative, to orthodox medicine. Thanks to the manner of their action and their high dilution, homeopathic medicines are extremely safe; in fact it is impossible to take an overdose. To do this it would be necessary to swallow about 12 million tablets at one go. In addition to being safe, free of side-effect, easy to give (most homoeopathic remedies are easy to administer, usually in the form of powders, granules, tablets or pills with a neutral or sweetish taste which makes them easy to take), homoeopathic medicines are cheap. An average course of treatment costs very little in comparison with some modern drug regimes.