Homeopathic pet care. . - Bookcorners - book review.

Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs

by Don Hamilton, DVM

North Atlantic Books, P.O. Box 12327, Berkeley, California 94712 USA

Softbound, ISBN 1-55643-295-X. c. 1999, 482 pp, $25 US/$38.95 CAN

Don Hamilton, DVM, began using homeopathy in his veterinary practice in the late 1980s. In his book Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs, he explains: "I became frustrated, as I often found no answers to help these suffering creatures. I could give higher doses of drugs or use stronger drugs, but ultimately the body would produce symptoms of illness no matter what I tried to do. What I ultimately saw was that "attempts to oppose the expression of illness were of necessity destined to fail." Dr. Hamilton found that homeopathic theory, unlike conventional theory, gave him an understanding of disease that "converged with [his] practical experience." He wrote Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs in order to introduce more people to homeopathy and to teach them how to use it on pets suffering from non-life threatening ailments. The book explains homeopathic theory, how to use homeopathic remedies for common ailments, and when to seek veterinary help. It also has a chapter on his experience with vaccines."

Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs contains one of the clearest and most thorough explanations of homeopathy and its use that I have read. Homeopathic remedies, which contain minute, even immeasurable, amounts of natural substances, are chosen as a match for an individual's overall set of symptoms. Unlike many conventional treatments, they are not designed to suppress symptoms. Homeopaths see symptoms as being the body's attempt to maintain health. By suppressing symptoms with drugs, antibiotic creams, or even tar and sulphur shampoos, health imbalances begin to increasingly affect vital organs and/or lead to chronic disease. Homeopathic remedies, on the other hand, are believed to "guide the body to respond fully to the illness, thus bringing about a cure."

Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs gives the history of homeopathy and explains basics such as provings, the Law of Similars, and Hering's Law of Cure. It also contains a very helpful comparison of the rationalist school of medicine and the empirical school, which illuminates the differences between conventional and holistic medicine. A discussion of acute and chronic disease and the differences between cure, palliation, suppression, partial cure, and noncurative aggravation concludes the section on homeopathic principles.

Part II, which makes up the bulk of Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs, tells how to use remedies to relieve several conditions. Dr. Hamilton explains the difference between acute and constitutional prescribing (which requires the help of a trained homeopath): "Acute prescribing...deals with conditions that visit the body in a sense, rather than being a deep-seated, integral part of the individual....The more superficial the disease, the more the prescription matches the illness, whereas the deeper that the disease impacts the animal, the more the prescription must match the essence of the individual." Although Dr. Hamilton discusses some serious conditions in his book, most of the ailments for which he offers homeopathic suggestions tend to be acute rather than chronic (which need constitutional prescribing). In addition to providing information on dozens of common illnesses, the book tells how to choose a homeopathic remedy, including dosage, potency, and how often to repeat it. Dr. Hamilton also recommends supportive treatments, such as diet suggestions, hot compresses for abscesses, and cleaning solutions for ear problems, and advises when to seek veterinary help. A materia medica (description of homeopathic medicines) and lists of homeopathic and holistic organizations, homeopathic suppliers, and suggested reading and reference books are provided.

In his chapter on vaccinations, Dr. Hamilton explains how he moved from his support of vaccination to a belief that "they create much more illness than they prevent." Part of his criticism in this chapter is aimed at vaccine manufacturers and administration of vaccines. The vaccine for Coronavirus, for example, was widely promoted. The illness itself, however, was rarely identified and only in very young puppies. In his experience, other vaccines, like the one for Lyme disease and the first feline leukemia virus vaccine, gave poor protection and caused many serious side effects. Dr. Hamilton's interactions with drug companies, who denied that their vaccines could be causing the diseases they were supposed to prevent, and the companies' aggressive marketing campaigns caused him to lose faith in the industry. Then, he discovered an authoritative conventional textbook that declared that annual revaccination programs were not even necessary. In a section on dog and cat vaccination in Current Veterinary Therapy XI , Tom Phillips, DVM (Scripps Institute) and Ron Schultz, PHD (University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine) stated: "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirement for annual revaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacterial pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years."