Homeopathy in animals is a form of medicine which has been used for many years now it was first discovered and used in its modern form by a
German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century.
The principle of homeopathy is that of like curing like (similar similibus curentor). It was noted by Hahnemann that if a medicine could cause a group of symptoms in a healthy individual then if a sick person was suffering from similar symptoms the medicine could cure that person.
e.g. Onions cause eyes to water. A person with watery sore eyes might be cured with homeopathic onion extract or Allium.
The other great discovery of Dr Hahnemann was that of potentisation of remedies. He found that by diluting and energising remedies they could be made more affective and yet less toxic.
Homeopathic remedies are made from herbs and plants, minerals such as salts, and animal extracts such as insects and snake venom. They are diluted many times and carry no risk of side effects unlike many modern drugs.
Homeopathy is an holistic form for medicine: for the most successful outcome one must take into account all of the symptoms that the patient is suffering. These symptoms are then matched up to the symptoms a remedy would cause in a healthy person and prescribed. It can be used to treat all forms of disease from the acute cough or cold to chronic ailments such as asthma, skin problems and even behavioural problems in animals. It's big attraction is these chronic diseases that modern conventional medicine can do little for without using drugs such as corticosteroids which can have nasty side effects. They only suppress the disease which a correctly prescribed remedy can so often cure.
Homeopathic remedies are of great use during first aid treatment of your animals. I have prepared a brief list of the conditions you might come across and the remedies used. I hope it is of use. They are used by some homeopaths as an alternative to vaccination, this is discussed on another page( link) You should be able to get many of these remedies/nosodes at your local pharmacy if not then one of the Homeopathic pharmacies on the links page will be able to help with a first aid kit.
We are publishing extracts from the book accompanying the MacSamuel® range of Complex (combination) remedies which we sell. This has a lot of information on using remedies for various conditions.
