Miracle Vet

[MP_the4pack]

This was inspiring especially when the writer stated her dog had osteo.

 

miracle vet article

[CaliforniaGreys]

Thank you for sharing this article.We human beings can be a strange breed.When we are in the middle of a crisis with a medical situation and we're at the end of our rope, especially when it comes to our animals, we tend to look in areas that we were never open to and some of us have even laughed at.I know personally, with my 12 yr old Grey who was plagued with bone spurs, I went down avenues that I never would have traveled. Because he had Von Willebrands, he wasn't able to take the anti-inflamatory meds that could have helped his pain. Someone suggested homeopathic remedies and accupuncture. Silently, I laughed, thinking if traditional medicaine can't help him, nothing would.But I had to do something for this boy and I knew he wasn't ready to give up.He was pain free for months until finally the time came when we had to say good-by. Every day that goes by, I am grateful to the person who told me to try homeopathy and accupuncture. I never would have bought into it on my own.

[seeh2o]

One of the two vets we go to practices both western and homeopathic medicine. She also does chiropractic and acupuncture for animals. Last year she put my Shiba Inu/Chow mix on adrenal supplements after she developed SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome). Many dogs that survive SARDS do not have a good outcome a year later as they often suffer from adrenal collapse. I truly believe her alternative treatment has kept Sheila healthy and happy. Sheila recently had her blood work done and the vet said she was very impressed at how good, and how different, the results were from where they had been a year ago. I am a firm believer in alternative medicine. I still believe western medicine can do good, too, but it's not the only treatment in town.

[Guest longdogs]

Sorry, I don't get it. Where is the homeopathic medicine? I read about a dog surviving the amputation of a cancerous limb - pretty much the standard treatment for osteo - and the dog being treated with large doses of 'herbs' that may or may not have helped. In fact the author is quite specific in saying that the herbal treatment was not working and the tumor grew worse. Fortunately the dog was helped by conventional Western treatment using amputation and chemotherapy.

 

"Needless to say this was not working for Jack. Then to my shock, I noticed Jack's tumor in his leg was growing and my heart stopped. It went from horrible to a true nightmare, when Jack ended up suffering a pathological fracture due to the tumor eating away at the bone.

 

At that point I was given no choice but to amputate my beautiful dog's leg to save his life. But conventional medicine for Jack was a true blessing. Eighteen months later, after his amputation and chemotherapy, Jack's cancer is in remission and he's living a beautiful happy and healthy life."

 

 

I'm glad there was a happy outcome, thus far, but homeopathy has nothing to do with it. Homeopathy 'works' by the placebo effect (there are even homeopaths who are honest about this and kudos to them). This is perfectly valid and potentially beneficial for a human who expects the treatment to work and is suffering from a self-limiting condition, but has no power to help an animal with no concept of a cure. Even less one with an extremely painful and progressive disease.

Edited January 30, 2008 by longdogs

[Guest figbykal]

I would say that I don't get the article either. It looks like conventional western methods worked for this dog rather than the homeopathic? Not knowing anything about homeopathy, I would say the article was not very convincing! I however am a firm believer in both homeopathic medicine and conventional. Artemisinin holds hope for some cancers including OS (as per the Ohio StateStudy). Who would have thought? I tend to go with conventional medicine first and if that does not work, then I read, get advice, and seek out my homeopathic vet. I use several topicals at home which are homeopathic that I swear by. My Mandy had some queer skin thing going on and phytogel was the only thing to clear it. I even took pictures of the before and after. My Burl was licking his paws raw and I used the same gel switching off with another one consisting of Chinese herbs. Nothing else worked for him and this combination did. So I am convinced there are uses for alternative medicines. I think with the cancers a combination of the two approaches could be benefitial.

 

k

[SPDoggie]

"Homeopathy 'works' by the placebo effect "

 

I don't think that's right, I believe homeopathy treats "like-with-like" If you are suffering from insomnia, they treat you with caffeine... some how causing the body to figure out for itself how to fight off whatever its problem is.

 

I too often view it as "hooey" but our greyhound Kingsley had a large bump on the soft tissue of his eye after surgery (seemed to be scar tissue to me, due to the use of staples instead of something finer). Our vet suggested a treatment with silica (aka sand). I thought she meant to put it in his eye to cause irritation which might stimulate the body to fight it off... but Kingsley ATE a capful of the silica, and over a month, the bump went away. I am a scientist, and have No IDEA why this worked... but it did, so I have some more faith in these ideas now.

And I doubt it was the placebo effect for Kingsley.

[seeh2o]

Maybe this will clarify the confusion that seems to be arising from the article. I've underlined the last paragraph which explicitly defines the noted confusion.

 

This is from my vet's website:

"Homeopathy

 

THE PRINCIPLES OF HOMEOPATHY

 

Over 200 years ago a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann developed a system of medical treatment. He called this Homeopathy, a word that means literally, " to treat disease with a similar disease." In contrast, Allopathy is a word used to designate methods of treatment based on counteracting the symptoms. An example of this is using a drug to slow intestinal motility in a case of diarrhea.

 

The science behind Homeopathy is founded upon Dr. Hahnemann’s discovery that substances which cause reactions in the body or the mind, can be used in a very diluted form to treat these same reactions when they occur as symptoms of a disease process. For example, Poison Ivy, which causes redness, blisters and itching when encountered in nature, is used to formulate the homeopathic remedy, Rhus Tox. It is prescribed to treat the redness and itching of many skin diseases. Hahnemann devoted his life to studying these phenomena and performing Provings — describing the symptoms related by healthy humans given small experimental doses of these substances; then using the substance to treat disease.

 

His followers have proven many more so that several hundred substances have be studied and recorded as to their effects on the human or animal body. Some of these are common herbs, others are poison plants, minerals make up another category, and toxins and venoms a fourth. The task of the homeopathic pharmacist is to enhance the usefulness of the substance while minimizing the harmful effects. This is done in special laboratories where the raw ingredient is carefully diluted and Sucussed - mixed in a special way - to a level where its ability to stimulate is boosted while its toxic effects are eliminated. Desensitization of the body to allergens or using vaccines to prepare the body to fight disease are based upon similar principles. The homeopath relies on the pharmacist to formulate remedies of purity and the strength indicated.

 

When treating a patient, the homeopath tends to look at disease from two points of view:

 

* Does the disease have an immediate cause such as a bacteria, virus, toxin, or internal immunological activity?

 

* How is the patient’s body reacting to, or defending itself from the cause? Examples of this are running a fever, developing inflammation, or performing various discharge attempts to eliminate the source of the problem – diarrhea, vomiting, running nose.

 

The homeopathic perspective acknowledges the existence of a cause; but it focuses more attention on the symptoms - how the patient’s body is attempting to deal with the insult. Treatment involves stimulating the natural defense system of the body to fight those symptoms a little more vigorously. Dr. Hahnemann felt that if the patient’s defense against disease could be strengthened, the balance would shift in favor of recovery.

 

According to Hahnemann, the way a Remedy — as medicines are called in homeopathy — is given is as important as choosing the correct remedy. A remedy is selected that mirrors many of the patient’s current symptoms – physical as well as emotional. The strength of the remedy — designated by a number followed by an "X", "C" or "M" – and the number of repetitions is based upon an evaluation of the patient’s life force. The idea is to gently disturb the health a little more toward the disease – not blast it there – so that the body directs its efforts to intensify the fight against that particular set of symptom. A remedy that is too strong or given too often can result in an Aggravation -a situation whereby symptoms are intensified or past symptoms are recalled.

 

The Homeopath reviews the results of the fight frequently, sometimes waiting as the body fights; sometimes changing the strength of the remedy or selecting a new remedy. As the body fights first this set of symptoms and then that set, the patient’s condition moves away from disease and toward health. The usefulness of this method is that medicines can be used to manipulate the patient’s condition; to enhance and assist the body’s attempts to overcome the disease. This is sometimes a lengthy process.

 

In summary, the method of homeopathic treatment is to stimulate the healing process by artificially creating an increase of the disease symptoms, using a carefully chosen medicine. The medicine, called a remedy, makes the body work harder to get well. The healing changes that occur are the result of this stimulation. A homeopathic doctor or veterinarian carefully evaluates the changes that occur after dosing. She then alters the strength and sometime the substance to act upon a new set of symptoms. In this way the patient can be guided to recovery over the period of days, weeks or months required to repel disease and regrow damaged tissue. Under the guidance of a trained homeopath, acute diseases respond very quickly while chronic conditions can be expected to respond in accordance to the period of their chronicity."

[Guest Flint]

I think this is what makes this vet (and the article) special:

 

"You see, to them, he was their last hope for survival, and in less severe cases a hope for a better quality of life. Dr. Jiu Jia Wen specializes in alternative medicine. Herbs and acupuncture. And while he also practices conventional medicine as well, his true miracles have occurred through holistic therapy."

 

I like my vet, but she completely dismissed my suggestion of taking Flint to a chiropractor for his back. I went anyway and it helped him a great deal. I wish my vet were more open to alternative medicines.

[Guest zippsmum]

Well, here we follow the same philosophy for animals and humans. We see a homeopath and acupuncturist and so does the dog.

[Guest VanillaBean]

I think this is what makes this vet (and the article) special:

 

"You see, to them, he was their last hope for survival, and in less severe cases a hope for a better quality of life. Dr. Jiu Jia Wen specializes in alternative medicine. Herbs and acupuncture. And while he also practices conventional medicine as well, his true miracles have occurred through holistic therapy."

 

I like my vet, but she completely dismissed my suggestion of taking Flint to a chiropractor for his back. I went anyway and it helped him a great deal. I wish my vet were more open to alternative medicines.

 

 

My vet would completely dismiss chiropractic etc. BUT, I am a chiropractor who treats with homeopathy etc, so he can't say much. Luckily, I can treat my own dogs!

[Guest longdogs]

"Homeopathy 'works' by the placebo effect "

 

I don't think that's right, I believe homeopathy treats "like-with-like" If you are suffering from insomnia, they treat you with caffeine... some how causing the body to figure out for itself how to fight off whatever its problem is.

Homeopaths believe in the 'treat like-with-like' theory, nobody else does. This 'theory' is a variation on the old 'doctrine of signatures' which held that God(s) were planting clues for us to find - red peppers are hot, also their colour is reminiscent of the flushed skin of fever sufferers - I'm sure you get the drift. Culpepper and other herbalists followed this doctrine in conjunction with their 'theory of humours'. Once in a while they hit the jackpot and found plants with genuinely useful drugs, forming the basis of modern pharmacology and a more informed herbalism.

 

Homeopaths go a few steps further, claiming to 'prove' substances - when they can be bothered to do it - by taking them and seeing what symptoms they cause. This is not a scientific 'proof' or anything close to it, nor does it mean that the substance is actually any cure for illnesses that cause the same symptoms, indeed many of the substances e.g. mercury and arsenic are well known to be highly toxic (arsenic as cure for death, anyone?). I've heard the argument that both these substances are also reasonably effective treatments for certain conditions, e.g. mercury compounds for syphilis, but this is negated by homeopaths than diluting 'remedies' to the extent that they contain nothing but the solute, usually plain old water. The next argument goes that water 'remembers' what it has dissolved and that the memory is more powerful than the actual substance (some homeopaths believe you can actually 'fax these water 'memories' to other homeopaths). As water is constantly recirculated on our planet (and through the universe over eons) each drop of water must hold a heck of a lot of memories... You can test the theory very simply. Take a glass of your favourite strong alcoholic beverage and start diluting it. Each dilution is supposed to make it stronger according to the theory, so diluting it 10,000 times - and many homeopathic remedies are very much more dilute - should make it proportionately (dangerously!) strong. My guess is, rather than keeling over dead drunk, you are more likely just to have ruined your drink.

 

There is no credible science behind homeopathy. When tested rigorously, homeopathic treatments never perform better than a placebo (except very occasionally as a statistical artifact), though placebos can often work quite well. Homeopaths 'explain' this failure on the basis that the experimenter has to believe in the cure for it to work, therefore they can't be tested conventionally. My credulity just doesn't stretch that far.

 

I'm sorry if I offend any homeopaths. I believe sincere ones can genuinely do some good to humans, if not in the way they would like to believe. But please, don't use it on an animal with a progressive and painful disease unless you are also following conventional treatments. These are safe to mix with homeopathy (but not herbalism) for obvious reasons.