TEQUILA
Tequila is a pedigree Bull Terrier who lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

I do have clients in different parts of the world but success may depend on whether we can obtain the medicine in that country or if is accepted through their Customs Border Control.

In this case we had to rely solely on what we could source from Tequila’s immediate area.

Tequila is an entire male dog and has had recurrent skin allergies since a pup. The rash forms on his stomach and spreads to his legs. It is worse in the summer but he itches constantly, which makes it worse regardless of the weather. He is always hot to touch, both ears are red and hot, he pants a lot although doesn’t drink excessively, tests for parasites were negative.

Priority Two — eliminate the toxic load of vaccinations, chemical flea control and cortisone. Because these treatments affect the adrenals and liver, I sourced some Omega 3, 6 and 9’s with borage oil from a very helpful health store near to where Tequila lived. They also had a supply of homeopathic remedies and we put Tequila on a low potency Sulphur for a short period.

Four weeks later Tequila’s skin cleared completely; no scratching, red or hot areas; he now appears more lively and is taking a new interest in life.

It has been impressed on the owner that Tequila is never to have chemicals near him again; he must stay with his raw and real food and should remain on the Omega Blend for at least a year. Tequila’s owner sees the result for himself and is delighted. He knows Tequila will remain healthy and happy as long as he stays with the new regime.

This complaint is very common in Bull Terriers and has almost become entrenched in the breed. It is possible to stop it but it requires a whole new way of thinking from the owner.

The current nutritional paradigm is turning our pets into chronic disease sufferers, how long will it take before owners wake up to this disgraceful practice?

Update on Tequila — 9 Sept 2009
Tequila continued to make progress and his skin finally became blemish-free, with no more scratching, hot spots or irritating areas.

Sadly Tequila was run over on the motorway close by his home. The owner says many, many thanks for making his last months trouble-free. RIP Tequila.

Parma would normally insist on waking the owner at 4am to go outside to toilet.

Some months ago, during his early morning travels, Parma had received a rather large scratch around the top of his shoulder, presumably from another cat. Unfortunately the scratch was not noticed for a few days until Parma appeared off colour; the owner then took him to the vet. He was given antibiotics and an anti inflammatory injection. This seemed to help for the next 24 hours but Parma was clearly still not himself despite the wound healing well.

When Parma returned home from the vet he moved into the spare room and would not come out. The owner even took his meals of chicken and vegetables in to him.

He spent many weeks hidden away and then moved into the garage where he behaved in exactly the same manner. Eventually the owner managed to entice him into the living room but at the slightest movement he would make a dash straight back to the garage.

A FAMILY OF CANARIES
These cases are from my own canaries.

PINK SHAMPERS — she is a rather beautiful little red lady who came to me from a Pet Shop to keep my lone male company.

Pink Shampers immediately started making a nest and Patch, to my surprise and delight, fussed around, obviously eager to help. (Patch had been on his own for about 6 years).

Soon three eggs were laid but next morning Shampers was looking very sad; fluffed up, head tucked in and taking absolutely no interest in her nest.

On examination I found she was egg bound. The vent was firm and protruding.

Immediately I applied a little warm olive oil to the vent and gave her homeopathic Caulophyllum 30c. and Sepia 30c. She was placed in a little box and kept in the hot water cupboard for 4 hours.

I took her out of the box to give her another dose of Caulophyllum and, wow, there was the egg! This was carefully returned to the nest and Pink Shampers immediately resumed her maternal duties, sitting on her eggs. Four babies were hatched.

Caulophyllum and Sepia are two excellent homeopathic remedies for egg bound birds (including Chooks) and I use them one immediately after another. Egg bound hens are an emergency situation and I cannot afford to wait for a few hours to see if one worked before trying the next.

Caulophyllum — This remedy is primarily used in all conditions relating to birthing (or in this case, egg laying). It aids and controls expulsion of the foetus (egg).
Sepia — this remedy is great for slack pelvic organs with a tendency to prolapse; what better remedy for a vent in trouble!

The next morning Patch was waiting for breakfast and singing at the top of his voice.

Bryonia — One of the great pneumonia remedies where there is a desire to be alone and a reluctance to move. Even calves will lie around in the paddock often on their painful side, as animals often do. Pressure on the affected part often makes them feel better.

PIKELET
Pikelet was the last of Pink Shampers and Patch’s brood to make it to the perch. He was a rather puny little canary (the way I make pikelets, the name suited him very well). He required feeding long after the others were weaned. Not long after his father had made a full recovery, Pikelet took a down turn. He fluffed up, didn’t beg for food and generally looked as if he wasn’t going to make it after all. I thought I detected a little wheeze.

The days had been particularly hot so I left him in his cage but gave him some homeopathic Ferrum Phos in a dropper. I repeated this with an hour in between each dose. By the evening he had cheered up and was looking for food again. The next day I gave him one more dose. He actually put more weight on and feathered up beautifully in the two weeks that followed.

Ferrum Phos — a homeopathic remedy excellent for fevers and the onset of congestive illnesses, especially of the lung and upper respiratory tract. The patient tends to be thin, weakly and anaemic.

A CASE OF MYCOBACTERIOSIS
Mycobacteriosis is a disease from the Mycobacterium lepraemurium, also known as Feline Leprosy. This bacteria is aerobic, microaerophilic, pleomorphic, non motile gram positive. It causes a disease in cats and rats similar in some respects to leprosy in man. (Mycobacterium leprae).

Conventional medicine treats this condition with antibiotics or / and excision, otherwise thought unresolvable.

MACKY — Cat, Male, Domestic Short Hair, Grey / White, De sexed 10.08.07, (8 mths)
In late 2007 Macky developed 3 lumps on the tail base after playing with another cat. The owner originally thought it was an abscess but the lump didn’t burst or diminish. Since then two more lumps have appeared, on the front left thigh/flank, and the other mid right flank. There was no change in behaviour, eating or drinking. There was no history of having been bitten by a rat (that the owner was aware).

The Laboratory report was as follows:
The nature of the inflammatory response and the ‘inability’ of the bacterial rods to accept cytological stain confirm Mycobacteriosis.

The owner was offered excision followed by a 3-month course of antibiotics.

SEEN BY SARNDRA URWIN 26.10.07
Diagnosed: Mycobacteriosis.

This cat presented with lumps on the tail base and left flank.
The past history of this cat is unknown as it had been dumped near owner’s residence.
He was a cat that liked to ‘steal’ things.

Based on the Laboratory findings I felt this cat would respond well to herbal medicine.
His diet was well suited to him and he was otherwise in very good health.

I prescribed the following combination in a 1ml b.d. dose for 25 days.

• Andrographis paniculata
• Astragalus membranaceus
• Panax notoginseng

The owner was to have reported back at the completion of the dose regime however it was some 6 months before she contacted me again. All lumps had resolved completely with no further reappearance.

The owner visited me in February of this year (2009) for an ear problem with her dog. Enquiries about Macky revealed no further problems and I felt, in view of the diagnosis, 14 months of being symptom free was a measure of success.

My thanks to the Veterinarian who kindly provided a copy of the reports.

About 3 days after I took Misha home I noticed a small ulcer forming just under her nose. It steadily got bigger and another one formed on her right lip. Her breath smelled really bad as well, although I couldn’t see any ulcers in her mouth.She was drooling a little and occasionally she sneezed. She seemed bright enough though and full of energy.

She was due to go back to the vet to have her sutures out so I got them to examine the ulcers at the same time. They really didn’t seem to know what it was or what the cause was. To me it looked viral and when I suggested that they agreed it could be cat flu. I then rang the SPCA to see if any of their cats or kittens had cat flu but they hadn’t had any signs at all.

I then suspected the vaccination that Misha had had may have caused her symptoms. I did some research which confirmed my suspicions and I then treated her homeopathically.

Treatment:
I first decided to give Misha Thuja 30C, 2-3 drops twice a day, for 3 days and then follow up with Merc sol. As we have another kitten, about 1 month older than Misha, that hasn’t been vaccinated, I was worried that she might contract the cat flu so I gave her the cat flu nosode for 3 days.

Misha recovered quickly after taking the Thuja and I didn’t give her the Merc sol in the end as she was pretty good by that stage. The other kitten never showed any signs of illness.

Aetiology:
Modified live vaccines are made from a living virus that has been modified so it cannot cause disease. These modified vaccine viruses replicate in the body just like a normal virus does and have the advantage over killed vaccines of less frequent transient adverse responses. However, because they can replicate, these vaccines can induce a mild disease in normal animals and occasionally can make a debilitated animal very sick or even cause death. Also, since the vaccine virus replicates in the body it can shed and be passed on to other animals. 1

Vaccines against feline respiratory viruses provide only partial protection at best. Feline respiratory vaccines do not protect against infection or development of a carrier state, and resistant strains of feline calicivirus are common. 2

Of the three viruses that were part of the vaccine, feline calicivirus produces symptoms that coincide with the symptoms that Misha had. These include salivation, ulceration of the tongue and palate or nose, and sneezing.

Bibliography :
1) http://pathwithpaws.com/blog/tag/vaccination/
2) www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_vaccination.shtml

Jan Smith,
Chartered Holistic Animal Therapist & Natural Medicines Practitioner,
1644 Egmont Road, No.6 RD
Inglewood
Ph:  06 752 2742

Graduate of St Francis College of Natural ANimal Health (formerly NZ
College of Holistic Animal Therapies)

"Many thanks Jan for this rewarding case study" — Sandy U

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I raced over to the bank and, without thinking, jumped in to pull her out, sinking down to my knees. My girl had sunk up to her chest and I couldn’t get my hands under her stomach. I had to pull at her skin to haul her out, hurting her in the process. Jager just looked into my eyes, as if, “that’s ok”. Every time I pulled at her body I sunk further into the loose wet sand. It was far from easy, as Jager weighed about 50 kg.

Once I had freed her and pushed her on to the riverbank I myself was in trouble. Now I was stuck up to my thighs with weighted down boggy gumboots. Amazingly, after ten minutes of sheer determination, I was free to comfort my anxious dog. Both Jager and I lay on the riverbank, gazing at one another with relief and love of the bond we shared.

All of us trudged home to a welcome shower and much needed Rescue Remedy!

Lisa Heke