Alternative medicine for pets: holistic remedies make headway into veterinary medicine

Animals, May-June, 1997 by Pamela H. Sacks

Pitcairn, a founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, uses the approach to treat both disease and injury. Sometimes, he says, one dose is all that is needed to aid an animal; chronic conditions, on the other hand, must be treated over a period that can last a year. Pitcairn stresses that no matter what kind of case is at hand, homeopathy is based on rules that must be consistently applied. Last fall, a mixed-breed dog named Katy was brought to his office with a degenerated spinal disc that had caused sudden paralysis and weakness in the back legs. Cortisone had not eased the situation, and Pitcairn treated Katy with a remedy called nux vomica to reverse the effects of the steroid. He followed it with a dose of sulfur, a treatment designed to stop the inflammation and enhance the healing of tissues around the disc. "That was October and the dog is walking normally," he asserts. "Homeopathy has a certain elegance in terms of simplicity."

Pollak believes a pet owner's attitude plays a key role in what treatment is right, that human and animal are emotionally connected in such a way that success can depend on the level of confidence in the approach, no matter whether it is holistic, traditional, or a combination of the two.

In the Hawthorne Animal Hospital in Salem, Massachusetts, where veterinarians use Western medicine, acupuncture, and homeopathy, Rotner has found that clients tend to turn first to what they know. With the explosion of public consciousness about alternative treatments and holistic philosophy in recent years, she has found that pet owners are more likely to consider alternative approaches as an initial choice, rather than as a last resort. This is so despite the cost; a single acupuncture treatment, for example, averages between $50 and $60.

During her weekly stint at Angell, Rotner stays busy. She handles six to eight patients a day, applying the needles and removing them while finding out what is going on in the lives of the dogs, the cats, and the people who own them. On a break, she talks about how gratifying it is to help animals that have given so much to their companions.

Harrison, Marcel's owner, is a freelance musician who has moved often over the last two decades. Her cat, an elder even among the group seen by Rotner, is a real fighter. Her relationship with him, Harrison says with affection and pride, has been the most consistent one in her life.

"As long as he wants to live," she says, "I will do anything for him."