Shelley R. Epstein, VMD - What to do when kitty or fido have the stomach flu - Homeopathic Solutions

"What to do when Kitty or Fido have the Stomach Flu - Homeopathic Solutions"
by Shelley R. Epstein, VMD

It’s 5AM. You are awakened by a strange voice. As you filter into consciousness, you realize that this voice is actually an exorcist-like vocalization emanating from your cat’s mouth, an announcement that your Persian rug will imminently be sprinkled with her stomach contents. Not again, you think. You hurry downstairs to salvage your rug, passing through the kitchen where you find the vestiges of last night’s dinner leftovers strewn across the floor, a testament to your dog’s ancestral drive to forage for the remains of his humans’ meals. You wonder if you will pay for this gastric indulgence in the near future. By 1AM the following day, indeed your dog has rewarded you with hourly wake up calls for your assistance in accessing the outside rest facilities.

Does this scene sound familiar? The cat who vomits frequently and the dog who blesses his guardians with a middle of the night escapade of frequent trips to the backyard bathroom? Both of these problems are common reasons for visits to the veterinarian, and both can be nipped in the bud with homeopathic prescribing.

Before I present a few homeopathic remedies to consider for vomiting and diarrhea in dogs and cats, you’ll need some brief background in homeopathy. For more information, please visit the homeopathy page on my website: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/site/view/111140_Homeopathy.pml;jsessionid=b7ubl8pdojtp

Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the concept of “let like cure like.” Substances that can cause a set of symptoms when given to healthy people are used to cure those same symptoms when present in the sick individual- human, dog, cat, horse, turkey, etc. The prescriber considers all the symptoms- mental, emotional, and physical- and finds the remedy that most closely matches the patient. Modalities are very important- what makes the patient better or worse, like being in a warm room or drinking cold water. And the patient’s disposition, like snappy or clingy or indifferent, is very important as well.

But there’s more to it. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), the founder of homeopathy, had great initial successes with his prescribing, except for one thing: He realized that patients would recover from one ailment, only to be seen back for a recurrence or another ailment. He did not consider these frequent flyers to be healthy, but rather suffering from chronic disease. Each ailment that caused them to visit the doctor was not actually an acute ailment, but rather an acute flare-up of the chronic disease. Some patients had true acute diseases, like those suffering from injuries or epidemic diseases (flus, chicken pox, measles, smallpox, etc.). But by far the majority of his patients were suffering from some form of chronic disease.

It is no surprise that our pets, who live so closely to us and who follow our lead on such things as nutrition, vaccinations, and medications, also suffer from chronic disease. One of the pets in the opening paragraph is suffering from a chronic disease, and one from an acute disease. Can you determine which is which?

In our pets, acute diseases are usually limited to such categories as infectious diseases, like parvovirus or upper respiratory infections, and injuries and dietary indiscretions- like the garbage hound above! If left alone, the patients will recover on their own, after suffering to some extent. The symptoms tend to be much stronger and obvious.

Just as Hahnemann found in humans, most of the ailments that befall our companion animals are symptomatic of chronic disease. If you guessed that the cat in the opening story was suffering from chronic disease, you were right. It was no surprise to her human that yet another episode of vomiting was occurring.

Is it important to know if an animal is suffering from a true acute ailment or a chronic disease? Will it make a difference in the remedy selection?

The short answer is yes. In a true acute disease, you can feel confident that successful prescribing based on the current symptoms in front of you will result in complete resolution of the clinical signs. But in an acute flare-up of chronic disease, prescribing for just those symptoms that are currently present may result in only short-term remission of symptoms, if at all. And even worse, prescribing for acute flare-ups of chronic disease may shift the symptoms elsewhere in the body, possibly even deeper, resulting in more serious problems.

How would you know if your pet is suffering from chronic disease? Here are 3 basic clues:

1. Frequent visits to the veterinarian to put out small or large fires. These might include ear inflammation/infections, itchy skin with or without eruptions, cystitis, diarrhea and/or vomiting, and anal sac problems.

2. “Normal” signs that aren’t really normal, like persistent eye discharge or ear wax, nails that break easily, haircoat that lacks a sheen or is too greasy, or sneezing or coughing.

3. “Never the same since” problems. Often this occurs as a result of a vaccination reaction, a reaction to a topical or oral insecticide, or even to a medication. It can also occur as a result of an injury or emotional trauma.

Let’s return to the dog and cat above. The dog was behaving as a normal healthy, albeit slightly disobedient, dog should behave: food-motivated. Unfortunately, meat stored in the trash at room temperature and cooked bones are not compatible with a healthy digestive tract, and this dog started manifesting its acute ailment at 1AM the following morning. Diarrhea, bloody and cadaverous-smelling, vomiting with a markedly putrid odor, thirst for the water in the dog bowl- frequent trips to this bowl, and awake all night, pacing around, restless, anxious, yet very weak from the profuse diarrhea.

Unlike the dog, however, the cat felt great after depositing her stomach contents on the Persian rug. She was ready to eat and then urinate just outside of her litterbox.

For the dog, we would prescribe the remedy arsenicum album, derived from arsenic. For at-home prescribing, 30c potencies work fine, and are available in health food stores. 3-5 pellets dissolved in ½ teaspoon of water, stirred well, right under the tongue (or anywhere in the mouth). Usually only one or two doses are needed.

For the cat, we would need to make an in-depth case analysis, looking at all of the problems the cat has ever had, focusing on her disposition and environment- the litter box behavior is a big hint that this cat has an emotional component to her sufferings- any modalities that affect her or her particular problems, any events that started the problems, etc. In fact, as you can see from the brief description of her Persian rug episode, there are not many exciting symptoms that accompany that vomiting episode. It would be very difficult to select a remedy from the hundreds of remedies known to treat vomiting.

What’s an owner to do?

Below is a brief list of some of the common remedies that can be used for vomiting and diarrhea problems in pets. As you now know, in most cases, you will need to consult with a trained veterinary homeopath to get to the heart of the chronic disease. And, this is a very short list. There are close to 600 remedies known to help vomiting and diarrhea! If your pet’s symptoms do not match up with any of these remedies, chances are you will need to either consult a veterinary homeopath or take a course in acute prescribing to learn how to locate the less common remedies.

Aconitum: Acute, sudden onset like an invasion, with a fever. Can be caused by exposure to dry, cold weather, draft of cold air, or from very hot weather. The first remedy for all sorts of inflammations. Great fear, anxiety, and worry, even in trivial ailments. Restlessness. Vomiting with fear, heat, and increased urination. Thirst for cold water. Intense thirst. Frequent small stool with straining. Better in open air, worse in warm room.

Arsenicum album: Great exhaustion with restlessness. Worse midnight to 2AM. Unquenchable thirst for small amounts of warm water. The patient seems fearful, frightened, worried. Ill effects from decayed food. Odor of discharges putrid (diarrhea, vomitus). The patient is chilly.

Cocculus: Major remedy for motion-sickness- helps >50% of dogs with this problem.

Ipecacuanha: Persistent nausea and vomiting with much saliva. Indicated after eating indigestible foods. Bright red blood in the vomitus. Worse warmth. A good remedy for kennel cough if the retching results in vomiting.

Nux vomica: The typical patient is quick, active, nervous, and irritable. Hypersensitive. Zealous fiery temperament. This state can be induced from medications. Loves fats and tolerates them well. Nausea and vomiting with much retching. Constipation with frequent ineffectual urging, or passing small quantities at each attempt. Diarrhea after a debauch, worse in the morning.

Pulsatilla: Mild, gentle, yielding disposition. Timid, likes sympathy, fussing, caresses. The patient seeks the open air, always feels better there, even though she may be chilly. Discharges thick, bland, yellowish green. Thirstless. Worse from rich, fat food. Vomiting of food long before eaten. Reflux in the morning.