How Can Homeopathy Be Placebo When It Cures Farm Animals?

by Amy L. Lansky, PhD

(For more information about homeopathy, please visit www.impossiblecure.com)

One argument in favor of the true healing power of homeopathy -- one that I've never heard countered by the skeptics -- is the success of homeopathic remedies in treating animals. Even the Queen of England likes to treat her pet Corgis with homeopathy!

I'll never forget one of my own amazing pet cures. Just days before embarking on a month-long trip, I noticed my dog Shadow had a growth on her front lower leg. I took her to the vet, hoping it was just an embedded foxtail, but he said it was a tumor that should be surgically removed, though healing would be difficult in that location and licking would have to be discouraged. What to do just two days before our vacation, with a housesitter scheduled to take care of Shadow? Instead of surgery, I decided to go mega-homeopathy. Over the course of those two days, I gave her increasing doses (30c, 200c, 1M, 10M) of her constitutional remedy (Pulsatilla -- which also happened to have "tumor on the leg" as an obscure small symptom). By the time we left, the tumor was showing signs of change. After two weeks, the housesitter reported that it was completely gone and that the hair was growing back. I took a photo upon our return (no sign of a tumor at all!) and mailed it to the vet. He was incredulous, but unfortunately, not interested in learning more about homeopathy.

There have been many studies proving the effectiveness of homeopathy in treating animals, some of them large scale studies on herds of farm animals. One of them is described in Chapter 7 of Impossible Cure. In a 1999 study conducted on 1440 pigs on a large commercial pig farm in Germany, homeopathic prophylactic treatment of pigs against respiratory disease (a big problem on such farms) was compared against placebo, prophylactic use of antibiotics, and high therapeutic doses of antibiotics. In this study, not only did homeopathic treatment of the pigs beat out placebo, but it also surpassed prophylactic doses of antibiotics by a significant margin. Whereas the antibiotics made disease 11% less likely than placebo, and the homeopathy made disease 40% less likely! Only when the doses of antibiotics were raised to high therapeutic levels (something that cannot be safely sustained in raising herds of animals) was homeopathic treatment surpassed (making disease 70% less likely).

We all know that allopathic drugs are entering our food chain in unhealthy ways. Overuse of antibiotics on farm animals, for example, has played a large role in the rise of strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics -- now a huge problem in hospitals. Hormones and antibiotics pollute our waterways too. So why haven't studies like the German pig study being heeded? Well, I'm sure that the purveyors of antibiotics wouldn't be too happy about it. But things do seem to be changing somewhat. For example, the EU is funding a €2 million research project investigating how homeopathy can be used to treat farm animals and reduce the use of antibiotics.

But there are quarters where the successes of homeopathy in treating animals are actively being listened to -- in particular, organic farmers and open-minded veterinarians who want to serve their animals more safely and effectively. Quietly, veterinarians (especially those that serve organic farms) are helping animal herds with homeopathy. In fact, in my experience, many vets are more willing than people-docs to acknowledge the dangers of over-vaccination and over-drugging. They can more easily see their deleterious consequences, because the short lifespan of animals makes the effects of generation after generation of drugging more easily observable. For this reason (and because vets are a bit "lower on the radar" than people-docs), doctors who dedicate themselves to animal care are often the first to honestly look for alternatives.

One of the leading homeopathic veterinarians in the world, Richard Pitcairn, has trained many of the world's homeopathic vets. Adapting the human homeopathic materia medica and repertory language to animals isn't always easy -- animals can't exactly talk to us! -- but through observation and knowledge of animal behavior and physiology, huge successes in treatment have been possible by homeopathic vets. With both a veterinary degree and having done post-graduate research work in immunology, Pitcairn has written eloquently on the dangers of over-vaccination, which he says has created generations of cats and dogs with higher rates of cancer than ever before. He is also an ardent educator on the power of classical homeopathy and is the author of a popular book on natural medicine for cats and dogs, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide To Natural Health For Dogs and Cats. I encourage you all to visit his site and to read these eye opening articles:

* A New Look At Vaccines
* Homeopathic Alternatives to Vaccines
* New World Veterinary Repertory

Here are some more articles, studies, and videos to peruse, testifying to the power of homeopathy in treating animals -- pets, domestics herds, and wild life too.

• In this video, Tinneke Verkhade, a nurse/farmer/homeopath/author living in New Zealand, describes how she has taught many hundreds of dairy farmers how to use homeopathic medicines to help their herds.
• In this video of UK veterinarian Geoff Johnson, he describes how he has helped herd animals with homeopathy.
• A zoo in India uses homeopathy successfully!
• This article in the June 7, 2012 issue of the Toronto Star describes how migrating birds stressed by flying to buildings are given remedies before release. (I have treated two such birds successfully with Arnica after they were knocked out upon impact with one of my windows at home.)
• A published Brazilian case study in which a vaginal tumor in a dog was treated homeopathically: Homeopathic treatment of vaginal leiomyoma in a dog: case report.
• In this meta-analysis study of two previous laboratory mice studies, which appears on Pubmed, Bellavite et al demonstrate that mice given the remedy Gelsemium manifest different behavior than a group of mice receiving placebo.

ABOUT AMY LANSKY:

Amy L. Lansky, PhD was a Silicon Valley computer scientist when her life was transformed by the miraculous homeopathic cure of her son's autism. In April 2003 she published Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy, now one of the best-selling introductory books on homeopathy worldwide (www.impossiblecure.com). Amy speaks and writes internationally about homeopathy, hosts a monthly radio show on Autism One Radio (autismone.org), and was an executive board member of the National Center for Homeopathy from 2004-2011. Her second book, on meditation and developing one's innate ability to evolve and transform the world, was published in September 2011 -- Active Consciousness: Awakening the Power Within (www.activeconsciousness.com).