Views of holistic/homeopathy/alternative + complementory medicines in animals

[pip+tess]

Hi everyone

I'm 17 and am doing a school project/essay on holistic/homeopathic medicines in animals and whether they truely do work and what peoples views are about them. So am wondering whether some of you would be kind enough to post/poll your views about this and if you have an example where one type has really worked for you and whether you prefer it to convential medicines. Whether its with your horses, or dogs - any animal!

any examples and views will be greatly thanked

thanks for your time

pippa

 

[mja]

How do I reply to this poll?

I swear by herbal remedies for both humans and animals. I have seen results that wouldnt have believed if not with my own eyes where my horse is concerned.

 

[the watcher]

I think, before I can answer, you would need to identify what you consider to be complementary and alternative. I use magnets quite a lot, my vet agrees they are a good idea although they do not prescribe or supply them - does that fit in to alternative? Likewise I use an equine physio, it isn't something my vet supplies but is very much something that is built in to the treatment programme.

 

[mja]

My horse was almost retired for arthritic knees and she needed 2 bute a day to keep her sound. 6 weeks of just herbs alone and she has been sound ever since being placed in at every comp since came back into work and gallopping (her decision lol) like a looney with no repurcussions to her knee.

I also am on a herbal mix for my ulcerative colitis as dr's steroids make me very ill with side effects and I havent felt as well in months.

I use herbs for horse's ailments such as brittle hooves. fly allergies, eye ailments etc all with great results and swear by herbs xx

 

[flirtygerty]

I had a reiki healer to our mare and stressy gsd bitch.
The bitch had to be seen to be believed, from being a total homewrecker and on her last chance, literally before being pts, within 20 mins of meeting the Reiki healer, this dog was totally relaxed, asleep at her feet, never been known before with this dog, the Reiki healer literally saved her life as she was never quite as bad after 3 sessions.
Our mare never was comfortable with having a particular foot picked up, a Reiki healer picked up on a sore hip, the opposite hip to the sensitive foot, it was described as a deep ache, so it made sense when we picked up th opposite hoof, the mare felt discomfort on the supporting leg.

 

[Crazy Friesian]

I keep an open mind as far as I can. Provided that there are no possible "obvious" negative effects that I can see, I will give it a go. If in doubt, I'll try it on me first.

I am allergic to NSAIDS so have had to resort to "alternative / natural" methods from a young age. I have used homeopathy, magnets, herbs, oils, Reiki, Shiatsu, Feldenkreis.

I have used them on both myself and my animals. The results have been astounding. One remarkable one (of MANY) was my little cat who was diagnosed with FIV. She had conventional and complimentary thrown at her. (Reiki, homeopathy) and I have video to prove that she looked the best that summer she ever had. She lived for another 3 years with the terrible disease.

My current lad has regular Reiki and the difference is very uplifting for us both.

Synthetic chemicals are so damaging (so are alternatives in the wrong hands...) and are not sustainable long term. I prefer to work with something that the body can work with easier. We evolved with natural products, from which came the synthetic alternatives, but the naturals will always be metabolised better by the body.

 

[Piglet]

I think that hopeopathy is great, I used it on myself but to no avail, but when I got my horse several years ago, he had a very shallow cough, had vet out, blood tests etc couldn't find anything, rung the homeopathy (with vets permission), she came up to assess the horse, prescribed the medication and within 3 days the cough was gone. Could be coincidence? Maybe, maybe not, I used her again when he had an allergy to buttercups and all the hair came off his face - again within a week - bingo, problem solved.

 

[Sarah Sum1]

I am 100% in support of alternative medicines/therapies for both humans and animals

Especially Reiki as it is wonderful

 

[Booboos]

Ditto the watcher above you need to define what you mean by holistic/homeopathy/alternative and complementary.

If by holistic you mean looking at both physical, mental and environmental aspects of wellbeing, I'm all for it. Problems often have complex causes.

Homeopathy is a massive scam in my opinion. Total waste of time other than for its placebo effect.

Alternative: not sure what this refers to, but I would not use anything that has no scientific basis that it works, e.g. crystals, lifting the evil eye (this one's cultural, it's big in Greece!), etc.

Complementary: again it depends what you mean here, but if you mean things like acupuncture which do have scientific evidence as to their efficacy, then I would give these a try.

 

[mja]

If it was not for a herbal mix for arthritis mixed fresh and posted over frm england I would not have a sound horse being placed in dressage and racehorse to riding horse classes!

If it was not for herbal liquid mixed by same herbalist my ulcerative colitis would make my life hell as it did for years xx

 

[HorseyLyn]

Having learnt a little bit about complimentary, holistic and herbal therapies in just the past week or two, I am more fascinated than ever and should it be needed with our pony or one of our dogs, I would not hesitate (if I had a good recommendation from someone)
It may seem "weirdy beardy" stuff to some people but you cannot argue with the results people are having.
It's all pretty amazing IMO.

 

[Crazy Friesian]

Ditto the watcher above you need to define what you mean by holistic/homeopathy/alternative and complementary.

If by holistic you mean looking at both physical, mental and environmental aspects of wellbeing, I'm all for it. Problems often have complex causes.

Homeopathy is a massive scam in my opinion. Total waste of time other than for its placebo effect.

Alternative: not sure what this refers to, but I would not use anything that has no scientific basis that it works, e.g. crystals, lifting the evil eye (this one's cultural, it's big in Greece!), etc.

Complementary: again it depends what you mean here, but if you mean things like acupuncture which do have scientific evidence as to their efficacy, then I would give these a try.

Try explaining THAT one to my cat then... If it were for my conventional vet then I am convinced that he would be DEAD!!!! My conventional vet was convinced that my cat had stretched colon syndrome and paraffin was the answer and OF COURSE there were no side effects!!!

My cat is now happier and healthier than he has ever been...

Perhaps you will hit a wall one day that will let you consider "other" options...

 

[Crazy Friesian]

Having learnt a little bit about complimentary, holistic and herbal therapies in just the past week or two, I am more fascinated than ever and should it be needed with our pony or one of our dogs, I would not hesitate (if I had a good recommendation from someone)
It may seem "weirdy beardy" stuff to some people but you cannot argue with the results people are having.
It's all pretty amazing IMO.

PM me if you want a recommendation for an holistic vet. He is also a conventional vet by training, but only practices Natural Medicine now. I cannot recommend him enough. I have used him quite a bit over the years with indisputable effects...

 

[Booboos]

Try explaining THAT one to my cat then... If it were for my conventional vet then I am convinced that he would be DEAD!!!! My conventional vet was convinced that my cat had stretched colon syndrome and paraffin was the answer and OF COURSE there were no side effects!!!

My cat is now happier and healthier than he has ever been...

Perhaps you will hit a wall one day that will let you consider "other" options...

It is really difficult to tell from your post what problem you cat actually had, what your vet recommended, why you think that didn't work, what you did instead and why you think that worked.

I have two issues with homeopathy. The first is that the theory behind it, i.e. take a substance, dilute it to the extend where it is no longer detectable, shake it and then it will cure almost anything, makes no sense at all. And secondly, I would be happy to accept it if it at least worked in practice even if we did not know why it worked.

For a meta-survey of the lack of efficacy of homeopathic treatments see for example:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2125.2002.01699.x/full

for a recent report on the parliamentary Science and Technology committee on the funding of homeopathy by public funds and the legitimacy of homeopathic claims see:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/c...ve/science-technology/s-t-homeopathy-inquiry/

Finally just to add, I think that 'hitting a wall' situations are exactly the ones that are the most disturbing because you see people who are desperate for help being taken advantage of by either genuinely deluded or maliciously self-promoting charlattans. Lovely as your cat is, I am sure, having worked in a hospice for 4 years I think I have come across people who have more seriously 'hit a wall' than your feline friend and still not revised my views on homeopathy.

 

[Crazy Friesian]

Booboos. In open forum I didn't think it was necessary to give you war and peace about the issue my cat has. I can go into gory details if you like, but I would suggest not eating while you read it! I guess you just have to trust me that liquid Paraffin WAS NOT the answer. ESPECIALLY given the side effects of paraffin - more so in this case! But I can confirm it isn't a case of why "I think" anything. It is a case of "I know" it has worked.

I have been involved with homeopathy / natural therapies for years for the reasons I have given in a previous post, so am very well aware of studies etc. Believe me I am not one to jump in without checking pro's and cons.

From you post, you sound like you have never experienced it. Maybe 1 day there will be an occasion for you to dip your toe in the water.

For example, do you take asprin??? The fact it is now synthetically produced does not detract from the origins of it, ie Willow Bark...

FWIW - I could seriously take offence at your last comment, if I could be bothered having just lost my dad to cancer. Perhaps you would like to think about your tone.

My intention was not to offend when I mentioned "hitting the wall" It is just that over the last 20 or so years I have had many occasions in both the management of a condition I have and with some of my animals whereby I have had to SERIOUSLY consider my care regime in order to maintain quality of life. Occasions where synthetics were not going to work long term...

 

[Booboos]

Well clearly I think you are also out of order. OP asked for our opinions, I gave mine and YOU took issue with mine, not only picking my response out amongst similar others but also adding a rather patronising comment at the end of your post clearly suggesting that I held my views only because I had not come across any serious situations before. When I replied in the same tone you did not like it, but that should lead you to reconsider how you behaved in the first place. I am genuinely sorry about your father, although I don't see how an anonymous poster on the internet could be expected to have known anything about this any more than you could have known about my experience of similar situations, so perhaps you could refrain from making such remarks in the first place?

I don't take aspirin as I am allergic to it, but can't see the relevance of your point anyway as herbalism is entirely different from homeopathy. I will happily accept that many modern medicines have their roots in natural herbs, although clearly this does not prove that all natural herbs are therefore medicines or that they are necessarily harmless, but what does this have to do with homeopathy? Also if you note the title of the thread and question it does NOT refer to herbalism.

Still not sure why your cat's adverse reaction to a treatment proves homeopathy to be right.