What does it look like to welcome a rescue into a holistic family that relies heavily on homeopathy?
Meet Nola, a sweet Ridgeback-Boxer mix. Nola was found in a burned out abandoned house. There wasn’t much information on her but upon first meeting we could see that she was playful. She ran around endlessly in the yard and won our hearts in 30 seconds flat.
After looking at her medical history, I knew we’d have a lot of cleaning up to do. When dogs are brought into the shelter, they are immediately put on heartworm meds and neutered/spayed. Nola also suffered a hernia. So surgery was a foregone conclusion as well as the standard injections. It was a lot in a short period of time.
Following the surgery, Nola started having diarrhea and what they called “sour stomach” to which another med was administered. I also noticed some green goop in her eyes and would later discover a greenish-yellow discharge from her vulva.
So we left with all the instructions and we drove out of the parking lot with our new addition. There was no sense in explaining to the shelter that I would be addressing these issues using homeopathy. Because I’m a homeopathic mom, you bet I had my kit with me. And that mothering extends to my four-legged babies as well.
Fifteen minutes down the road, she threw up…twice by the time we pulled over at a place where we could clean things up. “Do you think she gets car sick?”, my husband asked. I had no idea but I knew what I saw and I knew the remedy I needed to use: Arsenicum album. I find this one of my most useful remedies for dogs as it handles everything from digestive upset to food poisoning as well as diarrhea, vomiting or both. So I put a few pellets in a small cup of water, swished it around and administered it into her mouth.
The remainder of the trip was without incident.
When we arrived home Nola was greeted by my son and Rae, a pure-breed 75 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback. Rae towered over the 38 lb puppy and it was a little intimidating. Rae growled a little to let Nola know who is in charge. Nola wiggled her way right into Rae’s space. In a few short weeks, they became fast friends.
To ensure that transition I mixed up 2 Bach flower formulas (one for each) and dosed them daily for about 5 days. Bach Flower Essences work on the emotional level and are a wonderful and long-time used adjunct to homeopathy in my home. The formulas I used can be found in the book Bach Flower Remedies for Dogs.
I also moved her right onto a raw food diet. Whether you’re a believer or not, that was a game changer for us with Rae. So we have never looked back. She had one bout of diarrhea when she arrived home. I gave her another dose of Arsenicum and that cleared it up. I took her off the meds immediately, knowing with confidence that I had more than adequate alternatives…in fact, superior I believe. Then, I just watched her symptoms. What was her body going to tell me she needed?
Never really feeling like I needed Aconite (to address any shock to her new settings) and seeing no major trauma effects, I got to work on the green discharge. A classic keynote of Pulsatilla (greenish-yellow discharges), I started administering every 4 hours for the 1st day and backed it to 2x daily after that as I saw a significant shift in the symptoms. By day 3, the symptom was gone so I stopped the remedy.
What’s next? Oh the places we can go…
For now we are simply enjoying her and focusing on training. She is a mischievous one and I have a strict “no dogs on the furniture” policy that Nola has yet to grasp.
Will I use homeopathy for flea prevention? It’s certainly possible.
Snoring? (Is it possible for a puppy to snore that loud?) There is a remedy for that!
What about any effects from trauma? If the symptoms present, then you bet.
If she gets into the trash? Most definitely.
Kids, pets, family, friends…there are abundant opportunities to use this amazing medicine!
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Disclaimer: Homeopathy doesn't "treat" an illness; it addresses the entire person as a matter of wholeness that is an educational process, not a medical one. Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice are not accepted as medical evidence and are not FDA evaluated. This is intended for educational purposes only.