Homeopathic approach to a cat with multiple problems

A student from Hong Kong posted on the Hong Kong School of Homeopathy:
My cat is now 2 years old and she has been suffering from stomatitis with gums swollen and difficulty in biting since around 8 months and vet said she should have been born with a poorer immune system.I feed her cooked chicken and fish ever since and she is doing well.(at least in terms of eating)
lately, she is have some minor fungi infection on her skin and because she seldom drink water on her own(except those i feed together with her food),there has been some lumps at her anus as if hemorrhoid.

Think for a minute – what would your veterinarian suggest for the following problems:

1. Stomatitis
2. fungal infection of the skin
3. rarely drinks
4. lumps at anus

Conventional may suggest pulling teeth, using antibiotics and sometimes steroids or even pain killers for the stomatitis. They would do many tests on the skin, then prescribe 1-3 months of antibiotics, maybe probiotics/prebiotics, bathing and topical ointments. They would do blood and urine tests because of the lack of thirst or suggest adding water to the food. Maybe the lumps are merely blocked anal sacs which would be emptied.

Holistic veterinarians would realize that cats on a fresh food diet usually drink little to no water, but would be concerned about enough Calcium in the diet, and may adjust the fat ratios, or other changes to the fresh food diet. They would be most concerned about the gums and teeth, adding supplements like C0 Q 10, or more, along with their modality’s treatment.  They would see the skin condition as discharging. Few animals die from a skin disease, so it is often the last to resolve and it is important not to quickly stop skin symptoms. They would not worry much about it being fungal, bacterial, traumatic, endocrine, though each may slightly change the treatment approach. More is needed to comment on the lumps at anus (tumors, anals, normal, skin scabs/lichenification).

Chiropractic would evaluate for any vertebrae that were out of alignment and by adjusting (using many different modalities) could help the gums, skin and anus.

TCVM vets (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine) would feel the pulses; evaluate the tongue; determine if metal, fire, earth, water or air predominate; use the time of day when symptoms are worse to help select treatment; ask questions about temperature and food preferences; palpate the meridians and points. They may choose acupuncture, acupressure, food therapy, tui na, electro acupuncture, moxabustion – usually a combination of them.

Homeopathic vets try to get enough unique symptoms to successfully select a matching medicine. Since Carol Ma is a homeopathy student, she started by researching the above symptoms, saying:

I am thinking to prescribe her Calc 30c with painful hemorrhoid, rubbing(in general), tardy teeth, suspicious, flabby skin. But I wonder how often shall i repeat the remedy and whether i should also take into consideration of her skin infection and immuno problem?

Now, for those of you who have some experience with homeopathy, is there enough information to prescribe a homeopathic medicine? What is meant by suspicious?  We need to be very careful about deciding on mental symptoms in animals. What does suspicious mean in humans, dogs, cats, horses? What does “flabby skin” really mean? Often using Yasgur’s Dictionary shows us what the older homeopaths meant by different terms.   Make a list of any of the homeopathic case taking questions you would want before selecting a remedy. Add them to the comment section below.

So my quick answer to her was:
Well, I would like to think of more individualizing characteristics, if possible. For the stomatitis, are the gums red on the right side, or left? Have teeth fallen out? Been pulled out? Is there a mouth odor? When you say difficulty in biting – what does she do? Were her teeth tardy in coming in? I agree with poor immune system. Have you been feeding calcium in addition to the cooked chicken and fish? Or raw fish and chicken bones? Try feeding slightly less cooked or raw meat and as big as she can bite at. Also give Co-enzyme co Q 10 – 10 mg per day – probably for life. If you can get Standard Process supplements there – the whole cat supplement and the feline immunity would be good. It is normal for cats on a fresh food diet to not drink water.

Why do you say it is fungi infection? Describe it by looking up rubrics in the skin section of the repertory. Go through every rubric to see which are TOTALLY accurate for her. Also, remember that we do not want to suppress skin issues, and they will be the last to resolve, so focus on increased energy rather than quick resolution of the skin. Make sense?

Cats and dogs do not have hemorrhoids. Lumps on the anus need to be figured out. If at 5 and 7 as you look at the anus – could be impacted anal glands. Are they on the anus or the skin near the anus? You say painful hemorrhoid >rubbing – does she like you to rub it or is she scooting her butt on the ground? If scooting butt – 99% anals. Many cats appear to be suspicious, but rarely would I use that rubric. Is she thin or stocky in build? You say flabby skin – again I have never used that except with dogs or cats with hormonal problems like Cushings that cause the skin to be loose. If she has a hanging belly, that is not the same.

If you still think Calc is correct, put a few pellets in 1/2 Cup of water, succuss it 10 times and give one dose. Wait a week to see if any changes. If no negative ones, can repeat daily for a week then wait a week. Of course each day decide if you should dose or not dose depending on any good or bad changes.

Her response so far:

Thank you Christina!For her stomatitis,gums are dark red on both left and right side and come with offensive odor.She could not bite the dry food when she first have stomatitis because of pain and she whined everytime she ate.The situation improved after i feed her cooked food.I did use a Wysong PDG supplement but no extra addition to calcium and enzyme,i will look for them from now on.

Anal issue: I am not very much sure whether it is a prolapse of rectum or impacted anal gland.What i observed is her stools are usually quite hard and dry and she will have a swollen and protruding anus usually after stools. Yes, she did scoot her bottom on the ground 2/3 times before and there are some trace of fluid (brown red in color) on the floor,but for these 2 months, she did not scoot. Again, she whines a lot when i figured out that she wants to poo and 2weeks before, i found blood about her anus after she pooped.That time i gave her nux v30c one dose as an acute treatment.

So you can see that more information may change the homeopathic remedy to be given. Next we would want to know the response to Nux vomica. If it increased energy and decreased the hard, dry stools, then it would be good to repeat, or try an LM or Pulsing of the Nux v. Also, I wonder what happened to the gums and skin after the Nux.