One Cat’s Story of Healing with Homeopathy

(Updated January 12, 2021)

When I moved into my house a few years ago, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the stray cats that came into my yard. I began to leave out dry food and water, and to put out canned food or raw meat whenever I saw one coming onto the deck. With cold weather fast approaching, I set up both a heat lamp and an insulated box complete with a fleece blanket in the garage, with access gained through a hole cut in the door.

One rather thin male cat, white with grey and brown tabby-striped patches, visited my deck just a few times that spring. At the end of June, he showed up with a large, deep wound on the left side of his neck, about two inches in diameter, obviously a bite of some kind. As a nurse, I recognized the seriousness of the wound and doubted the cat’s survival. If I called the Humane Society, it would be a sure death, as the cat was feral. So I grabbed my trusted Arnica 200C and put a dose in his food. I know that this isn’t the proper way to administer homeopathic remedies, but I had no other option, because this cat ran away when he saw me. (A remedy should be dissolved under the tongue, with nothing to eat or drink for a half hour before and after it has been administered.)

The very next day, the cat came back, and he received more Arnica; in fact, he got one to two doses a day over the next five days. Arnica is the first aid remedy that homeopaths turn to for any soft tissue injury involving pain, swelling, and bleeding with subsequent bruising, along with the admonishment of the ‘stay away; don’t touch it’ philosophy.

When the cat began to visit more regularly, I took advantage of these opportunities, moving on to a dosage of Hypericum 200C once a day for 3 days, after I saw him ever-so-gingerly trying to scratch his neck, imagining how painful that deep wound must be. Also known as St. John’s Wort, Hypericum is the homeopathic remedy specified for excruciating nerve pain, like when your finger gets hammered or crushed in a door. A few days later, I considered the six-inch trail of debris attached to the fur around the wound – skin, hair, leaves, and who knows what else – and gave him a dose of Silica 200C, used to help expel foreign bodies. The next time that I saw him, half of the debris was gone.

In the last week of July, the cat showed up minus all of the debris, and while he ate, I got a good look at what I was working with. The wound was red, raw, and angry, although it looked fairly healthy — moist and without infection, which I felt was inevitable for such a large wound amidst unsanitary living conditions. I administered Calendula 200C once a day for five days; one day, he ate the remedy and left the food! On the third day, I thought that the wound appeared smaller. Calendula, or marigold, is renowned for bringing wound edges together. On August 2, the wound was almost closed except for three small areas, and his fur was even growing back. I was astonished, first of all, that the cat survived, and also that the wound did not get infected, and managed to heal.

The Power of Homeopathic Remedies

The cats that come to my deck amaze me. When they are ailing, they get the indicated remedy, and then they start showing up quite regularly. Yes, for the waiting food, the catnip growing in the garden, and the safety of my yard, but also because, I believe, they realize that they feel better when they hang out here. And they become a little less wild and a little more tolerant.

I love homeopathy. As a certified classical homeopath, I welcome these occasional little nudges that demonstrate the miracle of homeopathy and reinforce my calling. Simply translated, homeopathy means “similar suffering,” in that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person will cure those very same symptoms in someone suffering from them. For instance, when we peel an onion, our eyes water and nose runs; ‘Allium Cepa,’ or homeopathic onion, is often given for the watery eyes and nasal discharge that accompany the common cold. However, classical homeopaths treat the individual rather than the disease, matching a person’s unique symptoms to a single remedy originating from nature – from the plant, animal, or mineral kingdoms – and according to this Law of Similars.

Nonetheless, some homeopathic remedies are specific to certain conditions, as in the above story. For instance, Arnica should be in everyone’s medicine cabinet, as it is a ‘godsend’ after a dental procedure, with the single ability to convert the most sceptical to the healing power of homeopathy. Furthermore, with a bit of study, anyone can manage simple self-prescribing for the first aid treatment of wounds, burns, insect bites, bruises, strains, etc., and perhaps even eliminate a doctor’s visit.

Homeopathic remedies are also an effective adjunct to conventional medical treatment, as with a broken limb, hastening the healing process and reducing pain (Symphytum [or Comfrey or bone-knit] is the specific remedy to help heal fractures). However, homeopathy has the greatest potential to cure deep-seated chronic ailments for which conventional medicine has little to offer, providing an alternative to controlling symptoms with medications. Consultation with a qualified homeopath is always recommended for such constitutional prescribing.

Homeopathic remedies are equally effective for animals as for people, including infants, pregnant women, and the elderly. Pets receive the very same remedies as humans do, the choice based simply on the totality of presenting symptoms. Interestingly, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, tested or proved homeopathic remedies on healthy people to determine their effects, while conventional medicines are tested on sick people and laboratory animals.

Hahnemann’s genius is timeless, his work as relevant today as its inception in 1793, and homeopathy stands firmly on his pillars to truth, with the discipline of homeopathy built on its successes. It has been practised for over 200 years and, in its renaissance, is emerging as a legitimate, effective, non-toxic, and (w)holistic healing approach to health and disease. Often referred to as the medicine of the 21st century, its power to help people is as close to miraculous as you can get in medical therapeutics.

Some of my cats didn’t survive the next cruel winter, including the star of this story, while others did with most of their ears still intact. I see a few old faces and several new ones, so I urge everyone to spay and neuter their cats, and show compassion to the homeless among us. May cat hair ever adorn your clothing.

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