A case study involving a senior cat with cancer demonstrates how a homeopathic approach treats cancer and extends longevity.
At our veterinary surgery on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, chronic skin disease and cancers represent the majority of our daily caseload. On average, we have about 50 cancer cases ongoing at any one time. We treat most of them with alternative medicines, predominantly homeopathic ones. In this article, I will provide an overview of our therapeutic approach to cancer, and illustrate this approach through a case study involving a feline patient named Miss Kitty.
Beginning a cancer case
When cancer cases are presented at our surgery, they have commonly just finished an intensive diagnostic or surgical regime. Often, they are still in the process of receiving chemotherapy. For each animal that presents to our surgery with a cancer diagnosis, we begin by addressing the following general aims:
- To slow tumor growth
- To address pain and discomfort
- To strengthen the body so it can begin to heal
- To improve the patient’s overall mental and physical well-being
- To gently lead the body to cure, if it is able.
As we work towards each of these goals, while the patient is on homeopathic treatment, we observe several different outcomes. Some will hold a cancer in a steady state, unchanged, for many years. Some will experience a slowdown in the growth of their cancer. And still others will be led to cure, with a complete shrinking of their cancers.
Miss Kitty – case study
August 2012
Miss Kitty first presented at our surgery at ten years of age. She had recently become quite breathless with any exertion. Her usual vet recommended euthanasia because thoracic radiographs revealed large growths on her lungs. Miss Kitty’s heart had been pushed sideways and could only be auscultated on the right side of her chest dorsally. An exact histopathological diagnosis was not pursued by the owners; however, homeopathic treatment was begun using her history, presenting symptoms, physical exam, and preliminary diagnostics.
Treatment began with two homeopathic medicines, Lycopodium Clavatum 200c and Carcinosin 200c. These two medicines were used in alternation, one for three days, then the other, using the methods devised for human cancer treatment by A.U. Ramakrishnan and Catherine Coulter and outlined in their book A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer, a distillation of Dr. Ramakrishnan’s treatment of over 10,000 people.1 The Ramakrishnan approach uses an organ-specific remedy that has an affinity for cancer in that area, alternating with a more general cancer homeopathic medicine like Carcinosin or Scirrhinum. Dr. Ramakrishnan uses the remedies in 200c potency as he has found it matches the energy of the cancer in most cases. The potency is then increased as the being heals.
Several other homeopathic medicines were used with Miss Kitty over the following year. They were prescribed depending on the presenting symptoms at her monthly visits. During one visit, she became quite cyanotic during handling and was treated with a homeopathic medicine called Carbo vegetabilis in a 1M potency; this helped with her general breathing for many months.
April 2014
After almost two years of homeopathic treatment, a new growth the size of a lemon was palpated in Miss Kitty’s abdomen behind the liver. It was not causing any symptoms but had grown rapidly over the past month. Her owners declined further diagnostic work. Her breathing was now quite stable, but there was no great change in chest auscultation, with the heart only audible on the right dorsal side.
Based on the location of the new mass, Miss Kitty’s homeopathic protocol was changed to homeopathic Phosphorus 200c and Tuberculin 200c, to be given in three-day alternation. Often, a change of remedy in a chronic case will stimulate the healing mechanisms again, as opposed to using the same medicine at the same strength. Miss Kitty’s case was re-analyzed with the new symptom of the liver tumor, allowing determination of a new homeopathic prescription.
June 2014
Almost four years post initial presentation, a new lump appeared in Miss Kitty’s mammary area; it had some firm nodules inside it. This mammary tissue was managed over the next two years with homeopathic Sepia officinalis, alternating with Carcinosin, both in 200c potencies.
Mammary growth in June of 2014.
March 2016
Miss Kitty’s breathing remained stable. The lump in her abdomen had shrunk somewhat, but was still palpable at around 6cm in diameter. Behaviorally, her owners reported a return to her original nature, similar to how she was when she first came to live with them. She had become more affectionate, and was now wanting to lie on the bed with them again. She even worked out a manageable relationship with the other cat in the household. However, at the March 2016 recheck, it was evident that her mammary lumps were enlarging. In addition, she had new symptoms — changes in her appetite, and some weight loss.
Mammary growths in November of 2016.
Her owners reported that all she wanted to eat or drink was cream. An older childless couple, her owners informed me at this visit that when they got her as a rehomed cat at two years of age, she was like their baby. They held and cuddled her like an infant for many years, until they got their second cat. They told me she would even put her front feet around their necks like a real baby.
Unusual information like this is important in a homeopathic consultation. It assists the prescriber in individualizing the case so s/he can select the most similar homeopathic medicine to that particular patient. Miss Kitty’s owners had previously mentioned her desire for cream, but an assumption was made that this was not an individualizing symptom, as many cats like cream. However, her almost exclusive craving for cream at this point in her therapy demanded further investigation. The emphasis placed on this symptom led to a closer analysis using a computer repertory search tool called MacRepertory.2 This database offers an easy method of searching symptoms unique to a case, and identifying homeopathic medicines that exhibit those same symptoms.
These repertory databases hold all the information that has been obtained from either provings (data obtained from the intentional taking of a substance by healthy persons to observe the symptoms), accidental poisonings, or the clinical use of potentised medicines, collected over the past 200 years. In this case, it was observed that, at least in humans, a huge desire for cream is a symptom experienced many times in patients who have benefited from a homeopathic medicine called Lac humanum, derived from human breast milk.
For Miss Kitty, the remedy Sepia was now changed to Lac humanum in a 200c potency, to be given every three days in alternation with Carcinosin 200c.
June 2016
The growth in Miss Kitty’s abdomen was no longer palpable at this visit. Her breathing had continued to improve. Her energy was good, and her appetite had also improved. While she continued to enjoy cream, she was less focused on that food alone.
February 2017
Almost five years after treatment was begun for large lung tumors, followed by an abdominal tumor and then mammary tumors, Miss Kitty succumbed to general age-related weakness and debility, with further ulceration of her skin tumors. She was euthanized at 16 years of age.
Conclusion
In Miss Kitty’s case, homeopathic treatment followed Hering’s Law of cure (see sidebar above), gradually shifting her disease from deep within vital organs to more external locations. As aspects of her illness resolved, other symptoms surfaced, allowing us to individualize her homeopathic prescriptions further, improving her vitality and physical and mental well-being. A homeopathic approach to Miss Kitty’s care allowed her to live a long and full life with her family.
1Ramakrishnan AU, Coulter, Catherine R. A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer. Berkeley Springs, West Virginia: Ninth House Publishing, 2001.
2MacRepertory (Computer Software), 2017.
This article has been peer reviewed.
