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| Hpathy Ezine - June, 2007 | ||||
Cool Charles, The Cat-- Edward De Beukelaer, DVM |
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To add to the questions on acute and chronic treatment, I would like to tell you the story of Charles. Charles is a cat of ordinary origin. He lives in a peaceful and happy household among a variety of other cats, dogs, geese, ducks and chickens nearly all rescued by his very caring and concerned owner. When I saw him he was 9 years old. His regime of tablets consisted of 35 mcg of digoxin every 36 hours and 20 mg of diuretics twice per day. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure six months prior (heart enlarged on X-ray). He had suffered a number of episodes of heart problems over three months which developed in chronic heart suffering for 5 months before I saw him. In between the initial episodes, at a time he was well, he displayed
a bout of severe vertigo for 2 hrs early one morning after jumping
off a chair. The episode stopped when the owner picked him up and
‘shook him’. ‘Recently a strange black cat got in the house and frightened all the cats. Later Charles was mistaken for him and was attacked by my other cats. This happened when he was already ill. (The owner does not know whether this episode had any effect on his illness.)’ ‘He spends most of his time crouched on his chair. He sits tucked up, he is not resting. Any exercise causes him to be out of breath. It is uncertain whether the medicines have any effect on him.’ At some point the digoxine needed to be reduced because he lost his appetite. ‘Charles is a placid cat. He has a lovely nature. His mother was found dead in the garden and I hand reared him from the age of 5 weeks. He thinks I am his mother. He is like a child and wants to be carried like a child, but not any more since he is ill. His sister is far more independent than him. He seems effeminate, there is a sort of gayness about him, other people commented on this as well. He has a high pitched mew and a dandy way of walking. He had a real bad patch two months ago but is better now. A week ago he caught a mouse. He is very good natured to the other cats. He minds his own business.
I ask about what happened the first time he showed symptoms of
heart failure: The consultation goes on for a long time but there is not much
more I can obtain from the owner, so I have to do with what is available. Charles is cool with everybody: he is friendly with the other
cats, the dogs and even the geese. (Geese are not usually that friendly
with cats.) He even has a cool name for a cat. (in reality his name
is even cooler than Charles). This all feels like Sulphur to me: nothing worries Charles much and after every acute episode he soon returns to his usual self. Even when displaying heart problems he still went out catching a mouse. He doesn’t even need personal space. That is an unusual thing to say about a cat. To me that signifies, that even when the others are around, everything is his personal space anyway. This agrees with a typical aspect of Sulphur, being the centre of the world and not being worried about the conditions needed to be the centre of the world or the consequences of this position. Sulphur does not think about this position, it is just where Sulphur is. When I see that Sulphur is present in the rubric, Mind, Carried, desire to be carried (1) there is an extra reason to use this remedy. (The fact that he did not want to be carried when he was unwell may have to do with the discomfort caused by the position on the owners’ shoulders.) For his dainty behaviour we could use the rubric, Mind, coquettish,
too much. (1) During the following four months the owner cautiously and gradually
reduces his medicines to stop them all together. During the 18 months after the taking of the remedy, I receive regular updates: Charles is always fine, being himself and displaying normal cat exercises. |
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_____________________________________________ Edward De Beukelaer, DVM practices in the UK (Wiltshire and Gloucestershire). Visit his website: http://www.marlboroughvets.co.uk/ |
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