Dr Clare Middle BVMS, Dip.Ac.,Dip.Hom.

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Most animals which respond to treatment for cancer require several therapies from the many that can help, such as natural balanced diet with added neutraceuticals, herbs, homoeopathy, flower essences, reiki, acupuncture, chemotherapy or surgery.

Many human cancer patients find that the two most useful natural modalities of the many that helped, have often been healthy diet, and resolving the core emotional issue. One of the best ways for humans to explore and resolve their deep emotional blocks is with frequent meditation.

So, here we have a difference in treating humans and animals – I have yet to meet a dog or cat which could be taught to meditate!

It seems that humans are more likely to achieve a long term or total remission from cancer compared to animals. This could be in part due to difficulty in resolving the core, ie the most important, emotional issue that caused sufficient weakening of the immune system for the cancer to be able to develop. Obviously, there are physical factors too in most cases, such as pesticide residue, genetics and nutrition, but for each case, some factors are more important than others. In some cases, emotional imbalance may be the most important factor which needs to be addressed before remission or improvement in quality of life can be achieved.

So, how do we find out the core emotional issue of an animal when they cannot talk?

Frequently, simply questioning of the people who live with the animal reveals all, which we need to do anyway as part of gaining information to prescribe the correct homoeopathic remedies. For example, one dog I treated for lymphosarcoma was described as always timid and unsure of its identity. She had started out in life as a show/ breeding dog and because its tail was too short had been found a new home at one year of age. Homoeopathics and flower essences were prescribed to boost the dog’s self esteem, and the owners decided to make a point of telling the dog how sweet they thought her tail was! The dog’s attitude became more confident and carefree with the treatment, and the ‘weight off her shoulders’ would have been highly likely to allow more effective functioning of the immune system to help fight the cancer.

A common stress factor for dogs is the owner’s lack of honouring alpha status or pecking order in multi-animal households. Many owners try and treat their animals equally, as that is the polite thing they are used to doing with fellow humans. However, dogs are different. They are very hierarchical, and it can be very confusing and stressful for dogs if their owners do not make a clear distinction between their dogs by clearly dealing with and feeding the leader dog first, allowing it to sleep closer to the owner’s room etc. Remember that dogs see the household- both humans and animals, as a “pack.” Honouring the pack order in practical ways can reduce a large amount of stress in dogs.

Cats are territorial carnivores, and can be as stressed by stray cats invading their property, just as we may be having a burglar in our house. Catching and homing stray cats helps all parties involved!

Sometimes, the owners will already know what the core emotional issue is themselves. For example, one dog’s cancer was noticed three weeks after another dog in the house had died. The patient in question was very attached to the dog who died and was obviously in grief. The homoeopathic remedy Ignatia was very helpful in gently pushing the dog through the grief process it had become stuck in, and good improvement in the dog’s physical condition also occurred. In this case, it was very obvious that the humans in the house were also not able to allow their grief to move through and pass. They decided to also take Ignatia themselves. Treating the whole household would have likely helped with a more rapid improvement in the dog’s condition.

It is not uncommon for an animal to have similar emotional issues as one or more of the humans in the household it lives in. In the case above, the dog’s grief was the primary household emotion, as the dogs had been very close, and the remaining dog seemed in deeper grief than the humans.

In many cases, dogs (much more often than cats) are often so emotionally close to their owners, that they will often reflect a certain core emotional issue of the owner, rather than one that is primarily their own. It is as if the dog has copied or role-modelled that emotion from the owner, in a similar way that children role- model behaviour from their parents.

One dog I treated had a female owner who had two young children, and tragically, her husband had died. The dog had been continually listening to the sleeping children, then frantically running to alert the owner, every time one woke and cried! The dog’s immune system was run down by this heroic, but not necessary, “helping” and improved a lot with the flower essences Elm, for over-responsibility and overburden, and Olive for fatigue.

The only long term solution to cure the dog was to get in some home help for the owner. This is a common situation for me to see, where the animal is mirroring, or “telling the owner without words” what they really need to be doing for themselves.

Sometimes, the animal can only get better if the owner can realise what their pet is trying to “tell” them and change an attitude, have their own condition treated, or whatever is needed.

It is very important in these cases that the owner does not feel guilty they have “caused” their animal’s illness. I think it can be part of the domesticated animals’ spiritual process that they learn and heal together with their owner, as it is always easier to do things with another’s help than alone!

It is interesting that science has been able to provide proof of this phenomenum.

Kirlian photography can now show the aura or energy field on film, and can show some of the energy from the owner moving into the dog’s energy field when dog and owner are frequently near each other. Human cardiac surgery patients have a significantly greater chance of quick recovery and longer term survival if they have a pet they cuddle or pat frequently. This does not mean the human’s better recovery will necessarily be of detriment to the animal – it only may be if there is an unusual existing weakness or illness with the animal already.

This is such a common phenomenum at our clinic where so many unusual, long term cases come, that have not responded to usual treatments, that the staff at my clinic now think it is nothing out of the ordinary to see an owner and animal with, for example, arthritis in the same joint, or both animal and owner with excema, or both with diabetes, or whatever the case may be.

© Clare Middle 2015