Charlie and the cuddle factory: a case of Lac suis

Features that distinguish mammalian cases are ‘fur and milk’. Mother's arms are safe, and her milk is warm and nourishing. During human sensation case taking, the patient uses words such as warm, cosy, cuddly, furry, held, protected, snuggling, suckling, and soft. The opposite of this is vulnerable, worthless, empty, and cold. This latter state will often be expressed as a physical sensation within the abdomen or stomach. That space should be filled with mother's love (milk), and can never be satisfied by the comfort eating, smoking and other addictions that we often see in Lac cases.

Mothers feed you, hold you, and love you unconditionally. In veterinary medicine, I have not had a successful Lac prescription where the patient was not sympathetic. Furthermore, they express that sympathy by touching the owner, often pressing against them or actually cuddling them.

The milk comes from the nipple. So, sucking blankets, paws or ears can be a sign that a Lac is indicated. Kneading excessively in cats or even slightly in dogs is another clue.

Mothers lick the new cub/foal/kitten to clean it, so excessive licking of others, including the owner, is a confirmatory symptom.

Another feature of Mammals is complicated communication. A veterinary Lac is likely to engage with you in the consulting room. Mammals have a clear hierarchical structure, which is reflected in our language; the leader of the pack, top dog, alpha bitch, snivelling cur. We would expect to see this feature in our Lac patient.

Generally, you might expect an Animal remedy to be more jealous, sexual, and territorial than the average plant or mineral.

Homeopathic case taking in humans has revealed to us another important mammalian feature: “I need the group for protection and friendship, yet in the group I can lose myself.” They sacrifice identity for security. Those working with the periodic table will immediately see the potential confusion with the third series here, especially the natriums and magnesiums, maybe combined with muriaticum.  Scholten equates muriaticum with mother. The Joshis have suggested as a general rule that the prey animals and Lac caninum are particularly analogous to the third or Silecea series. Larger mammals and predators like Lac lupinum are linked to the fifth or Silver series, and the big cats to the sixth or Gold series.

So, what do we see in our consulting room? Lac features underlined.

I was working this day with my friend Don Hamilton, a veterinary homeopath from the USA. Together we cracked this case.

Case

Four-year-old Jack Russell terrier called Charlie, who was suffering from atopy and the consequent skin itching and eruptions. Blood tests had revealed house dust and storage mite allergies. Steroids had been started in August 2011. Desensitising allergen injections were being given monthly, which seemed to have no effect other than making Charlie itchier for 24 hours. He seemed worse after running through long grass and in the summer. When I touched his back, he quivered all over. His skin was red and he scratched constantly.

This above information is of little use to a veterinary homeopath, so let us talk of what is useless conventionally but is homeopathic gold!

Charlie loves the fire and lay next to it although panting. 

He enjoys bathing and it improves his itching.

He drinks HUGE amounts two or three times daily and sometimes, it makes him sick afterwards. 

He loves raw vegetables, fruit, and chillies. 

He is prone to diarrhoea, and when ill, “he wants cuddles, and presses himself into me, or burrows under my arm.” 

He was born with a right-sided fore foot deformity. The middle two toes have a split between them, and the first and fourth toe are set higher up the leg and are smaller.

His litter brother is a true hermaphrodite.

He was originally wormy and thin, and has always been obsessed with food. He will stuff himself and then want more.

He tries to suckle at the owner, and kneads her.

His character is described as loving and affectionate.

He dominates the Labrador, and drives her away if she should approach the owner. He is jealous. He always wants to be included. 

I asked the owner: “Who do you represent to Charlie?” She replied: “His mother – he is needy for love.”

He always likes to have something in his mouth. He loves to sit and sleep on the owner and likes to be ‘skin to skin’.

If the owner is upset, he comes and sits next to her, touches her, and puts his head in her lap.

He is frightened of fireworks and trembles, but is “better for hugging and putting a blanket around him.”

If reprimanded, his ears go back; he walks away and looks like he is saying: “Please don't tell me off.”

In my consulting room, he wandered about searching for crumbs. He seemed quite confident. I called him and he started slightly, giving me a cautious wag. He then lay down looking away from me and the owner.

Analysis

The whole case is screaming ‘Mammal’ with every line. 

So which one? That is where things can get slightly harder. Sometimes, there is a specific rubric to help you, but often not. Many Mammal remedies are new and have few symptoms compared to our polychrests.

We must think about the energy. Charlie is quite confident and dominates the Labrador and any other dog who approaches the owner. We can say he is probably not at 'the mouse end' of the mammalian family. Equally, Charlie does not walk around my surgery like he owns it. This would have suggested a big cat. You do not get the feeling of wild predator about Charlie, so he is probably not wolf or weasel. Cunning fox? Probably not. Could he be badger or mole? Is there an underground theme anywhere? No. Could he be otter? Nice idea – better for bathing.

Here, my RADAR computer program is invaluable. I can search about 1000 volumes for key words in seconds. So what to search for? What is truly unusual in this case? Charlie was born with a deformity, as was his brother. There is a strong miasmatic taint here, hence I searched for the word 'hermaphrodite', although it was his brother's symptom. I did this because true hermaphrodites are fantastically unusual.

The search reveals 24 remedies including Sus scrofa. Investigation reveals the source to be the pig, and then all is clear. In fact, the remedy is made from semen, saliva, milk, and blood obtained from a special herd used to provide human transplant tissue. This will throw a unique shadow on this remedy compared to your average porker.

Reading the remedy one finds:

- Pigs have no sweat glands and desire to wallow in water.

- There is an inherited tendency for sexual abnormalities and hermaphroditism

- “Even when my stomach was full, I wanted to go on eating – I would have eaten garbage if it were put in front of me.”

- “I had the idea my foot was split up between my big toe and my other toes.”

Suddenly, we realise that Charlie's deformed foot looks like a trotter.

These symptoms are probably all just general 'pig' symptoms. Do we need to get Sus scrofa? I didn't have any but I did have some Lac suis M. If I had 10M, I would have given it. The more the patient is like the remedy in nature, the higher the potency required.

Prescription: Lac suis M, stop steroids

Follow-ups

Four weeks later: 90% better. Advised to stop de-sensitising injections.

Six weeks: now shiny coat, no dandruff, and no itchiness at all.

Four months later: occasional itching. Repeat prescription.

Six months later: totally fine.

Oink, oink!

Photos: Shutterstock
Red head with a Jack Russell puppy; Mila Atkovska
Young pigs on the farm; Igor Stramyk