Demeter (cat) - Deep Pyoderma Case

Case: Darla Graves Palmer

One morning, I noticed that Demeter had what appeared to be two tiny red bumps in her right whisker pad. Not knowing what might have caused these bumps (bites? punctures? stings?), I gave a few doses of Ledum. They didn't resolve but also didn't get worse, at least not right away. About five weeks later, she had what looked like a 'scrape' on her right cheek. I was puzzled but didn't connect the two 'injuries'. Unfortunately, within just a couple weeks, the entire right side of her face became affected despite increased Homeopathic 'first aid' with several remedies.

A visit to the vet and we had the diagnosis of Deep Pyoderma; the complete blood panel was normal except for slightly elevated WBC count. While a few remedies palliated for the next two weeks, cure still wasn't in sight. Then, while reading Materia Medica on the prominent remedies from repertorizing, it became quite clear that Nit-ac must be the Simillimum! And it was - because within 24 hours of a single dose, the improvement was striking! Three more doses within the next 3 weeks and she was fine - her hair had grown in and her appearance was back to normal.

While this case resolved amazingly well with Homeopathic support once the Simillimum was found, I stumbled a bit along the healing journey for several reasons. Because Demeter couldn't tell me what had happened, I didn't know for sure what the etiology might have been. Also, I wasn't very aggressive with my dosing due to my innately cautious nature and relative inexperience. Then, once I knew what was actually going on with her system (after veterinary exam and diagnosis), it still took me almost two weeks to determine the Simillimum - Demeter provided me with nothing except physical symptoms; she showed no change in mental or emotional state or in her behavior, and her eating and bowel movements were normal. Knowing our remedies can save a lot of time because it took extensive reading in many Materia Medica before I found passages that reflected what I was seeing with Demeter. After giving the right remedy, however, the rapid pace of cure seemed almost miraculous!