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Author Topic: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep  (Read 16588 times)

sillyewe

  • Joined Oct 2014
Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« on: February 12, 2015, 01:13:57 pm »
Hi

Does anybody know of any good books about the use of homeopathic medicines in sheep?

It would also be good to hear about other peoples experience of using homeopathy in sheep.  I am keen to try out a more organic (not completely) form of treatment for my stock.

:)

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2015, 01:25:23 pm »
 Can't recommend a book, but can recommend a good homepathic supplier - Crossgates Homeopathics from Skipton.
I have had successful remedies from them for all my animals - mastitis, retained placenta, fertility, cystitis, to name but a few.
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

henchard

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Carmarthenshire
    • Two Retirees Start a New Life in Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2015, 03:33:10 pm »
It's completely bunkum in humans let alone sheep. There is not one bit of peer reviewed science showing it has any effect.

FCA

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2015, 05:33:04 pm »
We have 'Homeopathy, The Shepherd's Guide' by Mark Elliott and Tony Pinkus.  I think it's very comprehensive.  It covers, amongst other things:- administration of remedy, basic injuries, sprains and strains, wounds, shock, other injuries, fever, tupping to lambing (pregnancy toxaemia, orf) lambing (retained foetal membrane, mastitis) the newborn lamb (navel and joint ill, diarrhoea, rattle belly) first week to weaning (coccidiosis, pneumonia, urinary calculi), foot rot, pink eye.
Under each section it lists all the remedies and what conditions they might be used for, and how.
I have used a variety of homeopathic remedies and treatments in an attempt to help elderly pet sheep with age related pain but I have no experience of treating wounds or illnesses.
Ainsworths is another homeopathic supplier - they have a good website with a farming section.
I hope this helps.

ladyK

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Conwy Valley
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2015, 06:49:54 pm »
There is a course on the use of homeopathy specifically in the farm context: www.hawl.co.uk/
I found it really useful. Any books make a lot more sense afterwards.
It's not a question of either/or - it can be used perfectly well alongside conventional treatments.
"If one way is better than another, it is the way of nature." (Aristotle)

henchard

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Carmarthenshire
    • Two Retirees Start a New Life in Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2015, 08:21:07 pm »
There might be courses on it; but it doesn't get away from the fact that it is nonsense.

Sir Mark Walport, the new Chief Scientific Advisor to the government, said he would advise ministers that there is absolutely no medical benefit of homoeopathy other than a possible placebo effect.

The most comprehensive review of homeopathy was published in 2005 in the Lancet, a medical journal. Researchers compared trials of homeopathic and conventional medicines. In the bigger, well-designed trials, there was "no convincing evidence" that homeopathy was more effective than a placebo, they found. Meanwhile, in similar trials of conventional drugs, medicines showed specific clinical effects

Homeopathic remedies are made by taking an ingredient, such as arsenic, and diluting it down so far that there is not a single molecule left in the dose that you get. The ingredients are selected on the basis of like cures like, so that a substance that causes sweating at normal doses, for example, would be used to treat sweating.

Many people confuse homeopathy with herbalism and do not realise just how far homeopathic remedies are diluted. The typical dilution is called “30C”: this means that the original substance has been diluted by 1 drop in 100, 30 times. On the Society of Homeopaths site, in their “What is homeopathy?” section, they say that “30C contains less than 1 part per million of the original substance.”

This is an understatement: a 30C homeopathic preparation is a dilution of 1 in 100^30, or rather 1 in 10^60, which means a 1 followed by 60 zeroes, or – let’s be absolutely clear – a dilution of 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000.

To phrase that in the Society of Homeopaths’ terms, we should say: “30C contains less than one part per million million million million million million million million million million of the original substance.”

At a homeopathic dilution of 100C, which they sell routinely, and which homeopaths claim is even more powerful than 30C, the treating substance is diluted by more than the total number of atoms in the universe. Homeopathy was invented before we knew what atoms were, or how many there are, or how big they are. It has not changed its belief system in light of this information.

How can an almost infinitely dilute solution cure anything? Most homeopaths claim that water has “a memory”. They are unclear what this would look like, and homeopaths’ experiments claiming to demonstrate it are frequently bizarre. As a brief illustration, American magician and debunker James Randi has for many years had a $1m prize on offer for anyone who can demonstrate paranormal abilities. He has made it clear that this cheque would go to someone who can reliably distinguish a homeopathic dilution from water. His money remains unclaimed.

http://www.badscience.net/2007/11/a-kind-of-magic/

http://www.dcscience.net/2010/11/17/despite-the-spin-lewiths-paper-surely-signals-the-end-of-homeopathy-again/

http://www.dcscience.net/2010/04/09/robert-gordon-university-stops-its-homeopathy-course-quackademia-is-crumbling/

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/04/economist-explains

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10003680/Homeopathy-is-nonsense-says-new-chief-scientist.html

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2015, 11:36:08 pm »
Sir Mark Walport, the new Chief Scientific Advisor to the government, said he would advise ministers that there is absolutely no medical benefit of homoeopathy other than a possible placebo effect. /quote]

I have had successful remedies from them for all my animals - mastitis, retained placenta, fertility, cystitis, to name but a few.

Perhaps the Placebo Effect is stronger in sheep?  ;)
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Marches Farmer

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Herefordshire
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2015, 03:20:02 pm »
Oh ... I don't know.  When my son was a year old he suffered from severe dermatitis.  GP tried all sorts of creams for four months and said next step was steroids.  Not on my watch!  Took him to Andrew Lockie (GP as well as homeopath) who prescribed sulphur tablets and within two days there was a marked reduction in redness and dryness and within two weeks back to normal.  Nothing else in my son's life changed and I don't think the placebo effect works on a one year old.   Also have husband who has an allergy to animal dander and is very sceptical about homeopathy.  Again, remedy prescribed and a month later a marked improvement - definitely not placebo effect.  Andrew enjoyed treating sceptics most of all!

fsmnutter

  • Joined Oct 2012
  • Fettercairn, Aberdeenshire
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2015, 05:48:50 pm »
Oh ... I don't know.  When my son was a year old he suffered from severe dermatitis.  GP tried all sorts of creams for four months and said next step was steroids.  Not on my watch!  Took him to Andrew Lockie (GP as well as homeopath) who prescribed sulphur tablets and within two days there was a marked reduction in redness and dryness and within two weeks back to normal.  Nothing else in my son's life changed and I don't think the placebo effect works on a one year old.   Also have husband who has an allergy to animal dander and is very sceptical about homeopathy.  Again, remedy prescribed and a month later a marked improvement - definitely not placebo effect.  Andrew enjoyed treating sceptics most of all!

Cow's milk allergy is very common in young children, often causing dermatitis such as eczema.
It is commonly grown out of around 1-2 years old.
Its entirely possible that the wee man was just on the verge of curing himself, or maybe the magic water did help.

Badger Nadgers

  • Joined Mar 2013
  • Derbyshire/North Staffs
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2015, 07:27:46 pm »
Perhaps the Placebo Effect is stronger in sheep?  ;)

We get a lot of rain around here and my sheep are usually out in it, so it would presumably magnify the effectiveness of homeopathic applications ;*)
« Last Edit: February 13, 2015, 07:30:40 pm by Badger Nadgers »

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2015, 08:57:00 pm »
It's completely bunkum in humans let alone sheep. Ther e is not one bit of peer reviewed science showing it has any effect.
To you maybe.
But then you've obviously never tried it, so aren't actually in a position to give a valid judgement.
It is however a fact that you can't prove a negative.
You are free to have your own opinions and beliefs but please don't rubbish the views and experiences of others just because you are too arrogant to accept the fact that there may possibly be energies that are at the moment outside of our ability to comprehend.
A couple of hundred years ago people would have rubbished the idea of motor cars, aeroplanes, telephones and television. Even further back people thought the earth was flat and that you could fall off the edge. Nowadays people tend to be less narrow minded as there is new knowledge discovered every day. 
So please stop ramming your ignorant and bigotted views down the throats of those who know from  experience that homeopathy works.
 
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

nutterly_uts

  • Joined Jul 2014
  • Jersey - for now :)
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2015, 09:23:31 pm »
If nothing else, Homoeopathy subscribes to the ethic of "nil nocere" - do no harm.

If people (or sheep, or cows or whatever) are having a noticeable reduction in symptoms or ailments using it, then regardless of what YOU think, for that person (sheep/cow/whatever) its not a waste of time or money, whether science can prove it or not.




Beeducked

  • Joined Jan 2012
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2015, 09:37:57 pm »
It's completely bunkum in humans let alone sheep. Ther e is not one bit of peer reviewed science showing it has any effect.
To you maybe.
But then you've obviously never tried it, so aren't actually in a position to give a valid judgement.
It is however a fact that you can't prove a negative.
You are free to have your own opinions and beliefs but please don't rubbish the views and experiences of others just because you are too arrogant to accept the fact that there may possibly be energies that are at the moment outside of our ability to comprehend.
A couple of hundred years ago people would have rubbished the idea of motor cars, aeroplanes, telephones and television. Even further back people thought the earth was flat and that you could fall off the edge. Nowadays people tend to be less narrow minded as there is new knowledge discovered every day. 
So please stop ramming your ignorant and bigotted views down the throats of those who know from  experience that homeopathy works.


You can actually prove a negative and there have been many trials that have shown no benefit to homeopathy over the placebo effect, that is not to say that the placebo effect is not real and doesn't help, it does.
It is however, disingenuous to equate a scepticism of a treatment that has been assessed and has been shown to have no benefit  over scepticism over proven technology. To say to an 18th century person that flight of a metal machine is possible and to have this disbelieved is very different to show them a plane in flight and have them tell you it cannot fly.


Homeopathy does no harm providing it doesn't prevent people from accessing proven treatment modalities when it doesn't work. I have a friend on lifelong dialysis as his wife wouldn't concede that homeopathy wasn't working and he wouldn't access conventional medicine till it was too late. This is an anecdote. It no more proves that homeopathy doesn't work than people who have used it and feel there was a benefit proves it does.

henchard

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Carmarthenshire
    • Two Retirees Start a New Life in Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2015, 10:17:10 pm »
If nothing else, Homoeopathy subscribes to the ethic of "nil nocere" - do no harm.


Of course this isn't true either. There is evidence of homeopathy causing harm; One case reported in the British Medical Journal described how a woman had relied on homeopathy during a trip to Togo in West Africa, which resulted in a serious bout of malaria. This meant she had to endure two months of intensive care for multiple organ system failure. In this case, the placebo effect offered no protection. That's the harm.


http://www.1023.org.uk/whats-the-harm-in-homeopathy.php

Me

  • Joined Feb 2014
  • Wild West
Re: Homeopathic Medicines for Sheep
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2015, 10:21:18 pm »
Take chances with your own health but its not fair to take chances with other peoples health or your animals health. Use medicines (of any kind) that are proven and preferably licensed. I have never seen a double blind trial that proves homeopathy is anything more than a way of parting well meaning people from their money, but I haven't looked for a few years, any genuine peer reviewed stuff out there saying it works? I have seen animals suffering from a variety of conditions that were in under homeopathic treatment at the time so my experience says homeopathy is for fools BUT I would be happy to change my mind.  :thinking:
 

 

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