Author: Edward De Beukelaer
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1-4120-4509-6, Softcover, 271 pages
Price:$23.99 USD
Reviewed By: Dr. Manish Bhatia
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As a homeopath, I am always fascinated by veterinary cases. The way veterinary homeopaths individualize their patients, the way owners comment about the behavior or their pets – the personification, the process of remedy selection and the beautiful response that comes out in successful cases, is always a beautiful experience to read and it always boosts my confidence as a homeopath. The results in veterinary homeopathy are much harder to dispute as placebo cures and it is always amazing to see how different species react to our remedies in a similar fashion.
When I received this book, I only knew that it has 101 successful veterinary cases. But when I started reading it, I found out that it has much more.
This book is divided in two parts: the first part gives an extensive introduction to homeopathy and the second part has all the cases. The intended audience for the first part is people who have no idea what homeopathy is. It is meant for the owners of pets/animals and for conventional veterinary surgeons, who want to find out more about homeopathy. The first part discusses the history of homeopathy, law of similia, individualization, homeopathy remedies, preparation, remedy response, holistic approach etc. It also tries to answer many questions that might come in the mind of a person getting initiated into homeopathy like, what can be treated by homeopathy, the role of conventional diagnosis and the science behind our medicines. I am sure there are many books in the market which discuss all this but what is unique about this book is that the author has used a very non-technical and easy to understand language, yet the text does not lose its scientificity and is very convincing. It has been written like a systematic guide with special focus on veterinary homeopathy. The notes, anecdotes and cases sprinkled within the text, make the reading enjoyable.
The second part is a compilation of 101 veterinary cases that have been published by thirteen different veterinary homeopaths who have been educated in four different homeopathy schools in Belgium and France. The author summarizes his work very aptly as:
The purpose (of this work) is to illustrate the power of classical homeopathy and the working of its daily practice. The cases are selected to illustrate what you can and should expect from homeopathy. Although, they are veterinary cases, they have a value as examples for what can be expected from homeopathy for humans.
As a professional homeopath, I found the second part really engrossing. It read like a novel. The cases are diverse, the methods used for finding the remedy are also many, and the best part is that there is lot of truth in the presentation. If the first six remedies did not work, the fact has been published. There are cases where the first selection worked wonders and then there are cases, where it took many months to hit the bulls eye. These days we often come across human cases which run in 30 pages and are very boring to read. It was a joy to read these short cases with equally challenging pathologies and equally beautiful results!
The first part of the book might be of interest to non-professionals but the second part is very useful even for the ‘human’ homeopaths. In fact, I think that this work should be read by every human homeopath, even the seasoned ones, to relish the taste of successful homeopathy!
