A Case of Feline Conjunctivitis or Simbo’s Pink Eye

Homeopathy for Feline Conjunctivits

My good friend, and cat, Simbo was recently afflicted with a case of conjunctivitis. It started two days ago as an increased discharge, which didn’t seem particularly worrying, but by last night, his eye was so agglutinated that it would hardly open. He woke from sleeping with the eye glued shut and looked quite pitiful, staring at me through his only good eye. The discharge was overflowing and I became concerned.

I am not an expert in veterinary medicine and cats have anatomically different eyes from us, so I compared his condition with some photos of cat conjunctivitis from the internet and felt quite sure that this was his case also. Reaching for my trusty homeopathic repertory, I found the most prominent remedy for acute conjunctivitis to be Euphrasia. This is hardly surprising, as Euphrasia is best known for its affinity for the eyes. Indeed, its folk name is “Eye Bright”.
The less precise the prescription is in homeopathy, the less chance there is of its efficacy, so prescribing Euphrasia simply on it’s being “good for the eyes” was no guarantee that it would work. However, my beloved Simbo was suffering so I was inclined to try what I could find in a hurry. I dissolved a pellet of 200C (a good potency for acute conditions) in a small dropper bottle of water, and gave him about 4 doses over the course of two hours. Each dose was about half a dropper full, received with reticence, and most of which spilled on to his fur as I attempted to squirt it onto his tongue despite his efforts at resistance (please see “How to Give a Cat a Pill” for a quick laugh: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/howtogiveacatapill.htm).
After a couple of hours he had laid down for a nap and appeared to be well out for the count, so I backed off and let him sleep. I awoke this morning to the wonderful sight of both his eyes open, the one still closed just slightly more than the other. There was no discharge, let alone an overflow of agglutination, and he was in a very affectionate mood.
I must say, I thought I was going to have to work much harder at finding a good remedy than I did. This being the case, I wanted to pass along this story in case it might be useful for the lay prescriber, or even for people who don’t use homeopathy. Surely there is more than one parent out there who could benefit from having a vial of Euphrasia in the house, for when the dreaded “pink eye” gets passed around at school. This remedy is a great first course of action, so why not try it? It surely sped up the healing process in Simbo’s case. Today, as every day, I am very thankful to have homeopathy in my life, and Simbo is grateful too, he just doesn’t know it.