Homeopathics are primarily used in cases of psychological feather picking in the practice of Dr. Joel Murphy* of Clearwater, FL. Based on trial and error, he has adapted to birds an arsenal of effective remedies from human homeopathic recommendations in the literature. In human medicine, a homeopathic physician will combine the result of a physical exam and an extensive psychological analysis to select an effective remedy from among 2,000 choices. In birds, 50 of the information the psychological profile is guess work (e.g., are they feather picking because of separation anxiety? boredom? But, because homeopathics have no side effects and are completely safe, doctors are willing to reach for these first.
Dr. Murphy, writing in the AAV Journal, explains that clinical protocol for a feather picking case begins with a complete physical examination and minimum database. If all results are normal, by default he includes that it probably has a psychological cause. He will first correct the diet, then suggest "bird aerobics" (getting the bird out of the cage and moving around), and a bath with spray or shower at least 3-4 times a day. In a large number of cases, these alone seem to work. If not, he tries homeopathics.
| Did you know that one day of illness for a bird is like seven days of illness for a human? So when you first recognize that your bird is ill, it's important to seek veterinary help quickly. Buying a general purpose antibiotic at your local pet shop in order to medicate your bird, first allows your bird to become even more ill and will seriously compromise the results of any diagnostic tests performed by your veterinarian when you do get to see him. |
Homeopathy is very challenging to use in veterinary medicine because the remedies do not come with "cookbook" instructions. One has to match the right remedy with the psychological picture of the bird. He may often try 5 or 6 remedies (one at a time for a month or so) before he can find the right one. Some birds don't respond at all. Then he will go to a traditional drug like Haloperiodol. If it works, then he has been able to correct the problem without using anything toxic. Normally with African Greys, he starts With Belladonna (30c). With improvement, he'll use a higher dose (200c). A low potency remedy (30c) is administered as one drop 1 3 times a day for two weeks. High potency remedies (which are actually more dilute the opposite of traditional medicine) are given in the office as a single drop once a month. Nat mur is a second homeopathic that sometimes works in African Greys, Nux vomica is a third.With feather picking Cockatoos, he gets good results with Arnica 200c once a week for 4 weeks. Nat mur is also used in Cockatoos, especially those that are strongly bonded to their owners and go through separation anxiety (Nat mur is used in people who are holding a grudge).
| did you also know that a bird's normal temperature is 103 - 107 degrees?<> |
Based on his studies with placebos as controls, Dr. Murphy is getting an 80 success rate in the African Greys and 60 in Cockatoos with this protocol. He has not found a homeopathic that works consistently with Macaws. However, he is getting good results in treating the mutilation syndrome in Quaker parrots with homeopathy.
He has used homeopathic remedies in other clinical cases where traditional therapies failed. For sarcosporidiosis {parasites in the intestines}, Dr. Murphy has had some success with the homeopathic remedy Millefolium 200c and with a noscode (homeopathic drug Antimony Tart for dyspneic {inhalation of foreign bodies or seed} birds.
*Dr. Murphy is author of The Parrot Care Hand book, is director of the Murphy Exotic Bird Research Ctr., and is involved in nutritional studies, medicine and captive breeding. (813) 796 2552, Murphy Animal & Bird Hosp., 2651 Sunset Rd., Clearwater, FL 34619.
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