Writing complete and succinct updates during the homeopathic treatment of your pet will help insure the best, fastest, and most gentle course of therapy. In addition, brief, well organized updates allow faster, and less costly, determination of the treatment.

Your updates will both provide important observations and become part of your pet's medical record. The electronic record initially (before being double-clicked) only displays the first few lines of each entry. Therefore, please include the most important information at the beginning of your update (remedy name and doses and overall progress or new problems). In this way, the records can be most efficiently scanned to help determine your pet's current overall level of health trend. Try to keep your updates short.

The following information will help the updating process. If you would like further clarification please feel free to either comment on this article, post a message in the homeopathy forum, or e-mail me directly. This document will be modified based on your feedback.

General guidelines:

• Please limit your updates to once weekly (unless we have decided that more frequent updates are needed due to your pet's condition).
• Please write your update in the body of an e-mail.
• Use dates (not days of the week).
• No attachments.
• No formatting (bold, bullets, tables, etc.).

1-All updates should start with your date of last appointment, and which (if any) remedies and what doses were given, and when.

If there is a new or particularly problematic symptom, please include it at the beginning of the update, e.g. recent vomiting, diarrhea, itching, etc.

2-Was there any immediate response to any of these doses?

e.g. "3/5/12 Sul 30c 10/1 (10 succussions of the bottle, 1 drop from it added to 1 cup of water)-5ml, after which he uncharacteristically fell deeply asleep for 3 hours and then woke and ran around energetically", or "After the dose, the next day both eyes started discharging white mucus that had to be wiped out 3x a day".

3-Since the dose(es) which symptoms are better, worse, or unchanged?

It is very helpful to report all of the relevant symptoms in each report. Use the 4 Ps (Problematic, Persistent, Prominent and Peculiar) to help determine which are the most important symptoms to report. Try to quantify the degree and timing of changes before and after the dose. For example, normal may be 100% or 10/10 vs. 50% or 3/10 before the dose.

Here is an example of a very useful actual update during the cure of a dog with pneumonia. The original version that follows is less helpful:

Here is the very helpful version: "Only 1 dose Phos LM 1 10/1-1 tsp. since our last appointment.  He is 75% better overall since the dose. A three minute coughing fit and restlessness were seen immediately after the dose.

Since the dose:

Better-cough (2x daily vs. 2x/hour), energy (8/10 vs. 2/10) and appetite (10/10 vs. 3/10). 
Worse-Diarrhea accident in house (first time ever for any accident) overnight @2am.
Unchanged-itching, ear redness, vomiting, drinking, clinginess"  

Following your summary you can include any germane details.

I will also probably ask (for almost every pet at every appointment): temperature preferences, change of favorite areas in the house , changes in sleep position (and dreaming), preferring to be alone or clingy, new cravings, aversions, fears, itching, discharges, skin rashes and eruptions, etc.

Below, is the original version. It is too long and detailed. Also note that the dosing info and overall update is buried within the text. Please keep the detailed  information in your home journal (or an online plog). That way it is available if I  have questions.

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10pm – Gave Remedy, I dribbled some of dose down his face.
 
10:05-11:00pm – He got up, resettled into more natural, comfortable position for a moment, then got up and resettled again to face us.  Seemed more awake and alert, almost restless but without anxiety.  Had a couple of shallow, wet coughs that were less intense than had been in the office and never cumulated to phlegm being brought up.  General consensus was that his expression and energy seemed better than they have in a while; more relaxed and happy looking with a lot of eye contact and interest in what we were doing (and the idea of snacks).  Very slight clear nasal discharge in right nostril and similar respiratory patterns as earlier.  Started licking his legs, not biting, and settled into napping lightly on bed.
 
11:00pm – Got up and seemed unsettled. Didn’t take any drink, though stood near water. Didn’t seem to want to go out, seemed awkward.  Started coughing heavily going through 4 or 5 cycles of a few coughs and then bringing up phlegm and then coughing again.   Deep, wet coughs while he was standing, then he lay down while coughing and stayed laying down in that spot until I went to bed.  His position was on cool, hard floor directly in front of cool draft with nose pointed towards cooler air.  Room temp was about 65.  Stayed in that place sleeping until I went to bed.  Didn’t seem chilly at all, slept deeply.  Woke just about midnight to cough again, just 30 seconds of shallow wet coughing with no phlegm being brought up.  I believe this happened after he went from prone position to laying on side.
 
Overnight – Slept on floor next to my bed, normal spot for him.  Didn’t hear him cough throughout the night.
 
Morning – Didn’t cough until after going outside and back into the house.  This included a brief trot up a small hill.  Coughed in kitchen while greeting my Mum (excited), a few full cycle coughs that produced phlegm.  Seemed more interested in foster dog’s food than usual, had a few bites of kibble while I prepared.  I offered him a plate of cooked chicken and he had no hesitation and ate the whole thing with more gusto than has been normal lately.  After meal he went into the living room and rolled around on his back.  This is normal celebration behavior for him after a meal, but we haven’t seen this in 3 weeks at least.  He didn’t cough at all while rolling enthusiastically on his back.  I noticed the playful foster dog was trying to engage him outside, which is new.  He didn’t engage, but looked amused.
 
I only gave the one dose based on changes I saw.
 
Temp before remedy yesterday at 5pm was 101.3 after it was 100.5
Temp at lunch today before remedy was 100.8
 
Time of accident in house was likely 2am or so.  Should be noted that he ate more than he has been in the past few weeks at dinner and I had just started putting him back on raw.
 
He also seemed very tired this morning and didn’t get up until after I left for work.  Not unusual for him to be sleepy in morning, but a little unusual for him not to get up to greet me.
Her next update:  Better – cough (much better, 9), energy (much better, 8), Ease of breathing (7), Nasal Discharge (9)
Wose – Nothing
Unchanged – Everything else
 
Appetite – I was unsure if I should fast or not based on stomach issues.  Have not fed since breakfast yesterday.  Advice on feeding would be appreciated.  Seemed interested in food this morning.  I’m thinking cooked chicken/rice/pumpkin to get back on track.
 
Stool – Has not gone since yesterday @5pm that I reported.  Have asked Mum at home to please watch if possible.
 
He was eager to get up this morning and was moving faster than he has in weeks without coughing.  One brief coughing episode this morning, very mild, after movement.  Also he hopped on the bed last night for the first time in weeks at bedtime, which is his normal routine (bed for a while, then floor next to bed).
My version (for the medical record):- Two doses Phos 0/1 15/1 1tsp.  Better overall since the dose.  Reacted to first by licking legs for 1 min then sleeping deeply on left side.  Reacted to second by sleeping deeply through night.  Temp before first dose (11pm) 100.6, before second dose (1am) 100.3 Temp at 8am 101.3.

Ear problems are one of the top routine reasons why dogs visit the veterinarian, and many dogs suffer with painful and unpleasant ear conditions for years on end before a true long-standing cure is found. 

Here's yet another respected and well-educated human doctor telling us to "stop with the vaccines".

Dear Dr. Feinman,
 
Well you’ve done it again!!
 
Both Tom and I have noticed a marked improvement in Clydie’s energy level, alertness and interest in being part of whatever activity is going on around him. This change became noticeable around the third week after starting him on the Rx Essentials and Pet G.O.
At first, I thought it was wishful thinking on my part, but once Tom and I compared notes, we realized that we were seeing the same changes.
 
You have taken such good care of Clydie for the past 14 years, and I have no doubt that he’s made it to 15 with a wonderful quality of life – in no small part – because of your skill, knowledge and humanity. Tom and I will be forever grateful.
 
Caryn

A 6 yr old, male, neutered Weimaraner was treated homeopathically for nasal aspergillosis after failing to respond to two treatments of topical (intranasal) clotrimazole and oral amoxicillin trihydrate/clavulanate potassium.

We all want our pets to maintain their health and recover quickly when sick.  Towards that end, clear communication is critical.  This is true for excellent healthcare of any kind.  Communication is especially important for high quality homeopathic healthcare.

Timely replies to e-mails received by Dr. Feinman can therefore be very important.  E-mail messages may not be received and may be inadvertently missed. To prevent the resultant problems and to facilitate communication, please adhere to the following guidelines:

• Call 203-222-7979 and leave a quick message whenever you send an update (please use my client-specific address at certifiedvethomeopath).  This is critical as email messages frequently get delayed, e.g. in spam filters or lost in cyberspace. Please email Amy if you need the full address (which is not here in full to minimize spam).
• Include the word “update” in all messages you send (even if they are not full updates).
• Please avoid sending frequent short e-mails (vs. full updates) as this can slow treatment evaluation for your pet. If your pet is under active homeopathic treatment, always include the last used remedy name, dose and date(s) of administration, e.g. “Sul 0/1 10/1-1cc daily (last 12/2)”.
• Use the pre-appointment update format (name, date and exact dose of the homeopathic remedy; immediate response to the dose; and overall changes since the dose).  Please see the update format document for more detailed information.

This format will allow faster reading and reply.  Whenever e-mail communication requires more than a few minutes to read and analyze, a case analysis charge may apply.  Case analysis is discussed in the Introduction to Dr. Feinman’s practice.

If you have an urgent situation, please do not rely solely on an e-mail message.  Instead, you should act as though e-mailing Dr. Feinman is not available. If time allows, write down the details of the problem and then call Dr. Feinman or seek emergency care.

E-mail messages and updates will often become part of your pet’s medical records.  They therefore may be read by other veterinarians, insurance providers, etc.

E-mail treatment recommendations and other information are individualized for you and your pet. This personalized information is not meant to be shared with others, on the web, e-mail lists, etc.  Doing so will be considered a breach of confidentiality and will thereby terminate this agreement.

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Please consider the environment before printing out e-mails.

I have read this document and agree with its’ terms.  I would like to be able to communicate with Dr. Feinman by e-mail: _________________________________________________________________

This topic occurred to me at a point when there was the rather frequent comparison of homeopathy to allopathy in terms of whether or not homeopathy was scientific medicine and I realized that the whole discussion was upside down. It is actually homeopathy that is closest to being scientific and almost all other forms of medicine are not (though there would be strenuous objections to that statement).

The best way to ask Dr. Jeff a holistic medical question about your pet is during a patient consultation. Of course, you first need to be a client of Dr. Jeff's to use this method.

Users of this site have 3 additional options:

• The preferred method is to connect with Dr. Feinman on Facebook. Please enter your pet question or problem along with the information requested below.
• The second method is to use the #askdrjeff hashtag on Twitter. Please ask your general question and Dr. Feinman will request other details as needed.
• The third method is to visit the appropriate folder on the Pet Chat forum here on homevet.com. Dr. Feinman as well as other posters on the board will see your query and respond when possible.

If you are posting on Facebook or the forum please provide the following details: Your pet's problem (or your general question), pet name, species and breed, sex and whether spayed or neutered, vaccinations, diet, and other problems and diagnoses.

Dr. Jeff will try to get back to you as quickly as possible. Please refer any urgent questions to your local veterinarian for immediate attention.

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Please note: The information provided on this site and through "Ask Dr. Jeff" queries is intended to supplement the recommendations of your veterinarian. Do not disregard veterinary advice or delay treatment based on information on this site. Nothing can replace a complete history and physical examination performed by your veterinarian. -Dr. Jeff

It is amazing to see how many dogs suffer from arthritis. The old belief systems that all one could do for arthritis for dogs was to give them aspirin or cortisone is obsolete.

Animals that have been hit by a car, or kicked by a horse, or fallen from a height, will often respond beautifully to the homeopathic remedy Arnica montana. If your animal is ever injured you can give a dose of Arnica 30c by mouth and see the rapid improvement that follows.