The Virus that Crossed Species
“I think he has pneumonia,” Jan stated when she called about her goat. She told me some of his other symptoms: lethargic, not eating or drinking. The goat, Izzy, was 2 months old. She said when she had called the vet the vet said “A sick goat is a dead goat” and wouldn’t evaluate Izzy. As Jan was my sister-in-law, I went to her farm to check on the goat.
Yes, Izzy was sick. “He has 3 hooves in the grave,” was how he was described and I agreed. I listened to his lungs and found his left lung sounds were muffled. He had discharge out of his nose and he was warm. He also just wanted to lie down and sleep.
As the left lung was affected, I considered Bryonia but felt it wasn’t strong enough so I mixed a few pellets of that with Antimonium tartaricum as he was in the second stage of his pneumonia.
I went home thinking Izzy was going to die.
But he had a complete reversal of all symptoms within 48 hours and became a kid again.
I thought that was the end of it.
Two weeks later, one of my cats, Shadow, started wheezing and coughing. As he hadn’t been exposed to any other cats (except a foster kitten but she had been with us a month), I didn’t suspect a virus. I thought maybe his symptoms were emotionally-driven as he didn’t like the foster kitten pestering him. But when he had difficulty breathing I took him to the vet.
He was x-rayed, poked, prodded and had an ultrasound. In the end, the vet said his heart and lungs were fine and the blood work showed he was a healthy cat. She said it wasn’t asthma, wasn’t heart disease and wasn’t a virus. She couldn’t explain it. She thought maybe it was allergies and prescribed Benadryl. I asked about anxiety but she didn’t think so.
We gave him a dose of Benadryl when we got home—NOT an easy task. His symptoms seemed to settle but returned after the drug wore off. I knew it was time for homeopathy.
I tried to match his emotions to a remedy that also matched his symptoms. It didn’t work. I tried lavender oil; that didn’t work. I was left with the Benadryl and a fighting cat because he really refused to take it.
A week later his brother, Moon, developed the same symptoms. Now I knew it had to be a virus. The next day, our little baby developed a fever and cough. Could it be the same virus?
I went back to the books for homeopathy in animals. I found that Antimonium tartaricum is used in bronchitis with the same symptoms the cats and the baby all had. Why was that remedy familiar? Then I remembered: I had used it on the goat a month earlier.
Now it all made sense. I had brought a virus home with me from the goat and it had crossed species. I had not considered it. I had ruled out a virus when Shadow had gotten sick because I was looking for interaction with a sick cat that could’ve caused it. I hadn’t thought of other animals.
So, I gave the baby and both cats Antimonium tartaricum.
The baby was better later that day. This is common for human infants (and young animals) as they respond super-fast to homeopathic remedies.
Moon, who had been sick a couple of days, was better in 2 days. He still had a bit of residual cough but I gave him Arsenicum iodatum to clear that up. I also gave Shadow the Ars-iod as well as he was free of his virus but just had the residual cough.
Arsenicum iodatum is the best remedy for residual cough after a respiratory virus.
Within 5 days both boys were free of their cough and healthy again.
As Shadow had his virus for 2 weeks, I knew Moon would’ve been sick for 2 weeks—but with homeopathy, he was free of his virus in 4 days; the baby was healthy within 6 hours!
One of the great things about homeopathy is that it is symptom-based, meaning if the symptoms match the remedy, it will work. It does not matter if those symptoms are in a human, a goat or a cat. The goat, the cats and the baby all had the same symptoms so they all responded to the same remedy.
I also was reminded of a valuable lesson during this situation: trust my gut. When Shadow had first become sick, my gut said it was a virus. I listened to the vet when she said it wasn’t a virus. Had I just trusted myself, maybe I would’ve found the remedy sooner and decreased Shadow’s suffering sooner.
Disclaimer: The information provided by Dr. Ronda Behnke is for educational purposes only. It is important that you not make health decisions or stop any medication without first consulting your personal physician or health care provider.
Clever H. - the Mag! 
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