Damca, a Viola dog

Damca, a one-year-old female Dalmatian, came for homeopathic consultation in March 1999 because of a chronic skin condition.

Case history:

When she came to her current owner at two months old, she had diarrhoea due to worms.
At three months she suffered a urinary tract infection with diarrhoea.
At five months she had suppurating wounds on various parts of her body: abdomen, chest and neck.
At five and a half months she contracted "kennel cough", an infectious viral respiratory disease. Damca was spayed at seven months before she had ever come into season.
At eight months she had acute gastritis with vomiting.
At one year she had another urinary tract infection, caused by bladder stones (calcium oxalate).
Two months later the characteristic skin problems appeared as red, itchy patches on the neck, face, back and feet.
She was initially treated with antibiotics, which did not cure the skin symptoms, while the digestive tract reacted with diarrhoea.
She was then brought for homeopathic treatment because of her skin problems.

Damca's characteristic traits

She does not like travelling by car, since she vomited continuously as a puppy during her first car journey to her new home. She drools constantly in the car. She likes playing in puddles and mud and enjoys walks in the rain. She is very playful and seems to be constantly on the move. She also likes lying in the sun. She constantly demands touch and attention. She can wreck the whole house when her owner is at home but does not give her the attention she expects. She is very stubborn and undisciplined, dislikes training classes and whines and cries constantly during training. She is very sensitive to cigarette smoke. She sneezes and walks away when someone smokes. She is afraid of engine noises. She loves chocolate, Coca‑Cola and bread. She eats everything she finds in the street, including indigestible things.

Follow-ups

A few months later, after no notable effect had been observed, another remedy was given.

Prescription: Ignatia amara C 30, also without satisfactory result.
In September 1999 a third remedy was prescribed: Viola tricolor C12.

One month later her skin looked great, and the itching and eruptions had disappeared.

Damca's follow-ups:

Between October 1999 and February 2005 Damca needed her remedy, Viola tricolor, only rarely, exclusively when her skin showed signs of irritation or when she became too nervous.
Over the years Viola tricolor was given in C12, LM2 and LM3.
In February 2005 the dog came for consultation with a new symptom: a red pigmented spot 2 cm in diameter in the right armpit, which, according to a biopsy, proved to be a small mast cell tumour.
The spot disappeared after she took Viola tricolor C12 daily for a week. In April 2006 Damca came for consultation because of her compulsive eating behaviour: she was constantly begging for food, and she cried and wailed for an interminable time when not placated.
This time she received another Viola.

Prescription: Viola odorata C 30.

She never had skin problems again except once in 2007, when a new baby arrived in the family and she was no longer "the only child" in the house. She developed an acute skin reaction, which however calmed down and disappeared on Viola odorata (given for several days).
Damca died in April 2012 at the age of fourteen of age-related weakness. At the time of her death she had kidney problems and difficulty walking. Her owner had her euthanised because she seemed to be in severe pain and discomfort and was constantly complaining and crying.

Discussion and outcome

Despite her difficult character and her fragile immune system, Damca had a full and happy life. She had various health problems from the beginning, but whenever a symptom appeared, one of the Viola remedies produced its healing effect, always resulting in a long-lasting balanced state.
At first she came for follow-up every month, then—after her first Viola treatment—once a year for a few years. In her later years she came only rarely; only when a new problem arose did she receive her Viola treatment and then disappear for a few years again. Both Viola tricolor (wild pansy) and Viola odorata (violet) helped her at different stages of life to regain inner balance. For both Violas, restlessness, impatience and stubbornness leading towards disobedience are characteristic.
Viola tricolor is prone in youth to skin problems and urinary tract problems, just as it was for Damca as a puppy. This remedy also has "complaints from suppressed eruptions" (Radar Keynotes), which is reflected in Damca's recurrent stomach problems, triggered by the antibiotics she had been given so liberally for her skin condition before she came to homeopathy.

Viola odorata shows the distinctive symptom of the "tendency to cry involuntarily when something is refused" (Radar Keynotes), which clearly indicates that Damca had now become an adult. This characteristic symptom, together with the general symptom "cancerous conditions" (Radar Keynotes), led to the change from Viola tricolor to Viola odorata.

In Michal Yakir's "Homeopathic Plant Systematics" both Violas are placed in the childhood series at stage 5. Both are described as fitting sensitive and emotional patients who complain and readily cry when they feel neglected or frustrated. They are stubborn and disobedient, as reflected by their various skin symptoms.
Which of the Violas was Damca's constitutional remedy? A difficult question not easy to answer, since both remedies were successful. The only clear conclusion we can draw from Damca's life is that she was a Viola dog!

Photos: Dalmatian©Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH - www-shutterstock.com
Wild pansy©Mikhail Abramov - www.shutterstock.com
Violet©aleksandr hunta - www.shutterstock.com