Homeopathy clicks with animals too
Twelve granules, three times a day for the next five days. Gulbagh Singh hears that, then pulls out Rs 90 from his pocket and walks away confident.
Take a closer look at the counter drawing large crowds on the first day of the international agro fest in Chandigarh and you are sure to be bemused. The homeopathic outlet isn’t for humans but for pets and cattle.
The trend of homeopathy for animals is catching up fast among cattle and pet owners in Punjab, says Inderjit Singh Grewal, a farmer by heart and now, a practising veterinary homeopath. Grewal has pioneered to set up a manufacturing unit for homeopathic drugs for animals in Mohali near here.
“It is not that homeopathy for animals is a new invention. It has been there for long. Just that cattle owners are finding sense to go in for a drug that is non-toxic, entirely sans side-effects and costs one-fourth of what vets charge,” he told Deccan Herald on Friday.
Grewal assures that a few sweetened homeopathic pills could work wonders for the ailing cattle and there will no longer be the need to force bitter allopathic medicines down the animals’ throat.
From mastitis to foot-and-mouth diseases, skin infections, fever, dystocia, respiratory diseases to arthritis, there is cure for almost everything ailing animals, Grewal claims.
“Unlike conventional treatment, there are no antibiotics, steroids or chemicals given to animals. Some of the residues of normal drugs may be left inside the animals and chances are that it gets into the food chain and harms human beings,” he said. The sheer number of clients he has reflects the growing popularity of homeopathic medicine for animals.
Grewal claims homeopathy could also help lessen cattle exploitation. The use of the deadly oxytocine injection to add to milk yield in buffaloes and cows is a practice that continues unfazed. “But homeopathic medicine, Milet, takes care of ‘milk let-down’ problems among cattle. All this within a few days and at a very nominal cost,” he says.
An ardent lover of dogs and horses, he is underway with the process of patenting two of his medicines, including one for the foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. Many farmers outside the stall vouch for homeopathic medicines for animals. Ajmer Singh, who runs his dairy farming business in Mohali, says, The good part is that these medicines are cheap and non-toxic.
