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Kavanagh was a stray that had been living rough for at least twelve months prior to us managing to trap him, and despite the fact that he was domestic, he was extremely scared of people. Once we had transferred him to a cage he quickly settled down and was extremely loving with my husband and myself. Unfortunately, he retained the fear of strangers: on seeing someone through the kitchen window, he would start to growl like a dog and crouch on the floor in fear. The fear did subside quite a lot after he was neutered but there was still the underlying fear that became apparent at times of stress.
Kavanagh also developed a tormenting streak to his nature. I actually found it quite amusing, but those on the receiving end didn’t. He would sneak up behind the dogs while they were asleep and slap them several times over the head before skipping off. The dogs would jump up yelping and look around for the culprit, only to find Kavanagh disappearing through the cat flap. He also loved the dogs’ tails. He would sit on the wood box in the end room, watching their tails wagging. His eyes would move from tail to tail, watching with fascination until suddenly he would bite one of them and then a dog would then run screaming from the room. He also had the habit of running up, flinging himself at my legs and biting them. There was never any real malice in his actions; he just enjoyed getting a reaction. He was also prone to tormenting some of the other cats and was an unsettling influence.
I repertorised his case looking at rubrics that covered fear, tormenting, loquacity and his predisposition for catching lice. One remedy that came up was Lachesis. Lachesis has loquacity (talkativeness) as part of its symptom picture and dear Kavanagh never shut up. As soon as anyone uttered a word, Kavanagh would be there joining in the conversation.
Catherine Coulter in her book Portraits of Homoeopathic Remedies Vol 1, has this to say regarding Lachesis:
This is not Phosphorus, but Lachesis testing her surroundings: "What will happen if I bite the dog's tail?"
She was talking about a child who thought of ways to anger her parents and who tormented the family dog. She could so easily have been talking about Kavanagh; you could almost see it reflected in his eyes when watching the dogs’ tails.
After reading the other remedies that also came up in the repertorisation, I chose the Lachesis and gave one dose of 30c. I almost wished that I hadn’t. It transformed him overnight into a calm and pleasant cat, a bit too pleasant and calm for my liking. I started to worry that I had removed his character; I much prefer animals with character and spirit, to well behaved and bland ones. (Though I have to say, at times they can be a bit too characterful even for my liking!) After a few days, his playfulness did start to come back but without the urge to torment. Since then he has remained a happy and playful cat, who gets along great with all of the other cats and the dogs. He has also lost the fearful edge to his nature and is now unconcerned when he hears or sees a stranger. Also, all the lice have gone.
I hear of so many cats that people are unable to keep because they won’t interact pleasantly with other cats in the household; how many of these cats would improve like Kavanagh, with appropriate homoeopathic treatment?
Kerry Barlow
