Schuessler Tissue Salts for Animals
Table of Contents
(Veterinary Tissue Salts)
Care and Administration of Tissue Salt Remedies
The AVMC offers Tissue Salts for animals, including horses, ponies, dogs, cats, goats, donkeys and farm animals.
Background
In 1880, Dr Wilhelm Schuessler (Schüssler or Schüßler) (1821-1898), of Oldenburg in Germany, published his system of the twelve so-called Biochemic Tissue Salts. He postulated that these twelve salts were all that was needed to restore health, since the cell requires a balance of them and any imbalance would give rise to disease. The body is composed of cells. Healthy cells are essential for bodily health.
The Tissue Salt remedies were prepared by the homeopathic dilution method, to a 6x potency. Giving these potencies allowed the cells to rebalance their ‘salts’ content, to restore health.
This was a very simple system of medicine and has had adherents ever since, who have been able to make important contributions to health. Despite its apparent over-simplicity, Tissue Salt treatment does work. It has been used in animals too, to great effect. We believe, at the AVMC, that some form of modernisation is needed, however (see below).
Practical Application
‘Derived’ from homeopathy (i.e. exploiting the potency dilution/principle) the twelve original ‘salts’ are used to correct imbalances in cell metabolism, by facilitating uptake and utilisation of the particular minerals. Treatment is, of course, only able to help imbalances and relative deficiencies, not absolute deficiencies. These medicines are also to be found in the homeopathic pharmacopoeia. The twelve are:
| Remedy Name | Example applications (i.e. far from comprehensive) |
| Calc. fluor. | Supports tissue elasticity, therefore helping ligaments and blood vessels. It also helps healthy bones and teeth. |
| Calc. phos. | Aids recovery from poor nutrition and lowered vitality. |
| Calc. sulph. | With its cleansing action, it helps maintain a healthy skin and to treat pimples or acne. |
| Ferr. phos. | Helps respiratory problems, blood health, sore throats and bleeding. It also supports the aged. |
| Kali mur. | Used in instances of thick, white mucoid discharges. |
| Kali phos. | Helps in cases of nervous tension and nervous exhaustion. |
| Kali sulph. | Catarrh and skin ailments are helped with this salt. |
| Mag. phos. | Spasmodic pains, cramps and anxiety can be helped. |
| Nat. mur. | Used for runny ‘colds' and for loss of smell or taste. |
| Nat. phos. | Rheumatism and digestive ailments are the main areas of use. |
| Nat. sulph. | Used to treat liver malfunction, water retention and rheumatic pains. |
| Silica | Helps the structure of skin and nails and to reject purulent infection (e.g. boils and pimples). |
| Combination formulae | Various formulae of combinations of the above have been devised, for certain specific disease areas. Examples are neuralgia, hay fever, nervous exhaustion, indigestion, backache, rheumatism and sinusitis. |
Modernisation
At the turn of the twenty-first century, health is affected by so many factors, of which Schuessler could not possibly have dreamed. We have air pollution on a grand scale, we have radio and microwave pollution, we have water pollution and we have modern agriculture, with its agro-chemicals and, perhaps more importantly for this discussion, artificial nitrogenous fertilizers. The latter have plundered the natural fertility of our agricultural land, such that trace minerals have been drastically depleted. If a modern farm were to be converted to organic, it is estimated, from work in Switzerland, that it might take 100 years to restore balance in the micro-organisms of the soil, let alone the trace minerals. What is so easily and quickly plundered is only to be repaired by hard work, patience and tenacity.
Work has begun, to test the theory that has been used in this practice over the years, to establish whether mineral imbalances and relative deficiencies (and their resultant disease patterns) can be helped by the administration of the ‘New Tissue Salts’.
The modern use of artificial nitrogen fertiliser depletes the soil of trace minerals, especially the cations. In ‘developed’ countries, such trace minerals as Manganese, Copper and Zinc have long been deficient in herbage fed to animals, when it has been fertilised in this way. This effect of artificial nitrogenous fertilizers is easily demonstrable, by testing ditches for mineral content, after rain has fallen on ‘fertilised’ land.
This will apply to our pet animals and to ourselves, when we eat cereals, vegetables and fruit so treated. Meat eaters and carnivores, who are at the top of a food chain, could have more to fear.
Important examples of ‘stressed’ minerals (and therefore candidates to be added to the original range) are:
(Arsenic), (Cadmium), Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Iodine, Manganese, (Molybdenum), (Nickel), Phosphorus*, Selenium, (Silver), Sulphur*, (Vanadium), Zinc.
*These two are in the traditional range but not sufficiently represented. Typeface and brackets are used to indicate relative importance, as currently perceived by Christopher MRCVS, pending further research.
It is worth showing a few important examples of how these ‘New Tissue Salts’ may be used in animal treatments, by showing some of their clinical indications:
| Name | Example applications of the ‘new' salts (not comprehensive) |
| Copper (Cuprum) | Anaemia, exhaustion, acetonaemia, uric acid accumulation, aids neurotransmission at synapses, antioxidant effect. |
| Manganese (Manganum) | Infertility, tendon contracture, Vitamins B, C & E utilisation, perosis, health of cartilage, foetal absorption. |
| Iodine (Iodum) | Infertility, immune function, metabolic control, stillbirths without deformity, thyroid regulation, retinal pigmentation, resistance to TB. |
This work is still in the development phase. It was published, in rudimentary outline, in a poster session at the LIGA congress in Budapest, in 2000.
N.B.: Although we specialize in alternative therapies, seeking alternatives to conventional drug therapy, we do not shun conventional therapy, per se, considering its worth in each case. No truly holistic vet can ignore the existence of conventional drugs which, while quite unable to cure chronic disease, on rare occasions may be the only way to control distressing or painful symptoms. It is noteworthy how much the body can achieve without drugs, however. Our holistic and integrated service is offered in support of animal patients, ‘owners' and carers and the veterinary profession. We are always willing to assist vets in the UK and worldwide in providing integrated care for their patients, providing the natural therapy component of a treatment program.
The Law
The Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 restricts the treatment of animals (other than your own) with tissue salts, by anyone other than a fully qualified vet.
Care and Administration of Tissue Salt Remedies
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FAQ Tissue Salts
Homeopathy – Herbs – Acupuncture – Chiropractic – Holistic Medicine – Natural Feeding
