In France, a hotbed of homeopathy, some 1,000 veterinarians employ this form of medicine exclusively in the treatment of both large and small animals. In the U.S., the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association includes about 250 veterinarians who use homeopathics to varying degrees in their treatment programs. Among the most avid enthusiasts of homeopathy are members of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth, the current reigning monarch, never travels without taking a box of homeopathic medicines with her. In the U.S., homeopathy is a formal branch of medicine recognized by federal law.
Most remedies are available in liquid or pellet form and are taken internally.
In this country, homeopathy has been generally regarded by the pharmaceutically-oriented medical establishment as an unproven form of treatment. Skeptics say relief of symptoms is due to a placebo effect, that is, a patient's expectation of a cure by taking a remedy leads to a recovery. In recent years, however, many clinical studies with humans have shown homeopathy can indeed heal in many situations, including allergy, respiratory disease, gastro-intestinal disorders, anxiety, pain, inflammation and infection. Although the principles of homeopathy date back to the great Greek physician Hippocrates, and before him to the ancient Hindus, modern homeopathy was founded in 1810 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. The system is based on a concept called the law of similars in which remedies containing minute amounts of natural substances stimulate the body's own defenses against specific symptoms and imbalances.