Richard Pitcairn

Richard H. Pitcairn is the founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy and coauthor of Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats (Rodale Press).

Contributions to homeopathic veterinary medicine

Dr. Pitcairn had a 100% homeopathic veterinary practice from 1978 to 2002. In 1992 he initiated a 130-hour post-graduate certification training program in clinical homeopathy for licensed veterinarians.^[1] In 2014 he transferred this program to Sarah Stieg, DVM, under the name Pitcairn Institute of Veterinary Homeopathy.

Biography: <http://www.wholehealthnow.com/bios/richard-pitcairn.html> Dr. Pitcairn graduated from the veterinary school at the University of California, Davis, in 1965. Entering private practice in Southern California, he worked with small animals, farm livestock and zoo animals. In 1967, he accepted a position at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, as Assistant Professor, later entering graduate school with a major in microbiology and immunology and a minor in biochemistry. This was completed in 1972 with a PhD degree in microbiology. Following this, Dr. Pitcairn worked as a faculty member at WSU, active in research and teaching in the veterinary school.

During his research on the factors affecting natural resistance to disease, the importance of optimal nutrition became a focus in his work. Realizing that such research would not be funded, he re-entered private practice to apply his study of nutrition and its effect on immunity and thus resistance to disease. During the years of clinical work, Dr. Pitcairn, along with his wife Susan, in 1982 published the first edition of Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide To Natural Health For Dogs and Cats, This book is now in its third edition and has sold over 400,000 copies and been translated into several languages.

A further development was a study of homeopathic medicine for animal application. Though nutrition is very important there are urgent situations for which nutritional therapy is not practical, also some patients that simply will not eat as part of their illness. Homeopathy is a natural system of medicine that stimulates the immune system and natural resistance to disease and from 1978 Dr. Pitcairn focused on learning and applying this system to use along with his prior knowledge of nutritional therapy. The primary sources of study were Hahnemann and Kent primarily but also Jahr, Nash, Clarke, Boericke, Wright-Hubbard, Dorothy Shepherd, Dunham, Farrington, Schmidt, Boenninghausen, H. C. Allen, T. F. Allen, Hering, Barthel, Burnett, Blackie, Blackwood, Boger, Borland, Close, Cooper, Cowperthwaite, Dudgeon, Gross, Lippe, Phatak, Schuessler, Tyler, and of the more contemporary homeopaths - Vithoulkas and Andre Saine. His favorites are Hahnemann and Kent above all, then Boger, Boenninghausen, Lippe and Jahr.

In 1985, he moved to Eugene, Oregon to establish a practice devoted solely to use of homeopathy and nutritional therapy. During this time, from 1985 on, several workshops on homeopathic medicine were offered to the public and in 1992, the Professional Course in Veterinary Homeopathy was established, a year-long post-graduate training for veterinarians in the use of homeopathy in their practices. By 2013, 500 veterinarians have been trained in this program.

During this time, in 1995, Dr. Pitcairn and associates co-founded The Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, the first professional organization of practicing veterinary homeopaths in the United States.

More recently, Dr. Pitcairn, in association with Wendy Jensen DVM, has developed the New World Veterinary Repertory, which is available in computer and book form (English and German). This is the major reference work that homeopathic practitioners use in their work with patients and this veterinary repertory is the first of its kind, focused specifically on veterinary practice.

Now retired from active practice, Dr. Pitcairn consults with homeopathic veterinarians and continues to be active in teaching and writing in the area of homeopathic medicine and healing of disease

Controversial positions and criticism

Vaccines

Pitcairn argues for avoiding vaccination in people and pets ^[2] , which he believes leads to a condition called vaccinosis. His website promotes the debunked theory that vaccines in humans are linked to autism, among other misinformation. He claims, without evidence, that vaccines induce "chronic" forms of rabies, canine distemper, and feline panleukopenia.^[3]

Books

• Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, ISBN 978-1-57954-973-2 and ISBN 1-57954-973-X

References