Lac caninum

Latin name: Lac caninum

Short name: Lac-c

Common name: Dog’s Milk | Canine Milk | Milk of the Dog

Primary miasm: Syphilitic Secondary miasm(s): Sycotic

Kingdom: Animals

Family: Mammalia | Source: Canis familiaris (domesticated dog)

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Symptomatology
Remedy Information
Differentiation & Application

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Mind

The mental picture of Lac caninum is deeply marked by alternation, disconnection, and self-contempt. There is often a profound sense of duality or unreality, with patients feeling they are “outside their body” or watching themselves from a distance [Kent]. Hallucinations and distorted perceptions are common. The patient may think parts of their body are swollen or that they are smaller than they really are. There is a strong feeling of worthlessness, especially in women, who may feel degraded or impure. Emotional symptoms alternate rapidly—laughing then crying, confidence followed by self-disgust. Forgetfulness is prominent; thoughts vanish while speaking. In women with histories of abuse or trauma, Lac caninum often plays a curative role. Great suspicion, jealousy, and aversion to loved ones may emerge. Patients may believe they are despised by others, even by their own children. Night terrors and fears of insanity are frequent.

Sleep

Disturbed, with vivid dreams and night terrors. Waking with fear, anxiety, or choking. Feels unrefreshed. Jerking during sleep. Dreams of snakes, flying, or being watched.

Dreams

Frightening, surreal, often alternating between horror and bliss. Dreams of degradation, disgrace, or emotional vulnerability. Recurrent dreams of being attacked or unable to scream. Flying or floating is common.

Generalities

Alternating symptoms are a hallmark—left to right, or day to day. Oversensitivity to noise, smell, and touch. Weakness with trembling. Aggravation from suppressed menses or emotions. Symptoms often follow trauma, especially emotional or sexual. Suited to sensitive, refined, self-critical women. Worse before and during menses.

Fever

Chill alternates with heat, especially in the evening. Hot flushes with trembling. Perspiration cold or clammy. Fever with delirium or hallucinations. Fever may change character or side.

Chill Heat Sweat

Chilliness down back or between shoulder blades. Heat in face or palms. Sweat offensive or soaking, often only on one side. Sweating relieves headache or mental dullness.

Head

Headache with alternating sides or shooting from back to front. Pressing or bursting pain, sometimes with vertigo. Scalp sensitive to touch or combing. Head feels too large or too light. Pain often begins on waking and worsens as the day progresses. Headaches associated with menses or eye strain. Hair may fall out in patches, especially after grief or illness.

Eyes

Photophobia, with sensation as though eyes are bulging. Pain behind eyes, shifting from side to side. Vision blurred or foggy, alternating with sharpness. Illusions of movement or light flashes. Pain may extend from eye to temple or throat. Black spots or flickering before eyes, particularly during menses or hysteria.

Ears

Pain, throbbing, or ringing in one ear, often alternating to the other. Sensation of fullness or pressure. Sensitivity to sound; slightest noise startles or irritates. Hearing diminished, or paradoxically, acute. Discharges thin, offensive, and excoriating. Itching deep in ears, worse at night.

Nose

Fluent coryza alternating sides. Discharges are thin, watery, and burning. Loss of smell with dullness of mind. Sneezing frequent, often violent. Nasal bones sore to touch. Ulceration and bleeding from nose. Smell of decay or blood may linger.

Face

Pale, drawn, with a look of emotional exhaustion. Flushing alternates with pallor. Neuralgic pains in cheeks, often alternating sides. Lips dry, cracked, and burning. Facial twitching in hysterical subjects. Expression often anxious or depressed.

Mouth

Sensation of hair or threads on tongue. Tongue red, dry, cracked, or swollen. Taste altered—bitter, metallic, or putrid. Mouth dry despite thirst. Saliva thick and sticky. Speech may be hurried, disjointed, or slow and confused. Gums sore or bleeding easily.

Teeth

Painful, sensitive to cold air or warm drinks. Toothache may switch sides. Teeth feel loose or elongated. Pain extends to ears or temples. Worse during menses or after exposure to cold.

Throat

This is a key region for Lac caninum. Excruciating pain, as if swallowing broken glass, or a plug stuck in the throat. Pain alternates sides, often changing with sleep [Boericke]. Ulcers may be deep, purplish, and offensive. The throat is dry, with constant desire to swallow. Pharyngitis and tonsillitis with fetid breath and mucus that’s difficult to expel. Swallowing liquids is often more painful than solids. Voice hoarse or lost.

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Lac caninum is the milk of a healthy, lactating female dog. Though originally used in folk traditions as an antidote to rabies, it gained prominence in homeopathy through the provings and clinical experiences of Dr. Caroline B. Hastings and later confirmation by Dr. Laura Morgan and Dr. James Kent. The remedy acts powerfully on the nervous system, throat, and female reproductive organs, with alternating symptoms and a sense of disconnection or unreality forming its key themes.

Historically used in folk medicine and as an alleged remedy for rabies; not used in modern medicine

First proved by Dr. C. B. Hastings in 1870s, later confirmed by Kent and others through clinical use and broader provings

Throat – intense pain, inflammation, and ulceration
Nervous system – extreme hypersensitivity, hysteria, alternating neuralgias
Female reproductive system – mastitis, menstrual disturbances, prolapse
Mind and emotions – self-loathing, feeling of unreality, alternating moods
Mucous membranes – inflammation with offensive discharges
Spine – neck and lumbar region, stiffness and pain
Left and right side alternation – symptoms often switch sides

Cold air or cold drinks (particularly throat symptoms)
Lying on the abdomen
Fresh air
Discharges (when they occur)
Keeping busy or distracted
Pressure on sore parts

Warmth of bed
Morning and night
Touch, especially of the throat or breasts
Emotional excitement or stress
Suppression of discharges
Right after waking
Thinking or dwelling on symptoms

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Lachesis – Left-sided, loquacious, hot patients, but less marked alternation of sides
Pulsatilla – Shifting symptoms, mild disposition, but lacks the intense self-loathing of Lac caninum
Ignatia – Grief and suppression, but more spasmodic and contradictory than alternating
Sepia – Hormonal and depressive, but more indifferent than hysterical
Stramonium – Hallucinations and fear, but more violent and acute

Complementary: Pulsatilla, Ignatia
Antidotes: Nux vomica, Belladonna
Follows well: Sepia in chronic uterine cases
Inimical: Lachesis (though both are left-sided, they may clash in chronic treatment)

Lac caninum expresses a core experience of duality, dissociation, and shifting identity. The patient often feels unclean, degraded, or “less than human”, sometimes due to emotional or physical trauma. Symptoms alternate in location and intensity. There is a strong conflict between instincts and morality, control and surrender, self-worth and self-contempt. The remedy resonates with women who feel diminished by past wounds, carrying a heavy psychological imprint into the physical realm.

Consider in throat conditions with alternating pain sides, especially in chronic or recurrent tonsillitis
Very useful in post-traumatic syndromes, especially after abuse
Helpful in mastitis, particularly with side-alternating symptoms
Valuable in hysterical or psychosomatic disorders, especially in women
Use when symptoms change sides or shift in character regularly

Mind

Alternating moods
Self-contempt, loathing
Delusion: body is not her own
Fear of insanity
Dreams, disgrace of

Throat

Pain, swallowing, alternating sides
Sensation of plug or lump
Ulcers, deep, purple

Female Genitalia

Leucorrhoea, acrid, alternating
Mastitis, alternating breasts
Prolapse of uterus

Extremities

Numbness, alternating sides
Cramps in calves, night
Trembling from anxiety

Sleep

Sleep disturbed by dreams
Night terrors
Unrefreshing sleep

Dr. C. B. Hastings – Original Prover: Initiated proving, emphasised throat and mental symptoms
James T. Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: In-depth analysis of mental symptoms and alternation
Dr. Laura Morgan – Clinical Confirmations: Focused on gynaecological and trauma-related cases
William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Confirmed alternating throat, mammary and hysterical features
C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Expanded picture of alternating phenomena and nervous affections
John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Provided detailed descriptions of emotional, nervous, and physical spheres

Lac caninum

Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

Stay tuned!

Mind

Sleep

Dreams

Generalities

Fever

Chill Heat Sweat

Head

Eyes

Ears

Nose

Face

Mouth

Teeth

Throat

Chest

Heart

Respiration

Stomach

Abdomen

Rectum

Urinary

Food

Male

Female

Back

Extremities

Skin

Stay tuned!

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