Spiritual healing charge against vet

A vet convinced a distraught dog owner to take part in a bizarre ritual she claimed would save her pet Jack Russell's life, a hearing was told. Marie-Louise Schlemm made the woman drink medicine prescribed for the animal, known as Ratzy, and performed 'chakra' on her without her permission, it was said. Schlemm then got her to chant 'I am not Ratzy' in a procedure she insisted would cure her and her pet, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons heard. The vet told her the rituals would provide a miracle cure and have the 16-year-old mutt running around as it if were a puppy.

Giving evidence to a misconduct hearing via videolink, the woman, known only as Ms B, said Schlemm had insisted Ratzy was not dying despite the animal refusing food and being unable to stand. She told the panel: 'Ms Schlemm assured me there was no reason for Ratzy or myself to be ill anymore. She always told me that Ratzy was not dying. I was still being told that she was going to get to live and she was speaking to someone on the phone, to Sabrina on the phone, consistently about Chakra and colours.' Ms B's own ailments have not been revealed during the central London hearing. Schlemm performed the procedure during an unannounced visit to her home and also bombarded her with phone calls and text messages about 'spiritual healing', it is alleged.



Describing the ritual what went on at her home, Ms B said: 'She did it on me, but I fell asleep, I don't know what she was doing to Ratzy in that time.' Before she fell asleep, Schlemm gave her the same dog hydration fluid that she had given to Ratzy and that it made her wretch, she added. When she woke up, the vet is said to have made her chant, 'I am not Ratzy' and said to her: 'Ratzy is not you, you are both individuals'. 'She urged me lie on the settee while she put her hands on me and started doing all this colours and I fell asleep through sheer exhaustion,' Ms B said. She told the panel that she did not know what 'chakra' or 'colours' meant and trusted Schlemm because she believed Ratzy was being helped.

Giles Colin, for Schlemm, insisted the vet had only been to see Ms B because she appeared very upset and had simply asked if she could give her a foot rub. But Ms B said Schlemm had never asked to touch her but had performed what she described as 'chakra'. If she knew the vet was using 'alternative therapies' to treat her dog, for whom she 'would have given her soul', she would not have agreed because 'they don't work', she added. She said Schlemm had never told her Ratzy was dying, but instead told her that the dog would still be running around 'this time next year'. Schlemm faces a string of charges, which she denies, relating to her treatment of Ratzy while working for the Vetcall practice in Brighton in May 2010. If found guilty of misconduct she could be kicked out of the profession. The hearing continues.