Three years ago I was given a chance to own my very first show dog.  This was a dream come true for me and one I had waited to have happen for a long time.  After being given two puppies to socialize I opted for Maverick.  His enthusiastic personality was the perfect fit for my other two dogs.  Mav liked them, and they liked him.  He was also pretty decent to my cat, but this of course took some extra special training, as Mav was a high energy and high prey drive Belgian Malinois 16-week-old puppy.

Within the first year it became clear that something just wasn’t right.  He had little interest in food and feeding him became a chore.  He also suffered with bouts of diarrhea that I had no success in treating.  Finally after exhausting all my remedies and those of the breeders I went to my vet for help.  We began by adjusting his food and trying to get his intestines to settle down.  That was also to no avail.  Now he was 18 months old and failing.  He started to crave water and continued to hate food. While participating at a dog training class, my breeder runs, Maverick became lethargic, appeared thin, and dragged himself from one obedience exercise to the next.  It was when Mav had trouble standing that I began to really worry.  Lisa sent me ASAP to her vet as an emergency patient.  She really thought that he was dying. This was the beginning of his long journey to wellness.

Tests were ordered, a new veterinary diet tried, and traditional medicines prescribed. The results of his tests were in. He had a gluten allergy, mold and cat dander sensitivity, pancreatitis and EPI. Mav was only 18 months at this point and everyone thought he would need to be euthanized. He was gravely ill. For a while Mav improved.  He gained about 4 pounds and started to move better.  He seemed stable after a few months of his new feeding regimen. We were all hopeful.  Then it all started to happen again.  He refused his food, looked at me with sorrowful eyes and walked away from his bowl.  Mav was in a cycle where he ate and ate then got sicker and sicker.  It was a cycle that would last a long time.  He stopped gaining weight. His coat and skin were dry and he was just miserable.  His personality slipped back to being edgy because he was starving and dared not to eat.
I met a wonderful dog breeder of Golden Retrievers in our handling class.  While at a show I lamented on how hard it was to get Mav to eat.  Somewhat embarrassed that I couldn’t solve this issue she shared with me the name of a holistic vet, Dr. Deva who could work miracles with sick dogs. “Give her a call and try it, what do you have to lose?” she asked.
I went to my vet again as Mav failed and told him I wanted to try this holistic approach.  I wanted to make sure that he was o.k. with it.  He was and offered to support my efforts even though he wasn’t a holistic provider himself.  He also said that Mav was lucky I owned him because I would at least try to get him well.

Finally 4 months after his initial diagnosis I reached Dr. Deva. I had waited because everyone thought I was nuts. “This is hokey science. It hasn’t been proved, etc. etc.”  I was desperate, and all I knew for sure was that the regular treatment was failing.  The next 18 months are a blur as she tried many forms of medicines, allergy elimination techniques, JMT, and Chinese herbs.  Many times I despaired, as Mav would continue to cycle.  Never did Dr. Deva give up and never did she make me feel inadequate for worrying about this animal. Slowly, over time, he started to improve.  It was like peeling back an onion.  One remedy led to the next, one problem solved and another taken up. He started to enjoy food but only if I coaxed him to eat.  I spent hours with this dog getting him to try food and to eat it.  I continued to cook. At the beginning he was eating 12 cups of food a day.  When I wrote to Dr. Deva she said, “Feed him all he wants.”  The joke was open the fridge if you are hungry and grabs some pork stew.  It is pretty good!  Mav was showing some really good signs of getting better.  His coat began to shine, he gained weight, and he was happy.  After 3 months of some pretty strong Chinese herbs Mav stopped the cycling.  It happened so slowly I wasn’t even aware of it until I met Dr. Deva in person.  “You need to redo the blood work,” she requested, so I did.

The results were amazing.  He was normal.  No EPI, normal thyroid, and all other tests normal.  WOW!  This was awesome and unbelievable.  It really happened.  All of us were shocked.

In February I had the pleasure of writing:

Hi Dr. Deva,
After a very long break and a lot of hard work on your part, I am happy to write and tell you that Mav got his Championship with a 4 point major on Saturday.  It was the most exciting event of my life.  I got all his points myself over the past 3 years.  He is my very first show dog.  I couldn’t have done this without your help and support with him.  It s a dream come true for me personally.  Laurie told me you work miracles with dogs and she was right. Thank you for all your help.

As exciting as this news is, it pales to the joy of having a healthy dog. I must admit that I never dreamed he would be well.  It is so nice not to worry about him every single day.  I will admit that there were days over the last 1-½ years that I would despair but I refused to give up.  Your e-mails kept me trying.  Thank you

Mav has now been eating real dog food for about 5 months.  He is now about 65 lbs up from the 53 lbs we started at.  I know that our journey isn’t over but we are in a good place.  It is so nice to ask advice and have it not be an emergency.

Last night in error Mav ate a pizza crust that fell onto the floor.  It is the 1st wheat he has had in 21 months.  He had no effects from his surprise snack.  I guess he can really eat everything, just as you promised he would be able to do someday.

Thank you again for helping me realizes this dream of mine.  I am still smiling ear to ear.
Your really are an amazing healer.

Hugs,
Jody and Mav