Ben started having major digestive problems nearly 3 years ago, which was a few months before Jess died (she was terminally ill at the time). He was on a raw diet and couldn't digest proteins. I had my hands full with Jess and didn't get onto his problem as early as I should have. After Jess died, Ben was so depressed and I thought he was going to die too. He had what I now know to be a severe attack of pancreatitis after eating half a marrow bone (with the marrow scraped out).
Over the next few months, I couldn't find any food that was suitable and he wouldn't eat much at all. The vet didn't know what was wrong and suggested commercial foods. Tiger joined us a couple of months later, but it wasn't smooth sailing. Ben had a major pancreatitis attack the following March and was diagnosed properly and hospitalised. He was also diagnosed with IBD.
The vets did everything within their knowledge to treat him - fluids most days and steroid injections and antibiotics for a couple of months - but he was losing weight at an alarming rate and went from 39 kgs to 24 kgs and was just about a skeleton. The vet gave us the option of having him put to sleep a couple of times, but I had strong feelings that Ben wanted to live. When he was at his lowest ebb, I said to him that there would be no more drugs or going to the vet, but if he could fight, then I would help him. It was very risky to come off steroids "cold turkey", but we had no option.
I contacted McDowells, who suggested a hair analysis and said to start him on the Blood Poisoning mix, which I had at home until he was able to do the analysis. Once that was done, Robert sent the Conditioning Mix and said to discontinue the Blood Poisoning mix. The Hair Analysis showed that Ben was indeed a very sick dog and a follow up analysis was recommended a month later. It showed that Ben was improving. It took a long time to find a protein food that was suitable and I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but it was imperative to get Ben eating regularly again.
It was around about this time that Ben's seizures started. They were severe and regular and some lasted about 15 minutes, usually at night (I timed them). McDowells sent Ben the Epilepsy Mixes - one for daily use and the other after episodes for a few days. I noticed Ben would overheat badly when he seized. Eventually we got the seizures under control and I thought he would be ok and stopped the mix, but Ben seized two weeks later in January. I've kept Ben on the mix since then and he hasn't seized - so to date, that's 17 months seizure free. During the healing period, Ben's heart beat was a bit irregular and McDowells put him on the Heart Tonic for a few months. It nourished his heart and he hasn't had any further problems.
I eventually found that poached fish and mushed sweet potato with a probiotic suited his digestive system and I keep him on that every day. He has put most of his weight back on and maintained it. The healing process was slow and today he looks really well and has a lot of energy. I look at him and the tears well up in my eyes when I think of how brave he was and how far he's come today.
A big thanks to McDowells and his staff for all their help, especially in the early days of Ben's recovery.
Trish
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Addendum To Ben
I do have some very sad news - Ben's illness recurred in a big way and he died on Christmas Day. It's taken me until now to start to feel ok about losing him because he was such a BIG part of my life. Everything I tried in the way of food and treatment stopped working and I called the vet. He was wagging his tail until the end. His birthday was on 18th December and he made it to 10 years old. I brought him home and planted a Gold Bunny rose bush on him. I feel very blessed that we got him to this age and shared a very special love.
A week ago, I welcomed another little Labrador puppy called Molly. She's a little dynamo and loving her raw diet. My other Labrador, Tigerlily, is loving being back on the raw diet too and she's enjoying Molly's company, or at least I think she is. After the trauma, I'm now looking forward to lots of happiness and peace.
I very much appreciate McDowells and everyone else's advice and the herbs - Ben would not have made it to 10 without them.
Regards
Trish
