About three years ago my dream of sharing life with an Airedale was realized
when I adopted Katie out of Atlanta. At age five, she was gorgeous, well
behaved and we experienced an instant bond as I gave her the first toy she
had ever had. I got the message that she loved to play and was happy to find
a forever home to meet her needs.
She arrived already taking antibiotics for a urinary infection, which I was
to continue for two weeks. I initially (before I met her) took her as a
foster Mom and was told she needed to be spayed. I wanted her to settle in a
bit before this procedure, finish the round of antibiotics and begin to trust
that I was going to take care of her. Finally the day came for the spay.
When I picked her up after the procedure I was in shock over her condition,
as she would not move, eat or drink. I hadn't expected her to be back to
normal, however, my gut told me that she was not having a normal reaction to
the surgery. Calling the vet, I was assured that everything was 'normal.'
Days passed and Katie was no better. I called the vet each day with reports
and was continually told that all was normal. By the weekend I was very
concerned with her lack of improvement and went to emergency care with Katie.
The vet who saw her thought that her problem was pain and started her on
aspirin. Thankfully she responded. About two weeks later Katie developed a
lick granuloma on one of her hind legs and again we made a trip to the vet,
this time I was told she had developed this as a behavioral problem, that it
was of no consequence and I should give her something to chew other than her
leg. Nothing could dissuade her licking.
Other symptoms began to develop, most noticeably congestion in her eyes.
Then Katie went for her first grooming. Afterward she developed hard scabs
all over her back and I rushed her to the vet where I was told that she had a
lot of allergies and would have to be on antibiotics to recover from the skin
infection so, the grooming costs an additional $200 in office visit and
antibiotics. We were going to what I thought was the best animal clinic in
the area, a practice with five vets, two of whom were 'specialist.'
She seemed to do well with the antibiotics, though it took weeks for the skin
infection to heal. After her next grooming the exact same situation occurred
and it was back to antibiotics, though I had stipulated that her jacket be
left longer since I felt the first time was a reaction to being cut too
closely. I was also informed by my vet that we know Katie is a wimpy dog
from her reaction to everything from the spay and beyond. I was certainly a
novice with ADT but, I had never considered them wimpy but stoic from all
that I knew.
While still on antibiotics for the skin infection, Katie's eye congestion
continued and she developed nasal congestion. Back to the vet, I was
becoming a weekly visitor. This time Katie had a temperature and the vet
suspected a tick infection. Blood was drawn for a tick panel, which came
back negative. Still suspecting a tick infection, Katie was placed on yet
another antibiotic. Her symptoms worsened and we eventually tried four other
antibiotic, Katie becoming more ill as we went along.
The vets now suspected a lymphoma and she was tested with negative results.
Her nasal congestion was so bad that she had difficulty breathing and another
'specialist' in the practice wanted to scope her nose to look for tumors in
the nose or brain. We got a negative result on the procedure. The
specialist, a very learned man, began to discuss with me the millions of
unknown protozoas out there that could be infecting Katie, though he was not
ruling out lymphoma.
At this point, Katie had been sick for most of the months she had lived with
me and she was getting sicker. The vets were discussing treatment options
for cancer and the bills were mounting daily. I was told that we had tried
all possible antibiotics except for Doxycycline. The advice I got was to do a
bone marrow test to positively identify what cancer she might have. My
feeling was that if she had cancer I was going to lose her anyway, why should
I put her through this test (she had already had so many). I asked to try
the Doxycycline. It worked. I was ecstatic. If any antibiotic helped how
could it be cancer?
For a few months the antibiotic worked well and Katie seemed healthy. The
vets told me she would need to be on the antibiotic for the rest of her life.
I began to doubt the value of the advice I was getting, we had no diagnosis,
didn't know the cause of her problems, and I know better than to have anyone
on antibiotics for the 'rest of their lives.' Then the bottom fell out,
Katie was sicker than ever, all the congestion returned, and she could
neither eat or drink. Her temperature hovered endlessly at 106-107 degrees.
Her nasal congestion worsened and she began to have severe nosebleeds several
times a day. I was blamed as being difficult and not allowing the bone marrow
test, which I was told was the only hope now.
I refused. Something inside, intuition, knowing, or wisdom told me this would
not help Katie but answers did exist somewhere. At the time I was not a
member of any Airedale organization or list but I began to search the net
for anything I could find. I wrote to a list begging for help for my beloved
Katie if anyone had experienced these type of symptoms before. I got almost
instant replies from four individuals telling me about Dr. A. J. Plechner.
I read Kirk Nims article about Miles and was so excited because I just knew
this was an answer to prayer.
My first hurdle was in getting Katie's blood drawn to send to California. My
vet didn't want to do it, in fact, initially refused telling me that I would
be wasting my money! As if that is not exactly what I had been doing for
seven months of treatment. I boldly explained that Dr. Plechner was so
selfless that he was not charging me anything. If my local vet could send
blood panels to several states, why couldn't we send one more to California.
He grudgingly drew the blood.
Dr. Plechner called and spoke to this vet when he had the results but, the
local vet was having none of it. Katie was dying and all I could see was one
enormous ego getting in the way of her improvement. He would not administer
Dr. Plechner's protocol. I immediately removed Katie from their care and
took responsibility for whatever was to happen. I called an old friend, a
vet much further away but one who had treated my dogs in past years. I told
him exactly what was happening, what I wanted from him (to administer Dr.
Plechner's protocol), and that I would not hold him in any way responsible
for whatever happened to Katie. Bill first wanted to speak with Dr. P, then
called me to say he had no problem with this plan. Katie received her first
steroid injection that day.
Within 36 hours Katie had improved so much that I believed she was going to
live. We stayed in close contact with Dr. Plechner for many months as Katie
regained her health, more blood panels were sent to Ca., and medications were
adjusted. Katie was blissfully switched to a whole foods diet and
supplements from one of Dr. Plechner's colleagues, Alexis Ells in Santa
Barbara. Katie is now the picture of health and vitality...it is truly a
miracle. All of her symptoms have long gone, including the lick granuloma.
In being educated by Dr. Plechner I have come to understand how all of
Katie's symptoms from her reaction to the spay to the lick granuloma were
related to her immune dysfunction.
Katie and I are the lucky ones. From all I have learned I believe we do have
an epidemic of hormone/immune illness within the animal population. I am
saddened by the old vets I worked with and other individuals I have come into
contact with who are too closed to understand what is behind many of the
illnesses we see or the simple, effective and affordable treatment available.
How lucky we are to have come through Katie's illness and to be able to
share a real SUCCESS STORY.
