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13 year old dog Maggie’s twisted tale of side effects

Inspiring Pet Tails 6 min read
13 year old dog Maggie’s twisted tale of side effects

Months ago when Maggie’s mom came to us, she was looking to help Maggie with IBD flares. Simple, eh? We recommended our IBD support NHV Plantaeris along with NHV Yucca to help soothe inflammation. That got sorted quickly. In fact, her mom was able to wean her off the steroid she had been giving Maggie for long.

Here’s what Aletha, Maggie’s mom told us soon after starting:

We are definitely making good progress. I’ve had Maggie completely off the budesonide for almost a week. I’ve also weaned her to half the Prozac dose. This is the first time I’ve see solid stools for quite a while. She did have just a little bit of blood and mucous one day, but having ulcerative colitis myself I’m not overly concerned. She was having horrible gas, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. I feel like the Plantaeris was what enabled me to transition her off the budesonide.

A few days later, she left this for us on our Facebook wall.

Miss Maggie is 12 1/2 and suffers from IBD/colitis. She went into a bad flare and became ill after we lost our other dog 6 weeks ago. She was having bloody diarrhea, not eating well, and just generally feeling miserable. I found out about NHV on Instagram, and Jade was extremely helpful in suggesting remedies for Maggie. With the help of Plantaeris and Yucca, I have successfully weaned Maggie off her steroid (which was no longer helping and was causing several side effects). Even probiotics weren’t helping, but within a few days of starting the Plantaeris, I started seeing more formed stools. I could also see a difference in Maggie’s energy levels and see that she was feeling better. It’s been almost three weeks since I started using the Plantaeris and Yucca, and she hasn’t had any diarrhea.
Maggie IBD NHV review dog

Yet a few days later:

I’m so glad I was able to get Maggie off the steroid with the Plantaeris. She had zero hair growth while she was on it…not even hair in the tub when I gave her a bath, so that shows how much it was affecting her systematically. I brushed her today 😮 and this is where we are now… This duck is almost one foot long.
maggie dog hair NHV Natural pet products
maggie dog with duck stuffy

But then soon, things took a twisted turn again.

As hunky-dory as this sounds, things weren’t smooth for really long. Soon Maggie had bloody diarrhea and on top of that, she stopped eating. We don’t recommend giving our supplements without food or on an empty stomach. So she wasn’t getting any NHV doses either. Result? Further elevation of her symptoms. This leads us to dig into her background and figure out what’s going on. Aletha told us Maggie was an abused stray she had rescued when a year young. She came with a mark around her neck (suggesting abuse or abandonment). Maggie had always had anxiety issues which aggravated when their other dog, Weylin gained his wings. Maggie became a fussy eater, started showing extreme anxiety, she would have nervous tics, she would try to chew her arms raw, leading the vet to prescribe her Prozac. As a side effect of the Prozac, Maggie was possibly damaging her liver, getting diarrhea/IBD, and losing her appetite.

Maggie rescue dog NHV review

We tried doing a round of NHV Lesstress for her. We decided her next round would be our other calming blend NHV Matricalm together with the Lesstress.  But turns out her system had gotten used to the Prozac. She would get anxious and restless without it. And at her age, her mom decided to let her keep it. So we now had to build an army against it. Maggie gets NHV Milk Thistle to save her liver from any damage from the anti-anxiety drug. She is on a continued dose of the NHV Plantaeris to keep her IBD in control. Maggie also suffers from spondylosis. NHV Yucca hence helps her with digestion, reduces any internal inflammation from her meds, and also helps her muscles relax. It is a natural discomfort reliever too! To help with her spondylosis and signs of IVDD, we had to add NHV Old Timer to her regime.

Finally, Maggie settled with taking chicken flavored baby food in a syringe with her supplements.

Now with all these supplements and remedies, Prozac, laser therapy… you’d think Maggie found relief, right? No. Because she still wouldn’t eat healthily. She would have erratic eating schedules, leading her to skip doses, eat people’s food, and basically, never give the remedies enough time to kick in. There was a lot of back and forth between her mom, her vets, and us. You can say we all worked as a team. Finally, Maggie settled with taking chicken flavored baby food in a syringe with her supplements. So that was settled. We were glad the supplements were finally going inside her. But guess Ms. Maggie wasn’t willing to give us an easy day. She started to get energetic and started going for long walks in the wild and caught a slight UTI! (or vaginitis which is caused by a bacterial urinary tract infection) She even broke her back getting in and out of the car. She got so hungry she ate her mom’s leftover burger along with the paper plate! She ate rocks! Sheesh, Maggie had us on our toes.

ibd anxiety natural dog products

Once, again, there were tweaks made, notes exchanged. Some supplements were added. Some removed. Some doses increased. And finally, we are at this!

I meant to tell you that she’s had a skin tag on her head that has been growing for some time. I was starting to worry that it would have to be removed. Since she’s been on the NHV supplements, it has gotten smaller and smaller. It’s probably less than 1/3 the size that it was. 

I also wanted to ask you about the mushroom supplement. Have you seen any obvious quick results with it? Within a few days of starting it, Maggie’s appetite started peeking up and even her personality has come back some.

She actually let one of the vet techs love on her instead of just trying to get away. The neurologist is very pleased with how Maggie has progressed, but he upped the prednisone to an in-between dose for now since halving it seemed to cause her some discomfort. I’m so happy that she’s allowed to go for walks again. 😊

We know this tale can get happier and it probably will. We are still hopeful there will come a stabilized phase in Maggie’s health graph when we will be able to do the Lesstress and Matricalm together for her and get the Prozac out of the way. That done, half the problems will themselves go away. But for now, we are happy with the little steps Maggie has taken in a positive direction. With the fact that there are no IBD flares, her vitals are healthy and strong, her spondylosis is in control, her hair is growing back in, her blood work looks great and most of all, knock on wood, she is not in pain!

We really appreciate pet parents like Aletha who come back to us with updates and give us a chance to tweak the regime as per the situation. We wish our Ms. Maggie lots and lots of happy healthy days ahead with no burger-gobbling, rock-swallowing, paper-plate-chewing, and back-breaking accidents. Oh, Maggie! Phew.

By the way, you can follow Maggie and Aletha’s journey on Instagram. They are @lonewulf71. Contact your NHV Pet Expert today to figure out the best holistic regime for your dog or cat. We’d love to help, naturally!

NHV Pet Experts

NHV Pet Experts

We have a dedicated group of pet expert professionals, including veterinarians, vet techs, and other pet professionals to guide you through any questions. We’re committed to your pet’s wellness and can offer additional tips, resources, nutritional advice, and more.

Published: October 25, 2017

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