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My name is Brenda Warner. I personally had the pleasure of meeting Lew Olson 7 years ago when my two rottweiler pups were struggling with health issues. I found her website, contacted her, joined her K9Nutrition e-groups list, hosted several of her seminars, and attribute all of my early learning to her. With that said, I am pleased to author this month’s newsletter. I think it’s about time she had a month off!
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| This newsletter is timely as it comes closely around the corner to Lew’s series on Canine Nutrition. If you’ve been following along over the past ten months or so you have learned about the history of dog food, the anatomy of the canine, proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, supplements and minerals, mixing fresh foods with kibble foods, preparing cooked and raw diets and putting it all together. And this story truly “Puts it all Together.” |
| I recently had the opportunity to help a very special Boxer, named Cooper. If I had not learned the things I learned from Lew Olson over the years, I would not have been able to take part in helping this boy. Additional thanks are extended to Mike Liberato and his support in making sure all the needed supplements arrived in time to help Cooper. |
| With that said, I want to introduce to Trisha Stilley. She is the special lady who found it in her heart to rescue this horribly abused 10-month old Boxer boy on March 26, 2006. Trisha is the President of Companion Pet Rescue in Eldorado, Illinois. A small rescue operation with a huge heart! |
| The original information on Cooper was posted by Flo Bryant on March 22, 2006. The subject line in the email read “Worse Case Abuse/Neglect You’ll Ever See.” Trisha received the email and contacted Flo to find out more information. A Meth Lab was raided by the local police in Springfield, Illinois. At the time of the raid, Cooper was found tied up outside in the backyard. He had no shelter and there was no visible signs of any food or water. He was very dirty, horribly emaciated, infested with parasites and it appeared he had very little human contact. There was a Pit Bull fighting pen in the basement of the house, but it did not appear as though Cooper was used for bait because he did not have the scars that are typically associated with that kind of abuse. Cooper was removed from the home, but unfortunately the people in the house were only arrested on drug charges and will not be prosecuted for the animal abuse. |
| Very interested in Cooper’s case, Trisha followed the posts to see if anyone would come forward to rescue him. Companion Pet Rescue was small and Trisha knew her organization would not be able to afford the rehabilitation costs for this dog. The posts showed everyone was concerned, but all groups were either at capacity or did not have the funds for vetting. One Boxer group was willing to take him, but it would be several weeks before they would have room and Cooper didn’t have that much time. Flo continued to try for a commitment, but time had dwindled down. He only had until Friday, March 25 at 2:30 before he would be euthanized. Trisha made that phone call at noon on that last Friday to ask if anyone had come forward with a commitment and no one had. It was at that moment, Trisha made the commitment to take him. Transport was arranged and at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2006 Cooper was safe with Trisha Stilley. |
| “Now what am I going to do?”, she said. She looked at this poor boy and could tell he was infested with yeast. It was so bad it was oozing out of his feet. He appeared to have a bad staff infection and she suspected a horrible case of mange. By the time Cooper reached Trisha, her vet had left for the weekend and all she could do was make him as comfortable as she could until Monday. She gave him a bath, treated his skin holistically, fixed him a few small warm meals that included some yogurt to help his hunger and the yeast. Knowing what she was up against, Trisha spent the next two days emailing everyone who had been included in the string of emails asking them for help and experience. Somewhere along the way, the email was passed along to me. |
| I was so taken by Cooper’s story that I contacted Trisha to see what I could do to help. Trisha told me he was so dirty it took three baths to get the dirt off of him and once the dirt was gone, the only thing that was left of Cooper was the truth of his abuse and neglect. The condition of his health was horrid. |
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| On Monday, March 28, Trisha’s vet drew blood and started lab work. Fortunately, he was not heartworm positive, but he did test positive for Demodectic mange, was infested with systemic yeast and had a horrible staff infection over 50% of his body. Antibiotics were not an option, per her vet, as his immune system was so shot the antibiotics would have done him in. They decided the best way to treat the mange and yeast was with oral and topical meds. |
| In talking with Trisha, she was willing to accept any help that was offered. I told her that I had some experience with canine nutrition and after getting the complete diagnosis from her vet, I believed if she was willing to try a few things, it would help Cooper’s health improve more quickly. I wasn’t sure what kind of response I’d get from her, as I was about to recommend a raw natural diet for Cooper and feeding raw was certainly not the meal of choice in Southern Illinois. After a pause and a “What!?” and a few questions and thoughts later, she said “Well it makes sense and I’m willing to try anything!” |
| So, following the vet’s advice to treat the yeast and mange topically and her willingness to take my advice to feed a raw natural diet and add immune system strengthening supplements, we moved forward with that combination. That, together with Cooper’s strong spirit, we had hope for a positive outcome. |
| I explained to Trisha that Demodectic mange feeds off of sugars and to continue feeding him a commercial kibble would do nothing more than provide a food source for the mange and the yeast. If there was a food source they could feed off of, both could continue to exist. In order to rid his body of the disease and reduce his chances of the mange returning, we had to remove its food source and strengthen Cooper’s immune system so he had a better chance of fighting the disease. |
| With Trisha’s newly found trust, she told me what food sources were available in her area. She was limited, but we had to start simple anyway. She fed Cooper several small meals a day of ground turkey, ground beef, yogurt, eggs, and ground egg shells. I ordered supplies from B-Natural’s and Mike Liberato was kind enough to drop ship the items directly to Trisha. I sent down a bottle of Berte’s Immune Blend Vitamins and recommended she give them to Cooper at full dose so he had an extra large source of vitamin nutrition. I also sent Azmira’s Immune Stimulator to help give his immune system an additional boost. His digestive tract was so irregular from the starvation and the yeast infestation that I also sent down Berte’s Ultra Probiotic to try and get his good bacteria, flora and fauna, back to a normal state and help him adjust not only to having food in his system, but to adjust to the raw food as well. In addition, we also sent Berte’s Digestion Blend to give him the extra digestion support and a solid source of enzymes so he would be able to better assimilate the nutrients from the food. I also sent down some EPA Fish Oil, which is a great supplement for immune system support and skin and coat conditioning. She started using these supplements immediately. Trisha was a great student. She asked all the right questions and followed the instructions like a champ! |
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| I also had the ability of getting a wider variety of meats at wholesale pricing, so I put together a 110 pound care package that included chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, beef heart, and turkey hearts. There was a transport coming up from Southern, Illinois to drop dogs off at various locations, so when the transport van was empty, it was filled with meat for Cooper and the driver headed back to Eldorado with that load of food for Cooper. |
| Trisha worried about the costs for Cooper. She knew the vetting and supply costs would be on going for some time and would exceed the budget of her rescue group. She continued sending out emails with regular updates on how Cooper was doing. The response was tremendous. There were monetary donations that came in to help cover the vetting costs and community donations of farm fresh eggs from a local farmer, yogurt and the end leafs from leafy greens from her local grocer. It was a joint effort from so many people. And the effort made by so many was rewarded by how quickly Cooper was improving. Trisha, who got to see it first hand everyday was amazed. As Cooper improved, so did his spirit. The updates kept coming. His health was improving, his attitude and his spirit were beginning to come out and the sparkle in his eyes, which touched your soul, said Thank You to everyone. Trisha said “He’s just about the sweetest little boy I’ve taken care of in a long time. He is smart and so willing to please that I sincerely believe he deserves this second chance at life.” And she continues to rally for this boy today. |
| Cooper has been with Trisha for 3 months. The pictures tell it all! |
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| I am incredibly proud to have been a part of this success story and I hope those of you who are reading this can see and confirm the benefits of good nutrition and proper supplementation a benefit we all receive from Lew Olson every day. Had it not been for her, I would not have been able to help Trisha Stilley help Cooper. And the knowledge that we’ve gained continues to travel on as many of Trisha’s grooming clients have seen for themselves the steady pace of improvement Cooper has made. Trisha, having witnessed Cooper’s improvement first hand, is now telling others in Southern Illinois about natural diets for dogs! |
| The vet gave Cooper a clean bill of health. The Demodectic mange and the staff infection are gone and no antibiotics were used. To be sure all the internal yeast was gone, I thought it was important for Cooper to be put through, what I call, a Yeast and Fungal Detox. Yeast grows internally, but manifests itself externally on the skin, in the ears and eyes. When yeast becomes systemic, as it was in Cooper’s case, I wanted to make sure there was no yeast left inside him to plague him once again. He is undergoing this detox now and there is still a bit more yeast to bid farewell to, but we are confident this too shall pass. |
| Cooper was recently neutered and Trisha has been working him in obedience. He is ready for adoption and applications are being taken. Trisha and I have discussed his special needs and agree that Cooper needs to stay on a raw diet and continue taking immune system supplements to ensure he is able to maintain his health and his immune system. If any of you are interested in adopting Cooper, please contact Trisha Stilley directly at Companion Pet Rescue, PO Box 33, 906 Dillard, El Dorado, IL 62930. cpr4pets (at) shawneelink.net. Or, if you know of someone who may be interested in adopting this special boy, please pass this newsletter along. |
Lew, Thank you for letting me share this story about compassion and trust and “Putting it all Together.” If you ever wonder if the things you do really make a difference . . . Yes they do! There were a lot of people who came together to help Cooper, but I would not have been able to be a part of this myself had it not been for meeting you 7 years ago. Mike, thank you for all your help in getting those urgent supplies where they needed to go. Thank you both for having, what I consider to be, the best line of natural supplements on the market.
And a Special Happy Birthday to Lew and Bean! |
Contact Me
If you would like to ask me any questions about my products, I would love to hear from you. Please check your return address when you send me email from my web site and try to write me again if you have not heard back from me. |
To email: lew@k9nutritionwithlew.com
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| Copyright 2006 Lew Olson, All Rights Reserved |
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