Sharkey's Story

Sharkey, the Shar-Pei, is four years old today. He now seems to be recovering from the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) nightmare from which he has been suffering for the past three years.  During the first two years, the symptoms were not too alarming. Then, the disease broke out in full bloom. Sharkey had diarrhea; started vomiting with an increasing frequency; started to refuse food and consequently began loosing weight.

We had by then already been to several different vets. One had told us that Sharkey most likely was suffering from inflammations in the colon. Another was convinced Sharkey was the victim of a disease called “Shar-Pei enteropathy”.

In September 1999 I got hold of a renowned gastro-intestinal specialized vet who performed an endo-rectoscopic examination. Sharkey was thus diagnosed with “chronic inflammations in stomach, colon and duodenum”. The medical treatment consisted of Prednisolone and Flagyl, while the diet was restricted to Hill’s “highly digestible” ID formula.

As Sharkey didn’t respond to this treatment, new drugs were introduced. From October 1999 to February 2000, Sharkey was given all kinds of drugs. We tried different amounts and various combinations, but Sharkey just didn’t respond and stools continued being far too loose. Finally the GI specialist gave up. He told me that Sharkey was his toughest case ever and that he could think of nothing else to do than to keep giving Sharkey drugs and “highly digestible” kibble. He also said that Sharkey eventually would become weaker from having constant diarrhea and that I should be prepared for euthanasia in not too distant a future.

However, the good days didn’t last for more than a few weeks at most. And Sharkey just kept loosing weight. That’s when I turned to Doctor Newkirk. After having read Sharkey’s entire case book, including the results of various blood tests and the endo-rectoscopic examination, Doctor Newkirk advised me to put Sharkey on a whole meat diet, and prescribed glandular as well as a homeopathic therapy so as to strengthen Sharkey’s system from within, and in order to eventually start reducing the doses of the heavy conventional drugs (being Azathioprine, Prednisolone and Flagyl at the time). He told me it would be a long and very slow process before Sharkey had regained his health.

Sharkey was doing quite all right for a couple of months. He had occasional loose stools, but on the whole he was doing fine. Flagyl and Azathioprine were dropped from treatment.

Then one day, Sharkey’s temperature skyrocketed to about 104F. His hind legs got covered with spots that looked like pimples. He had diarrhea and vomited. Doc Newkirk said that this could be a healing crisis but wanted me to take Sharkey to the local vet for blood works in case it was something else. Within three days Sharkey was back to normal. The fever was gone and so were the pimples. However, this incident seems to have been only the initial phase of a major crisis. During the following month, Sharkey refused food, had frequent diarrhea, vomited and lost lots of weight.

The local vet told me it would be a waste of time and money to go through with the blood tests. The only thing to do for such a sick dog was euthanasia. I didn’t disagree but still wanted to do the blood works. He told me not to nourish any hopes though, and wanted to see Sharkey again as soon as he got back from his vacations two weeks later in order to give the lethal injection.

The blood works showed low levels of Albumin, low levels of Glucose, low levels of red blood cells and extremely high levels of white blood cells. Before leaving for his vacations, the local vet prescribed Baytril, a heavy antibiotic.

But Sharkey still wouldn’t eat. I spent hours in the kitchen trying to make one more delicious, irresistible meal after the other. But Sharkey was being more miserable than ever, planting himself in front of the fireplace, shivering in the warmth with weakness and fever. And if he did eat, even just a morsel, he had diarrhea, sometimes even he before could make it to the door.

This is when Doc Newkirk finally gained my confidence and trust. Please don’t blame me for having been a little reserved prior to this. We live in Sweden, Europe. There are no holistic vets in this part of the world. Doc Newkirk was on the other side of the Atlantic, far, far away. And although he had read all the facts about Sharkey, he had never actually seen the poor dog. Can a vet on such a great geographical distance really help?

Since the local vet was out of town, since I was more desperate than ever, I called Doc Newkirk on my cellular phone (since there is no stationary phone connection in our country house). And the good Doctor took my call. He suggested lots of things that I had never heard of, non-existing on the Swedish market. He proceeded by asking me if there were any equivalent products on the Swedish market, and after a brief brainstorming conversation, he suggested baby food and raw honey in addition to the Flagyl (that I had already started giving Sharkey).

Sharkey began eating again the very same evening. He loved the baby food and the raw honey! The next day his temperature had dropped to normal. He continued eating with an ever increasing appetite. He just wanted more and more food. Not only did Sharkey start regaining weight: he also regained his self-confidence and his good spirits within just a few days. Soon enough he became strong enough to climb the stairs and jump into bed on the upper floor. He started enjoying nature and would spend hours just rolling around in the sunny grass, making strange noises of pure pleasure.

Two weeks later we returned to the local vet’s office as promised. Sharkey had by then gained so much weight and so much energy that the local vet could hardly believe it was the same dog. The death sentence was promptly reversed and the local vet wished us luck, telling me to continue doing whatever it was I was doing.

Doc Newkirk was right. It has been a slow process (and a painful one). I’ve rarely feared for someone as much as I’ve feared for Sharkey. He may not yet be fully recovered, but still he most definitely is on the mend. He looks quite healthy now in an athletic kind of way, eats with gusto, rarely has loose stools, doesn’t vomit, and keeps gaining weight. Furthermore he’s jumping like a dolphin, playing like a foal, and I’ve never seen him happier.

*(Doctors note- Sharkey lived 2 more good years, before his disease came back with a vengeance.  We could not save him at that point but his final years were lived healthy and happy with his family.)