I brought Madryn home when she was just six weeks old - too young to leave her mother really, but I couldn't resist her. A tiny bundle of white fluff for sale off the back of a truck, quite literally, at a local country market. After losing my beloved Keeshond Merlin only weeks before to cancer, I needed a distraction, and when I saw the sign for Maremma/Border collie cross pups, I was thrilled. I wanted a Maremma or a border collie, Madryn was both!

Madryn came home with me, to meet the family, 3 cats, a pet sheep, peacocks, geese and a big wild garden to play in. I lived alone, and lavished attention on my animals. They were my life. Madryn did what puppies do, played, slept, ate scratched. As she grew, she scrathed more and more. In fact, at six months she was scratching so much she seemed to be scratching her hair out. Bald patches began to appear, and she grew thin and listless. The vet pronounced it was demodectic mange. He explained that what most people think of as mange is sarcoptic mange, a contagious itchy mite, easily got rid of. Demodectic mange was different, the vet explained. All dogs carry the demodectic mite, but some dogs are allergic to it. Their immune systems cannot cope, and the mite population grows out of control, it's toxic waste poisoning the dog, first affecting the skin and later, internal organs. It was serious, he said, and we must attempt to treat promptly. Madryn was dosed with highly toxic chemicals, and washed in a poisonous insecticide again and again to kill the mites. It almost killed the dog. Her face swelled so that her eyes were forced shut, she was in agony. All her lovely thick white fur disappeard, she was almost bald, the skin dirty looking and weeping in places. The vet tried every kind of poison to fight the mites, but he was also fighting Madryn's immune system - the very thing that could save her. At length, the vet concluded that euthanasia was the kindest solution - Madryn was seriously ill, her quality of life poor, she was pathetically thin, had no energy, and the weeping sores covered most of her body. Devastated by the failure of so much treatment, I contemplated euthanasia for Madryn. It had been 9 months since I had lost Merlin - I couldn't face losing another dog. I walked on my local beach, my eyes filling with tears, as I contemplated euthanasing my beloved friend. As I sat down on the sand, a passing stranger walking her dog, saw my distress and spoke to me kindly asking what was wrong. She looked at my emaciated, bald and listless companion, and asked us both to come visit her home. She sold animal health products from a tiny store in her back yard, she explained, and she thought she had something for Madryn. We went with her, and purchased some weird and wonderful stuff. This woman had given us hope, and I was desperate to give anything a shot.

Take the meat out of her diet, I was told, feed her low protein high carb biscuit, and heaps of vegetables. Add seaweed powder to her food, with a pinch of sulphur, the old remedy for fleas. Spray the skin with diluted organic apple cider vinegar, and each day, give 2 mls VAM paste, a vitamin and mineral supplement This approach was not designed to poison the mite, or the dog, This approach was about strenghting the immune system. Build up the dog, I was advised and she will get rid of the mites herself.

I followed the instructions religiously. Madryn became a seaweed munching vegatarian dog. For six weeks we persisted, without apparent change, then one afternoon we were lying in the sun together, and I noticed on Madryn's bare hip, the tiniest wisp of baby down. Was that hair re-growth? I looked more closely, yes, in this slanting afternoon light you could see it. Tiny, fine hairs growing on her hip. Another six weeks went by, and Madryn gained both hair, and weight. Her beautiful Maremma coat filled out, gleaming like gossamer with health. Her golden eyes shone, she was vital, happy and well at last.

Overjoyed, I sought to give her a gift, and decided another puppy would be wonderful for her to play with while I was at work all day. I contacted again the people I had bought Madryn from, hoping their bitch had more pups, but was shocked to learn that her brother and sister, kept by the breeder as pets, had both suffered from demodectic mange. The sister had died, the brother was close to death. In him, the disease had progressed to the point where he had absecess in the throat, and was unable to take any food. He was hairless, emaciated, and desperately ill. Over the phone, I prescribed the change of diet, and the vitamin and mineral supplement which had saved Madryn. They were sceptical, but prepared to try. A few months later, they phoned, to say they had saved their dog. He was well again, his hair had returned and he was gaining weight.

What happened to Madryn was not a co-incidence. This disease is one of immune deficiency. Plying the dog with toxic chemicals does nothing to strengthen that immune system, but instead further undermines the dog's own ability to fight disease. By supporting Madryn's system, she was able to recover her strength to fight the disease off herself, and ultimately to recover fully, and never suffer a recurrence.

Madryn is now 8 years old, and never better or more beautiful. My big, white silky girl!

Author: Amanda Meadows
Country: Australia
Age: 48
True story: Yes
Rating: 6 paws up
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