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Pulled from a high-kill shelter with stage-3 heartworms. Six years of skin misery no vet could explain. The answer, found at 4 A.M., was in his gut.
“I renamed him Phoenix, telling him he would
rise up out of the ashes and live.”
In June 2008, D. Clemens pulled a two-year-old dog named Kane out of a high-kill shelter. The vet found stage-3 heartworms, twenty pounds missing, and a dog who had given up: less than a 2% chance to live. She renamed him Phoenix and told him what the name meant. Nine months later, he had made it.
The heartworm treatments saved him and taxed him. About two years later, the toll surfaced: he stopped wanting to eat, patches of coat turned scaly and greasy at the root and fell out, and he tore at his skin until it looked like it was on fire. Six years and thousands of dollars of vets followed. Shampoo changes, diet changes, and a multitude of allergy tests that came back blaming almost everything, which is another way of naming nothing. A holistic vet finally got the diagnosis right: Leaky Gut Syndrome. Her diagnosis was right, but her treatment made things worse. His owner stayed up all night reading, and at 4 A.M. found photos of a dog whose skin looked exactly like his.
In 2018 she wrote to tell us the whole story. Here's her letter.
“In June of 2008, I pulled a dog named Kane out of a high kill shelter. He was around 2 years old. I took him immediately to my vets and was told he had 3rd stage heartworms. He was malnourished and was 20 pounds underweight. I could tell he had given up. The vet gave him less than a 2% chance to live. I renamed him Phoenix, telling him he would rise up out of the ashes and live.
Move ahead 9 months. Phoenix fought long and hard and made it. For almost 2 years he seemed to thrive. But the cost to his immune system with the heartworm treatments had taken its toll, and he began to not want to eat and became lethargic. I noticed patches of his hair began to get a scaly, almost greasy like substance by the root shaft and then would fall out. He would tear at his skin until it looked like it was on fire.
For the next 6 years, we poured thousands of dollars to a multitude of vets, who tested and poked and prodded him but could not properly diagnose him. We changed shampoos, changed his diet many times, and ran a multitude of allergy tests. They all came back stating he was allergic to almost everything. He began to suffer, and my heart was breaking for this dog that was my best friend and confidant. I had just lost my mom, less than a week before. If I lost Phoenix, I'm not sure I could survive this. I tearfully promised him I would try one more thing and if it wouldn't work, I would let him go.
I took him to a holistic vet, who diagnosed Phoenix with Leaky Gut Syndrome. Her diagnosis spot on, but her method of treatment (hot laser treatments) about killed him. I decided no one loved Phoenix as much as me. If he had a chance to live, I would have to find it. I stayed up all night researching online everything I could find on Leaky Gut. Around 4 A.M., I came across photos of a dog whose skin and fur looked like Phoenix's. I read the whole article and realized it was an ad for a product named Nzymes. I went into the skin and coat pages and saw there were 5 steps to using this treatment effectively.
I had already changed his diet to Orijen 6 fish, so step one complete. The next was a recommendation to get Phoenix on a good skin care treatment along with the internal treatment of the Nzymes kit. I selected the Nzymes full kit treatment (now called the Skin Rescue Bundle), then went to one of the suggested skin care treatments which was Dermagic, and ordered their full kit. Just a few days later both kits arrived, and I followed your instructions exactly to the letter.
When I had ordered the products I was told by a representative that Phoenix would get worse before he got better, but to continue the regimen like the instructions said, and it would work! Within 2 weeks Phoenix began to heal. It did get worse before it got better, and I utilized a cone on him as was one of the suggested steps, but each day after the 2-week mark, he showed improvement!
Today his skin is pink and healthy. His appetite is great and he is youthful and playful! Plus look at his beautiful coat! I owe his life to the Nzymes Company!
July 2016 was the month I lost my mom; but July 2016 was also the month that Nzymes began to save Phoenix's life! Had I not have found their ad, my life today would have been so different! The combination of the treatment all worked together to give Phoenix the best quality of life, and I will be forever grateful!”
Shared with permission, lightly condensed.
The road from the shelter to the letter.
Pulled from a high-kill shelter. Stage-3 heartworms, a 2% chance, a new name.
The skin fight begins. Six years, a multitude of vets, no real diagnosis.
Leaky gut named, the program found, and two hard weeks of worse before better.
Pink, healthy skin. A beautiful coat. Youthful and playful.
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The allergy tests weren't wrong that Phoenix was reacting to nearly everything. They were wrong about why. When the gut wall is compromised, the immune system meets things it was never supposed to meet, and everything starts looking like an allergy. Name the real problem and the list of "allergies" starts shrinking on its own. That's the story our leaky gut guide tells in full.
It's also why rescue dogs hold a special place here. Many rescue organizations use the Nzymes products as part of rehabilitating dogs like Phoenix, helping them get healthy enough to be adopted. Dogs who come from the worst starts often have the most compromised guts, and the most dramatic comebacks.
Phoenix's family spent six years and thousands of dollars without answers. If the tests keep blaming everything and fixing nothing, tell us what you're seeing and we'll tell you honestly what it sounds like. We were built for the calls nobody else takes.
The full kit Phoenix's family followed is today's six-product Skin Rescue Bundle, built for the dogs deepest in the fight, with the same guidance from the same team that walked Phoenix's family through every step.
Phoenix's letter is from 2018. The same family, the same free customer care, and the same 120-Day Worry-Free Guarantee are still here today.
