About 6 months ago, when I was asking his vet about some things that I thought were symptoms (maybe), he said, "It certainly is a possibility, but we don't know. They can't talk and tell us how they feel."
Well . . . they can if you use an animal communicator.
Thank you, Lola. But I don't think I'm anything special. I think I'm just more willing to study something from every angle (even if I'm looking from an unexpected angle) and am more willing to experiment until something works in the needed situation instead of just doing what I'm told--especially when what I'm told by "experts" isn't working. In this case, despite everything else going on in my life, I've just got more time than most to observe and change things up until I find something that works for sure.
That's WHY you're amazing. Like MC said, not everyone will go to the time or effort that you did. They'll just follow the "experts" advice and live with the situation the way it is. So I really hope you take a moment to pat yourself on the back for that. He's your baby, you wanted to do everything possible to help him. And you did.
I thought there was some ...cortisol..medication that was controversial or something.
The controversy comes in the dosage. Vets typically prescribe
pharmacologic (high) doses of steroids like prednisilone or prednisone. What Dr. Plechner suggests is a
physiologic dose (much lower than the pharmacologic) to bring the body into balance.
Here's an example: let's say you need to drink 50 oz of water a day to prevent yourself from becoming subclinically dehydrated. But you're only drinking 40 oz. You go to the doctor with symptoms and he tells you to drink 150 oz of water a day. Well, ok, you're not going to be anywhere close to being dehydrated, but now you're dealing with other issues (e.g. bloating, urinary incontinence) because you're getting too much water. Dr. Plechner's protocol will tell you to drink 75 oz of water/day. You're not going to be dehydrated, but you're also not getting too much water so you're not going to have the other side effects. You're just drinking enough to keep things in balance.
Or another way of putting it: you have an 8 oz glass of water, and it needs to stay at 8 oz but it only contains 4 oz. A vet will tell you to pour a gallon of water into the glass. Well, now you have a mess (water spilled everywhere, etc.) Dr. Plechner will tell you to add 4 oz of water to bring the glass back to 8 oz, which is where it's supposed to be.
These are just made-up examples, but I hope they clarify the difference. Rather than giving Mazy say, 10 mg of pred a day, she might only need .25 mg a day (or .25 mg twice a day) to bring her system into balance. Dr. Plechner provides the testing information on his site and in his book so vets can determine just how much is needed to bring the pet's system back into balance without overdoing it and "creating a mess."
I really recommend Dr. Plechner's book. You can get it used on Amazon for a pretty low price, and you don't need a PhD to understand what he's saying. And if you do buy/read it and have any questions, you know DeeDee and I will be happy to explain it.