Cindy - Diabetes and Liver Disease

I have a 12 year old minature toy poodle who has been diagnosed as a diabetic 2 1/2 years ago. I have tried feeding him W/D Sciene Diet recommend by my vet but he doesn't like it & will not eat it. I switched him to Blue dog food about 3 weeks ago. It is a high protien/low carb food & he seems to love it. In the last couple of days however he seems to have lost his appetite, is drinking & urinating more, and has been vomiting several times a day. I took him to the vet today & he said that his liver enzymes are high & his liver is not functioning properly. My pet currently takes 2 units of Vetsulin twice a day, Marin ( for elevated liver enzymes in the past) and Dasuquin.

Is there any food that you could recommend that would be good for both his diabetes & his liver problems?

My Comment:

Hi Cindy

I would wish that I had the perfect solution for you and you little friend.
Unfortunately this is not the case.

Normally, when I have to choose between two different diets needs, I tend to focus on the most important one.
In your case both having a liver and a diabetic problem this is difficult to say which one is the most “important one”

I am a strong believer in high protein dog food. This said, I have to admit this is mainly true for healthy dogs.

If dogs have some health issues, I think this is the time to reconsider what is regarded as being the best diet.

Normally, in diabetes a high protein diet would not be a problem. As long the same amount of food is given and on regularly times through out the day.

But, live diseases are different. Might be some problem with copper amount in the diet as well as well.

So, I would try to see if as much as possible of his diet cloud be some kind of ”wet/canned” liver dog food, eventually mixed with the food you are giving him now.

I would recommend to give as much of the liver food as absolutely possible and slowly decrease the amount of “non liver diet”

Best to use some kind of canned dog food as this is more tasty than normal dry dog foods.

In the period where you are changing the diets, monitor the blood glucose closely.

I really hope this can be a solution.

If not then you might test this:

In the moment I don't know any homemade liver diet I really can recommend as I have not used any in my practice.

The one I have seen is from Royal Canin!

Her it is: Chicken breast with skin 220g, Rice cooked 680g, Boiled carrots 60g, Wheat bran 20g, rapeseed oil 20g and some low copper vitamin supplement

This makes in total 1000g of food.

Recommended amount for a 2 kg dog 160g, 4 kg dog 270g and for a 6 kg dog 370g of the diet in total through the day.

It can be feed 4 times a day to keep sugar levels steady and minimize load on the liver.

Whether this is OK to use in diabetes, impossible to say.

It might only be a test showing how the diabetes reacts on it and if possible to regulate blood sugar with insulin.

You have to move very carefully and keep in close contact with your regular vet.

All the best

Per Schonbeck