Liver Problem in Dog

Hello,

History: My 8year old English Springer Spaniel has been diagnosed with liver problems. I had recently changed food from Science Diet to Royal Canin Spaniel.It started in December after I had her teeth cleaned. Bood test during teeth cleaning showed very fatty liver. She vomited the next day, then several weeks of loose stools. Was given Hepatic tablets. Then drinking lots of water, some urine, sometimes not. After less than two weeks blood test, high counts on ALT, GLDH, AP. Wanted to test for Cushings. Changed Vets at recommendation of several people.Changed food to Bosch Senior stopped liver supplements. One week later, New vet diagnosed bladder infection. Blood test by new vet which was now 4 weeks from teeth cleaning, one week from previous blood test AP had dropped by 1/2 but was still high, GLDH was still double, and ALT was only 2u/l past normal range. Dog now put on Royal Canin Hepatic dry food. Upset stomach. Vet give antibiotic for fever and now feed RC Hepatic dry and RC sensitive wet food chicken and rice. Again after a week dog becomes sick and wants to eat grass, drinking lots of water. Vet takes new blood work and weighs dog. She has gained 1.5 kilos in 3 weeks. ALT is double normal, GLDH is so high it won't record, AP has dramatically increased. In 2 weeks vet wants to do ultrasound.

The dog has been on Thyroid medicine for many years.
Has had a sensitive stomach for many years.

Question: Could the liver supplements be making her counts higher? I think the Royal Canin makes her have a fatty liver. Once again I have changed foods to cooking chicken, white rice, brown rice, green beans, and carrots. I am giving her 1.5 cups (375ml) of rice/veg mix and 150grams of chicken. Twice a day. Is this to much or to little food?

Thank you for any answers you can give me. Denise

My Comment:

Hi Denise

What kind of liver supplementation did you use?

It is probably Denosyl or something similar and no... I don't think this has any thing to do withe the increase in the liver enzymes.

Reading your mail it is difficult to get all the details. My first impression was that the dental cleaning could be the cause and some bacterias could lodge in the liver and make her having a hepatitis.

On the other hand - if this the case, the problem arise very fast. Normally I would expect some days to pass on before bacterias in the live would show up symptoms.

Did your vet make any judging of the general inflammatory state of the body? In Sweden we use the CRP (and of cause white blood cell count to judge this).

I am thinking of bacteria getting to the blood stream causing all this.....

But, I am guessing. Not having all the testes done and the details making it more difficult.

If a dog gets a high liver enzymes I almost always treat it with a liver suitable antibiotics for 4 weeks. In my experience you have to rule out bacterial hepatitis first using a long antibiotic treatment time.

If the liver values still high after this treatment performing a bile acid test can add great value and help in judging how the liver is affected.

If the bile acid test is normal it is better compared to an increased test and the liver is able to handle "its every day functions" - despite the high blood samples. That's positive of cause.

A UL is a wise thing to do. This can give information about the structure of the liver.

Another thing I consider, is the fat content of the blood. Could "Hyperlipidemia" have any thing to do with these symptoms? Not a common breed to get this disease but...

About the diet.

I have used R C Hepatic in many patients. None have developed any similar problems - so no I don't think this is caused by food. It must be another cause. Its just to find it (and that's the tricky part).

I give you a homemade diet recipe for liver diseases. Then you can compere it to your homemade diet and her weight.

For 1000g diet you need: Chicken 220g, Rice cooked 680g, Carrots boiled and drained 60g, Wheat bran 20g and rapeseed oil 20g

For a dog weighing 10 kg (20 Lbs) should have about 500g of food (1 Lbs) per day.

My guess would be she is having too much to eat if he is increasing in body weight. That said fluid can increase as well having a liver disease - so it might not "be fat all of it."

Many other cause (is she sprayed? - uterine infection?) comes to my mind but as I said before - not having all the details makes it difficult and I am really just guessing.

I wish the best for both of you!

All the best

Per Schonbeck