Liver Disease - Anyone have any experience?

This is one of my favorite sites for holistic ways of treating various conditions.
 
[linkhttp://www.dogaware.com/specific.html#liver]http://www.dogaware.com/specific.html#liver[/link]
 
Good luck!

Tumor would be low on my differential, they typically don't cause elevations in LFT's until they are very, very large. It's hard to say for sure what is causing it. But most dogs can live a long time with mild liver failure with proper diet. Was the bilirubin elvated as well? You won't see jaundice unless it is as jaundice is just bili depositions in the skin and mucous membranes. Don't put the nails in the coffin yet, there is much to find out!!! Did you tell your vet about the supplements and what is in them as well. Some ingredients can cause drug induced hepatitis too. I think it was Jennie_c_d who has done a good liver diet before. There will be lots of good advice here, keep positive.

Winnie had a couple ultrasounds for kidney disease, and I don't believe they sedated her at all.  It's not painful, but they do need to be kept fairly still.  They had 2 techs holding her on her back, and she was good for it.

My little JRT, Emma, was a sickly puppy. Nobody could find anything wrong, and I'd had bloodwork run several times. She also had some pretty severe behavioral issues. When she was 10 months old, it got to the point where I couldn't handle her without being bitten, and I took her to be euthanized. I insisted on a full blood panel, before it was done. I wanted to ensure that I was euthanizing a healthy dog, and not a dog with a manageable problem. Her liver enzymes were sky high, that day. She was immediately put on a very low protein diet and lactulose. I saw a difference within days. She'd not ever really been "normal" before, and now, she's totally normal. She's a little social butterfly, and a very happy dog, at 3 1/2 years old. She shows no signs of liver abnormality. I just got back perfect bloodwork, on her.

Since your Maggie is doing well on Eagle Pack, I might switch her to the senior version, to see if that helps lower her liver enzymes. If you want a home prepared diet, I'll be glad to point you in that direction, since that's what I did, for Emma (who has ridiculous food allergies, and is a genetic trainwreck[]). I would reccomend switching from beef to fish or poultry products, since liver dogs seem to do better without red meat (only until they're stabilized and have normal enzymes for a while, Emma eats grass fed beef all the time, now). I'd also start your baby on SAMe (Denosyl, from the vet, or the human version is fine) and milk thistle (the tincture, in alcohol, is best). Removing red meat from Emma's diet, reducing her protein, and adding those two supplements made a world of difference. She ended up eating a vegetarian diet, for quite some time, because any kind of meat would trigger an episode of Hepatic Encephalopathy, but I wouldn't go the veg route unless I had to.

Another thing that I've added into her routine is acupuncture. It's very helpful, in all aspects of her life. It makes her joints nearly pain free (and she's got *serious* joint issues), seems to help her liver function and epilepsy, and helps reduce her incontinence. It's good for the whole body. If you can find a TCVM vet near you, they can help you incorporate new supplements and routines to help your girl out.

This site describes some of the problems that dogs have had with Rimadyl:
[linkhttp://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html]www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html[/link]
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What are the actual statistics on the incidence of dogs suffering from Rimadyl toxicity?
The statistics published by Pfizer are: All suspected events: 0.2% or 2/10ths of 1% of all dogs treated during 1997. [color=#0000cc]Liver dysfunction: .02% or 2/100ths of 1% of all dogs treated.

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[linkhttp://www.labbies.com/rimady.htm][font="times new roman"][size=1]www.labbies.com/rimady.htm[/link] [/size][/font]

Because it is currently unknown what factors may contribute to predispose certain Labradors to hepatic toxicity, it is recommended that Labradors administered Rimadyl be carefully observed for early signs of drug intolerance.

Good info on liver disease[size=3]
[color=#000000][link>http://forum.dog.com/asp/m.asp?m=305534]http://forum.dog.com/asp/m.asp?m=305534[/link][/size]
[link>http://forum.dog.com/asp/m.asp?m=306049]http://forum.dog.com/asp/m.asp?m=306049[/link][/size][/size][/color][/size][/color]

TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine)
[linkhttp://www.tcvm.com/]http://www.tcvm.com/[/link]
See TCVM Practitioner locator on left.

You might ask your vet about Hill's Prescription L/D diet. Our dog has always had elevated liver enzymes and we had her on that food for several months. She has other health problems now so she doesn't eat the Hill's anymore, but when she was eating it, her enzymes came down a bit.

My sheltie mix had liver disease -- it onset hard and fast (he got into food that was spoiled and got a bacterial infection a HUGE one).  I had 3 vets tell me it had to be liver cancer and to put him down. (they did an ultrasound and x-rays and were SURE it was cancer)
 
I didn't -- in my gut I knew it had to be an infection, but in any event I elected to have them to antibiotics and we also used tcvm (traditional Chinese veterinary medicine).  With the herbals and acupuncture backing up the pharmaceuticals HE DID GREAT!  Complete recovery -- and yes, my regular vet was astounded!
 
[linkhttp://www.tcvm.com]http://www.tcvm.com[/link] -- that's the Chi Institute website and it has a locator on the left hand side.  Please give it a try before you make ANY decisions.  I've had marvelous luck recommending people thru them. 
 
There are a LOT of the Chinese herbals that are magnificent for liver disease, and even just using some of the western herbals like milk thistle can have awesome results.  But please try it -- it sounds like the perfect opportunity.

Try SAM-e for your dog.  It can be bought at any vitamin store and is cheaper that way then getting it thru the vet.  Your vet should be able to give you the proper amount to use.  Its brought my dogs liver levels and also helps with liver function.  It is safe without side effects and was prescribed to us by a vet nutrisionist.

My dog has elevated liver enzymes right about where yours are.  My vet took an x-ray which cody did not have to be sedated for.  That could help to see if there was a tumor or something else going on.  My dog does not have a tumor and my vet has ruled that it's just due to old age or genetics.  I have my dog on Sam-E and Milk Thistle.  I also have him on Dr. Dodd's Liver Cleansing Diet which everyone swearssssssss by.  While I have seen an improvement both in my dog and his liver levels I haven't had the miraculous turn around like everyone else talks about but some people say with that sort of treatment their dog returns back to normal so I'd say it's definitely worth a try.  Can't hurt that's for sure!