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  1. #1
    House Broken EGrant23's Avatar
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    High liver levels?

    So, roughly 6 weeks ago my wife arrived home to find our 2 year old lab had punctured an ibuprofen bottle with hundreds of pills scattered everywhere. Our dog had no signs or symptoms and I woul think would have ate pills had he wanted to. Regardless, we brought him in a had induced vomiting and blood work done. His kidney tests came back great but his liver test had a high ALT level of 1000. We followed up 2 days later and that number was still high. Fast forward to this week, we brought him in for another panel 6 weeks later. I was just informed by our vet that number has still not come down at all and she is concerned. He has shown no signs of symptoms and is acting completely normal. She didn't talk a whole lot about options outside of a possibly biopsy and scan. She informed me she was going to contact a few resources and get back to me next week on what the best step would be. Of course the wife and I have been stressing and have anxiety since that phone call. Have any other members dealt with something similar? Any possible causes or things we can do differently to try to lower that number? Any feedback would be greatly app

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    It's weird. If the levels were high from the ibuprofen poisoning, the meds should be out of his system by now. Is he on any medication/supplements for the liver? I'd try milk thistle.
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  3. #3
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    I went through a high ALT level with Sunnie a few years back....a course of Denamarin and a homeopathic product called LiverAid brought her back down. Her level was out of range but not as high as yours. We'd done a retest after about 6 weeks on her, too, and ended up getting a scan. That's when she was put on the Denamarin. Also fish oil and vitamin E.

    I now have Danny on the same course....his level is double what Sunnie's was but not as high as yours. Dan's has been going up for the past 4 years with the last two being out of range. I didn't know it had been escalating for that long since I was told he was out of range just last year but supposed it was from the alcohol in the dental product I had started using. I'm kind of surprised the vet didn't want to retest a while after I stopped that product. I've got my fingers crossed that stopping the topical flea & tick stuff will help, too. We retest Dan in about 2 1/2 months. I decided to go with the product before the retest/scan this time.

    In both cases, my dogs had been acting just fine.

    Anyway, as Elena said, milk thistle or a product like Denamarin should help return things to normal...especially assuming that it was the ibuprofen. You retest after about 3 months on the product.

  4. #4
    Best Friend Retriever outrag's Avatar
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    Yukon had a "bad" toxic reaction to Rimadyl last year resulting in ALT levels close to 3000. Clinically he displayed symptoms of inappetance and vomiting after a couple weeks of being on the med. He immediately got put on Denamarin and removal of any meds the liver needs to process. After a week his ALT went from 3000 to 1000. A couple weeks after that he was within normal range.

    Has your dog's blood work prior to the ibuprofen incident been normal? I would definitely get him on Denamarin everyday for a couple months and remove any meds the liver has to process. Recheck blood in a couple weeks to see if it's moving in the right direction. It may not reach normal if the liver was really damaged, but the liver has a remarkable way of regenerating and it can also function (fairly normally) at a less than 100% capacity without clinical symptoms.

    If the ibuprofen incident has nothing to do with the ALT increase, then an ultrasound and liver biopsy could be considered. If the ibuprofen incident was definitely the cause, I would go conservatively with Denamarin (and possibly other liver helping agents) and watch for clinical symptoms and perform check in blood work periodically.

    Good Luck.

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  5. #5
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    As a precaution, you may want to have him checked for copper storage disease. It's in some lines of labs and there is now a genetic test for it. Paw Print Genetics - Copper Toxicosis (Labrador Retriever Type) in the Labrador Retriever
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  6. #6
    House Broken EGrant23's Avatar
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    At the time he had all of his tests done the day of the incident, all tests came back normal outside of the one elevated level. His kidney levels all read great, which if he did swallow any ibuprofen, would not have read that way. He also had induced vomiting and was acting normal. My concern is what could have changed in the last year from his one year check up. We did change food from Blue Buffalo to Fromm around his first birthday. I haven't done enough research on this subject to know how much food can play a factor in all of this. The unfortunate part is our regular vet left our office a few months ago so now Bo has been seeing a completely new vet to that clinic.

  7. #7
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    There's anecdotal evidence that methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) can cause a benign liver enzyme elevation...do you have him on that (probably not because he's young).

    I've eliminated topical flea & tick stuff and doggie toothpaste (sorbitol) for Dan. Can't eliminate heartworm stuff. These things process in/affect the liver. Anything with alcohol would be not a good idea (some tooth products or liquid homeopathic stuff has alcohol as a base...Bach Rescue Remedy human formula, for instance). He could be really sensitive to stuff like that. I'm hoping that's the case with Dan and that we don't have to go further to explore his issue.

  8. #8
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Potion also had a reaction to Rimadyl with liver levels off the charts. Vet suggested Hepagen C (milk thistle) and wild salmon oil supplements. While they don't "cure" anything, they support liver function. It did take about 3 months for the liver level to come back to normal but once it started to drop, it happened quickly.

    Sending good thoughts.
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  9. #9
    Senior Dog voodoo's Avatar
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    no idea on dogs, but I have liver disease and get my liver tested monthly for last 3 years. I have found that what I do within 24hrs of blood test can throw off my blood tests drastically...like so far off the Docs wont even consider some lab draws as valid...so whatever yo do, be consistant.
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  11. #10
    House Broken EGrant23's Avatar
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    Here are his results...
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