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  1. #1
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    High Liver Enzymes in our 13 yr. Old Lab

    Hi All,
    In September, I post in the "general health issues" section, but thought this time I come here since our Sadie is a senior girl.
    Through blood work at her annual check-up it was discovered that Sadie's liver enzymes were elevated. She's had an ultra sound that showed inflammation and she's had a biopsy to rule out cancer. She was on an antibody for 2 weeks which lowered her levels, so put on for an additional 6 weeks. However, they went back up a bit. Our vet then put her on Atopica, which is used as an anti-inflammatory. We thought she was to be on it 2-3 months before a blood draw, but she had a draw on Wednesday after only 6 weeks. We got the results today and her numbers have only dropped by 6 points so the vet feels it's not doing it's job. However, we wonder if she had gone the full 2-3 months then had blood work done might there be a bigger drop in levels?????
    The vet said the next step is Prednisone, but that comes with side effects (increase water in-take, increase in urinating, increase in appetite) and for some dogs its much more pronounced. We're not sure we like the idea of her taking a steroid. We asked her about Denamarin, with milk thistle. She said it is only a supplement, but we could try if we wanted.
    So, I've come here to see if any of you have dealt with high liver enzymes in your dogs? What did you do/use? Have you used Denamarin? Prednisone? What were the results?
    The vet said it's also possible that neither the Prednisone or Denamarin may make a significant change and then we might just do nothing. Benign neglect is what they call it.
    We lost Sadie's litter mate 1 1/2 ago to a tumor on her spleen that ruptured. We were unaware it was there so one minute she was fine, the next she was in distress, in serious trouble and nothing we could do for her. We don't want to end up in the same kind of situation with Sadie. One minute fine, next minute not.
    We'd appreciate any input and advice you can give us. thanks.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    I would definitely supplement with something. That should have been the first suggestion from your vet. We use Livco by Standard Process. Two of ours are at various stages of chemo and those drugs really mess with the liver. Our oncologist gave us Denamarin but our holistic vet prefers Livco because she prefers the quality of those ingredients. Either way, it doesn't hurt.

    All good thoughts for you and your Sadie.

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    dlturnbull (10-21-2017)

  4. #3
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    I agree...I would definitely try the Denamarin supplement. My Toby was also diagnosed with elevated liver enzymes too. He was prescribed Denamarin and Ursodiol and he did great...

    Sending only good thoughts for your Sadie girl.

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    dlturnbull (10-21-2017)

  6. #4
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    Denamarin worked for Sunnie a few years back...but her only elevation was ALT.

    Now Danny is going through the same thing (ALT only) but steady increase. I've eliminated topical flea/tick stuff and sorbitol-containing toothpaste without success (three month Denamarin trial) and now have stopped heartworm meds. We check in another three months and then go for a scan if no improvement.

    Good luck with Sadie!

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    dlturnbull (10-21-2017)

  8. #5
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    My senior boy had extremely high liver enzymes at age 13 as well. Our vet referred us to Angell and we saw an internist. We did a course of prednisone and then denamarin and was on urisdol until values stabilized. Currently he is still on denamarin and hasn't had any changes since then. He will (hopefully) be 16 in December!

    He also suffers from larpar and we try not to give him prednisone unless necessary as it can have adverse affects as it causes him to pant more which is counterproductive to the relief he gets from decreased swelling.


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  9. #6
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    Thanks, Janedoe. I've heard of Denamarin and reading up on it. Sadie is also on Proin for incontinence so looking into any long term effects of that.

  10. #7
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    Hi lovemylabby. Thank you for your reply. Denamarin seems to be used a lot. Wondering why our vet suggested the Prednisone next rather than the Denamarin????? How high were Toby's enzymes? Right now Sadie's are around 132. Just curious. Definitely going to look into the Denarmarin. Is Toby still on the Denamarin?

  11. #8
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    Hi Sundance. It's only Sadie's ALT that is elevated, like your labs. I'm going to look into the Denamarin. Also reading up on possible long term effects of being on Proin and the liver. Wondering if there could be any link????? Ever heard of that? Thanks for your post.

  12. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by dlturnbull View Post
    Hi Sundance. It's only Sadie's ALT that is elevated, like your labs. I'm going to look into the Denamarin. Also reading up on possible long term effects of being on Proin and the liver. Wondering if there could be any link????? Ever heard of that? Thanks for your post.
    I've never had a dog on Proin. Our Akitas' nocturnal incontinence was from protein in their urine (too high a protein food) and we had to only switch food to cure that problem.

    Your question about the prednisone...if Dan's level doesn't come down, our next course of action could be 1) ultrasound, 2) course of two antibiotics and steroid...to bring down possible inflammation, or 3) something involving bile acids to test liver function. We'd opt for the scan. But the prednisone is most likely your vet's way of possibly treating something unknown. I don't like that idea.

  13. #10
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    I have no advice, just wanted to say I hope the levels come down. sending good thoughts

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