kelpiegirl Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 Any word? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 She seems to be better. Her liver enzymes were literally off the scale (seriously, higher than the machine at the vet's office would read). But the ultrasound today showed a normal looking liver. She's home from the ER vet and feeling decent enough. Bile acids test will come back in the next couple of days and we'll repeat the liver enzymes next week. Thanks for asking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 High liver enzymes but totally normal feeling dog? Been there. Mine had ultrasound, bile acid test and a couple other things. No explanations, and I was told "don't worry about it." Easier said than done, of course! Dunno how into "supplements" you are - but a knowledgeable friend of mine recommended a tincture called Schizandra. Many people use milk thistle for liver cleansing but mistakenly use it also for liver support. I started my old girl on it, and within six months, her AlkPhos levels were back to almost normal. My vet couldn't explain it any other way (even though he gets great glee in called it "Schzam!"). She gets 15 drops twice a day. My local health food store can order it for me, pretty inexpensive. Just a thought.... diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 She's feeling somewhat normal now but she was jaundiced and really, really sick earlier this week. It's pretty scary when an internal medicine specialist tells you he's only ever seen one dog with alkaline phosphatase so high in his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 This same thing happened to old Greg when he was with me. Turned out he had swallowed a zinc bread wrapper twist tie. Craziest thing. His enzymes were through the roof - but he acted fine. I only happened to take him in because he had a bit of the runs and had for several days. The vet didn't want to operate at his age if possible - so she prescribed plain white bread, a couple of supplements to support his liver, and that greenish sticky syrupy stuff whose name escapes me at the moment. Oh yeah, lactulose. His levels stabilized and went down about half, but the vet said his liver was still in danger as long as that thing was in there. After about two weeks, we were at the Bluegrass and I was walking Greg near the exhaust (waiting for a friend to come off the field), and he pooped out that darn twist tie. We checked his levels again as soon as we got home, and they were absolutely normal. And Greg was fat and sassy from the Wonder Bread diet. Hope Gael continues to have a pleasantly bafflingly quick recovery! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Thanks, me too! Baffled beats devastated any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderHill Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Don't know if this could be related, but I had a bitch have acute issues from one tiny little mushroom. I think she sneaked it off the woodpile (in the garage) on her way into the house, just to play with. (She was over a year old but still full of random mischief.) In deep winter, so it wasn't "fungus" season; it was probably just a dried-up sticky-outie grabbable Thing On A Log to her. She didn't even eat the darned thing (unless there was more than one) because I found it (accidentally -- wet sloppy morsel/bare feet) on the living room carpet. At 6:00 pm she was fine. At 7:00 pm she rolled off the sofa and almost fell, with her eyes glazed over. It was questionable whether she was actually standing on her own -- 4 legs braced and sliding apart in slow motion and not making any effort to pull together on her own. Light sensitive and flinching from a hand in front of her, but so stoned she seemed otherwise calm, just confused and not tracking very well. I took her to the vet immediately and as soon as they got their test samples they put in a shunt and prepared to put her on life support if she crashed any further. She was panting but her heartrate wasn't awful; the panting could have been anxiety as well as toxin. Fortunately, she must not have gotten much of whatever it was, as she made it through the night and in the morning seemed almost normal. Her liver results were off the scale briefly. Her thyroid was permanently affected (she was on low supplements ever after). She blew coat and it never came back in again as thick, nor did she come into heat for a year, despite the thyroid and re-testing. (After that I had her spayed for unrelated reasons.) All her bloodwork, urinalysis were normal afterwards, apart from the lowered thyroid. (I had had it checked prior to this incident and she had been within normal parameters.) The weird thing was, she never vomited, drooled, showed cramping or had any abnormal BMs, which I would have automatically associated with poisoning. I didn't step on the remnants of the fungus till next morning and by then it was barely recognizeable as anything so I have no idea what kind it was. What I found (remember, it had probably been dried out and subsequently mouthed and reconstituted with dog spit) looked small and slim (kind of like a "straw mushroom" except they're edible) with a hint of a cap on top. I think Thorn was lucky, because since then I've heard several stories about mushroom poisonings with worse outcomes. Hope Gael will be okay very soon -- even if you never find out the cause! Liz S Gift, Joss, Baxter & The Deuce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Wow! Thanks for the well wishes - she seems pretty good today. Good enough that we're packing up for a dog trial. She'll lay around the camper in luxury all weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Billadeau Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Hopefully Gael continues to improve. Good luck at Dr. Ben's. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc friend Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 In addition to milk thistle, I use Denosyl, a neutraceutical recommended by my vet, for my old girl who has liver cancer. My vet recommended both the Denosyl and the milk thistle for support of the liver, not as treatment for cancer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Yep, Gael is on Denosyl and Marin (milk thistle) from the vet, as well as a couple of antibiotics. She seems to feel fine but her bile acids test results from thursday were horrible - i got them over the phone friday. Normal pre-fast is like 10 and Gael was 58 and post-fasting normal is 20 and Gael's was well over 200. Definitely not good news. We'll repeat the liver enzymes labs tomorrow, in hopes they'll be coming down. Mark - missed you guys at Ben's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I'm keeping Gael in my thoughts. I hope all is well soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 Here's the latest update on Gael -- I ran Gael by the emergency vet this morning for a blood draw and the lab tech called later - the liver enzymes have gone down a bit. They're still in really scary territory but going in the right direction. Alkaline phosphatase was 5888 thursday and is 4500 now ("high" is 200). ALT was 1528 and is 1424 now. I'll talk to the internal medicine specialist on wednesday or thursday about what the next steps are but i suspect he'll suggest waiting and monitoring her levels for a while, especially since she feels okay. She's getting very spoiled with all the special treatment and attention (but she's worth it!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurae Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 That's good news, Robin. I'm continuing to think about Gael and sending my very best healing thoughts her way. Here's the latest update on Gael -- I ran Gael by the emergency vet this morning for a blood draw and the lab tech called later - the liver enzymes have gone down a bit. They're still in really scary territory but going in the right direction. Alkaline phosphatase was 5888 thursday and is 4500 now ("high" is 200). ALT was 1528 and is 1424 now. I'll talk to the internal medicine specialist on wednesday or thursday about what the next steps are but i suspect he'll suggest waiting and monitoring her levels for a while, especially since she feels okay. She's getting very spoiled with all the special treatment and attention (but she's worth it!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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