High liver enzymes

[MaryP]

I'm asking this for a friend of mine. She has a dog who is 11 years old (I think, she may be 12 now). This dog has never been the healthiest dog in the world. But, lately she noticed that her dog seemed to be drinking a lot. So, she decided to get her into the vet for an evaluation. The vet ran some blood tests and found that her liver enzymes were high. For all other parameters, though, the values were within the normal range. The vet palpated the liver, but couldn't feel any masses and the dog didn't show signs of discomfort. They did a bile acid test and the bile acids were high.

 

So, now she is trying to figure out what her next steps should be and also trying to figure out what may be causing her dog's liver to be sick. The vet wants to do an ultrasound and/or a liver biopsy. Her dog has spondylosis and she is not sure she wants to subject her to a painful ultrasound. Another friend had an ultrasound performed on her dog with spondylosis and she said it was the one thing that she wished she had never subjected her dog to because her dog was in so much pain afterward.

 

My friend has also been wracking her brain to try to figure out what may be causing this. Her dog has been taking Deramax as needed, but not on a daily basis. She suggested to her vet that the Deramax may have damaged her dog's liver, but the vet doesn't think so. She also took a two-week trip to visit family earlier this month and brought her dog with her. She had recently switched to using Zodiac spray for fleas and ticks and she gave her dog an early dosage of the Zodiac before going on the trip because she didn't want to bring fleas into her family's home. So, she is worried that she may have overdosed her dog with the Zodiac. Also, since the dog was doing more activities while on vacation, she was getting Deramax more often than is typical. The dog also had a battle with chronic diarrhea about a month ago. My friend couldn't figure out what was causing the diarrhea. She thought that maybe her dog got into something in the backyard. But, her vet doesn't think that the two could be related because he thinks that a toxin would act more quickly and her dog would have been showing symptoms of liver problems back when it happened. But, if they never ran tests to check the dog's liver function, I don't know how they could conclude that the dog hasn't been suffering from liver problems for a while now.

 

Anyway, she is grasping at straws right now. The vet doesn't know what is going on and I'm not sure he knows what to look for, so he just keeps offering to run more tests. And perhaps that is all they can do right now. But, has anyone had a dog with similar symptoms or known someone with a dog with similar symptoms who can offer some advice as to what we should be looking for/considering?

[Journey]

Mary, has she seen a holistic vet? Does she have a good one in her area she can get to? And what does she feed him?

[bc friend]

I'd start w/the ultrasound. Sara's liver cancer was diagnosed on palpation during a semi-annual check up when one of the tumors was large enough to start protruding from under the diaphragm. She exhibited no symptoms. The liver is hard to palpate because it is under the diaphragm - which is why most liver tumors are good-sized when found. Bloodwork ran on Sara the same day was normal with one set of liver enzymes being "high normal." She had 2 large malignant tumors removed along with 40% of her liver two years ago this month. She'll be 17 in Sept and aside from normal aging issues, she's doing well. Her recent checkup in the cancer study was very good - normal bloodwork and no signs of growth in the pea-sized liver tumors she developed 6 mos after the surgery. She's on Denosyl (a neutraceutical), orusdiol (for her bile ducts), and milkthistle to support her liver. The main symptom my vet tells me to look for every week is if she is developing any yellow in her eyes (jaundice) as it would indicate liver failure. The only negative side effect to the surgery is Sara no longer wants her belly rubbed - when they removed the portion of her liver, they had to clamp off dozens of blood vessels (with oh so tiny metal clamps) and apparently they rub the wrong way when her belly is rubbed (and she lights up a regular x-ray)! If I can help with any info, please pm me.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Have they done a simple x-ray? Not to wish this on anyone, but this is how we discovered Ben's hemangiosarcoma - high liver enzymes and the doctor did an abdominal scan looking for something else, revealed the tumor.

[MaryP]

Mary, has she seen a holistic vet? Does she have a good one in her area she can get to? And what does she feed him?

 

Not at this point. She just became concerned and had the bloodwork done at her regular vet this past weekend. We used to have a good holistic vet up the road from our town, but that vet moved away about a year or more ago. I don't know of any others close by, but I'm sure there are some around, if she's willing to drive. I do think she is willing to combine a holistic approach with a traditional one, if she can find a decent holistic vet.

 

She feeds her dog Authority Harvest Baked (I wasn't familiar with it and had to look it up).

 

She is going to go ahead with the ultrasound tomorrow. The vet the does the ultrasounds is going to be in town tomorrow to do one on another dog, so she decided to go ahead and have it done on her dog. Otherwise she would have to wait until the vet was able to come back again.

[Caroline Reichard]

Have they run a lepto panel?

[MaryP]

Have they run a lepto panel?

 

I'm not sure. I'll have to ask her.

[MaryP]

The ultrasound performed today showed a large mass on the liver and enlarged lymph nodes. They are doing some more x-rays now. I'm not sure what this means, yet, but it doesn't sound good and my friend is having a hard time with the news.

[aljones]

I'm sorry to hear that news, Mary. My BC William was also 11 when an ultrasound revealed a large mass (about softball-sized) on his liver. I opted to have it removed, but it took some work to find a surgeon who would take William as a referral, given his age and the size of the mass.

 

The good news is that, after his surgery and recovery, William had two more good years. We were fortunate.

 

I will keep a good thought for your friend that she gets answers to her questions and can then make a plan that she's comfortable with.

[PSmitty]

Awww. I'm sorry it wasn't better news for your friend and her dog.

[bc friend]

I'm sorry to hear it wasn't better news. As I and others have posted, the dog can have a good outcome depending on the type of tumor/cancer - I personally know 2 dogs other than my Sara that have had liver tumors removed in their teens and have a good quality of life - but the enlarged lymph nodes would give me concern as to whether it is an aggressive form of cancer or just wasn't caught early enough. Internal tumors are so hard to catch until they get larger and sometimes then it's too late.

[bc4ever]

Damned disease!

[diane allen]

I do hope this turns out well for your friend and her dog. Here's my experience - all pretty good!

 

Lucy had elevated liver enzymes two years ago; did an ultrasound, didn't see anything.

She's been great since then.

This spring, more elevation; another ultrasound (which shouldn't be painful, if done well - the padded "cradle" mine was done in looked like it just invited sleep!) showed masses. Next step was a CT scan. My advice: find a good internal medicine vet clinic. Liver surgery is quite specialized; most "general" vets don't do it.

 

Lucy is 13, and in great health otherwise. She had surgery six weeks ago (with a 9" incision!), two masses were removed, and one that was not resectable was left. There was NO sign of cancer - you probably have some idea how much of a relief that was! There was some inflammation in the removed masses, but what if anything is in the remaining mass is undetermined (but biopsied and again, no cancer). She came through surgery with flying colors; was released the next day (though we spent the night in my camper in the parking lot of the 24 hr clinic, just in case....); and after a bout with antibiotics (which played a bit of havoc with her appetite), she's 100%. Four weeks after surgery, we did a 4 hr hike in Colorado to above treeline! The arthritis in her feet didn't even seem to bother her on that one - maybe she was just so glad to be out and about again, she forgot to think about it!

 

Dogs live quite well without a LOT of liver function! Oh yeah, did I mention - they also removed her spleen (which apparently had suffered some "trauma" somewhere along the way....probably jumping onto something and not quite making it - they said like a tailgate, but she doesn't/never did do that....).

 

Anyway, if your friend's dog does have surgery to remove masses - tell her to get on one or both of the Yahoo groups on canine liver disease. There are lots of good ideas about diet (which is critical to get right in liver disease...), supplements, and the sharing of others' experiences is invaluable.

 

I hope her experience turns out as well as mine has....

 

diane

[Ancient_Dog]

A few years back we had a border collie named Andy. At 12 he was diagnosed with a liver tumor. We discovered the tumor on a routine (every 6 months) vet visit when our vet palpated his stomach and found his liver to be enlarged. A blood test showed elevated liver enzymes and other elevated levels indicative of a problem. We had an ultrasound done and a mass about the size of a softball showed up on one lobe of his liver. We realized that he was an old dog and the discussion about surgery was more about reducing the mass of the tumor and his chances of surviving the surgery. The Vets prognosis was 3-6 months with or without surgery. We decided the recovery time from surgery would take away some of the quality time he had left. So, we did not do surgery, which seemed to be the consensus of myself, my wife and the three vets in attendance at the ultrasound. We did not do a biopsy because we didn’t see the point, so we never knew if the tumor is benign or malignant. He was put on denosyl, milk thistle, and hepe-forte vitamins. We took him every month for a checkup and bloodwork but after 3 months the tests showed the same results so we stopped putting him through the stress of the vet visits. He never showed outward signs of liver problems….no swollen stomach; no jaundice; no problems with vomiting or diarrhea; etc…. all the things the vets said to look for.

 

What I am getting to , in a round about way, is after the dire prognosis, Andy lived to be 14 ½. The liver tumor got larger, but not so as to caused him any great problems. His final demise was brought about by arthritis in his back (and finally a ruptured disk). We couldn’t give him Rimadyl for his back for fear it would exacerbate his liver problems. So, we dosed him with baby asprin and a little TLC which seemed to help him get around better.

 

I’m not sure what (if anything) your friend can take away from Andy’s story other than the similarity of their conditions and that the diagnosis is not necessarily a death sentence.

 

Howard