Liver disease in dogs

Well, I just looked this up for you, I hope it helps:

Dog Liver Failure and Liver Disease Symptoms

1. Urinating and drinking more

2. Lethargy( drowsy, lazy, sluggish)

3. Poor or no appetite

4. Pale mucous membranes

5. Presence of jaundice (icterus) / yellow discolouration of mucous membranes and in severe cases of the skin.

What Causes Dog Liver Failure and Liver Disease?

As all animals and creatures mature their organs tend to work less and less efficiently due to the lifespan of organs coming to an end. As time passes organs will generally get worse until they fail to work at all resulting in death of ‘old age’. This is the case with liver failure and is the cause of a long life of general wear and tear over the years; the only way to help dogs with this condition is to give them a diet that requires less work from the liver.

The most common cause of liver disease in dogs is liver tumours among others and this will cause the gradual deterioration of the liver making it unable to function thus leading to an uncomfortable end for the dog in which case most vets will opt for humanely putting the dog in question to rest.

What Your Vet May Say or Do

Your vet will usually look for signs of the symptoms noted at the top of this page and then proceed to take blood tests and possible urine test to try and distinguish this from other kidney failure conditions.

When these symptoms have been confirmed as liver failure or disease there is very little your vet can do to help the condition but slow down the progression by giving the dog in question a diet of special liver support foods until the condition deteriorates to an uncomfortable stage where the vet may look at humanely putting the dog to sleep.

Your dog won’t suffer, there is medication and food that can help a lot, and if your dog does have liver disease, the amount of time as to how long he will live for, it can depend on how far into the disease he is. He may make a full recovery even if he does have it.

I really do wish you the best of luck, give him a hug from me…

xxx

I know that waiting for the results is very hard…but before you get yourself totally upset, know there is food (Prescription Diet)…there are meds…and also, some dogs simply have a high level of certain liver enzymes for no particular reason.

My Westie was tested and had a liver enzyme come back high (quite high, considering what the normal was) I got scared, too…but she lived a long and healthy life, with it…the level never went down, but it never went any higher either…We simply made sure she was tested every year while she was young, and twice a year as she aged…

Hang in there…

phrannie