Liver issues
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How old is Rocky? My Kristii has liver problems with growing tumors (not cancer) that then die off and regrow. Her liver values are very high also. About 5/6 yrs ago her liver values were off the charts, however that time it turned out to be a blockage from something (we never could determine what it was) she ate. Then 7 months later her liver values (that had always been to the high side) went off the charts again, but this time is was a grapefruit size tumor on her liver. We did have it removed, which is when it was determined that by the time they did the surgery (within two days of finding the tumor) 1/2 had already died off. And it was not cancerous. She is now 15 and she continues to have very high liver values and something that seems to run in her family lines as we discovered by tracking all her siblings.
Dr Dodds diet is good to try (Kristii will not eat it)… also, SAMe is good to put them on, ask your vet about that. The only way they found the tumors were with ultrasound, so I would highly recommend that... and if necessary a biospy of the liver.
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Rocky is about four and a half. Were getting the ultrasound within this week they wouldn't let us schedule it until Monday morning.. I'm not sure why.. And depending on what that shows then well get the biopsy done.
Do you know anything of his family history? Like I said, all Kristii's siblings had liver problems, so we know it is in the genes for her… one of the biggest reasons we never bred her.
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I was gonna email Doris. For some reason I think she said his father was deceased when I emailed her about getting a puppy two years ago.. And his father was born in dec of 2002 so he was young.. If I'm right. Just gotta find her email I think I have it saved.
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Apex ringleader of djakomba.
Well, I know most of the dogs in that pedigree as Arubmec is in No.California… but not well enough to know is there are liver problems.... be interesting to know what his sire pass away from, if they knew as that could give you clues.
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she said theres no health issues in his line that she knows of, and his sire was put down because of temperament issues with kids, she thinks. (which explains a lot about rocky… ) his dam is 9 and his granddam is 14 and have had no problems.. so i guess i'll have to wait till monday to see what the two other tests say and then wait for our ultrasound appointment.. :(
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Heather, hope all goes well with Rocky and the vets get him sorted out. Our last Basenji, Benji developed a liver problem when he was 13. When the vets scanned him they found that his liver was very small, something was destroying his liver cells but we never got to the bottom of what it was. Fortunately the Liver is an organ which can regenerate cells.
I didn't know about Dr Dodds liver cleansing diet but it sounds like a good idea. -
well, i just got back from the vet's office. I went just to get a copy of his paperwork and bloodwork results because we need them for friday when we get the ultrasound. when i went in there they asked if i wanted to talk to dr mike (the vet we normally take rocky to) because he just happened to be there today doing surgery. so i was waiting and the vet that did the bloodwork saturday morning came out and told me that the results weren't good. so i'm sitting there almost in tears because i thought they knew what was wrong and it was bad. Dr mike came out and told me that his liver isn't functioning correctly. Pre meal bile acids are supposed to be less than 10. his was 42.1 and post meal bile acids are supposed to be less than 20 and his was 99.7 he said this was a moderately high level but it is not the worst that it could be. He is gonna call and do a consult with a specialist at the emergency vet center where we are getting the ultrasound and see what they think. Rockys on two types of antibiotics right now, incase it is infection/inflammation, and also on a pill for his liver, and they are considering giving him a steriod too.
I guess we'll just have to wait until friday to see what the ultrasound says.
i weighed him again today, he dropped a half pound since thursday… down to 14.5 lbs.
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Sorry to hear this, i hope they manage to get to the bottom of it and it's something that can be fixed.
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Oh, I am sorry to read about all that. But keep in mind, he's quite young and has a loving, caring owner. It also sounds like he has some good medical minds working for him. And good thoughts from basenji owners all over the place. All of those things are BIG pluses. Try to be optimistic.
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well, i just got back from the vet's office. I went just to get a copy of his paperwork and bloodwork results because we need them for friday when we get the ultrasound. when i went in there they asked if i wanted to talk to dr mike (the vet we normally take rocky to) because he just happened to be there today doing surgery. so i was waiting and the vet that did the bloodwork saturday morning came out and told me that the results weren't good. so i'm sitting there almost in tears because i thought they knew what was wrong and it was bad. Dr mike came out and told me that his liver isn't functioning correctly. Pre meal bile acids are supposed to be less than 10. his was 42.1 and post meal bile acids are supposed to be less than 20 and his was 99.7 he said this was a moderately high level but it is not the worst that it could be. He is gonna call and do a consult with a specialist at the emergency vet center where we are getting the ultrasound and see what they think. Rockys on two types of antibiotics right now, incase it is infection/inflammation, and also on a pill for his liver, and they are considering giving him a steriod too.
I guess we'll just have to wait until friday to see what the ultrasound says.
i weighed him again today, he dropped a half pound since thursday… down to 14.5 lbs.
So sorry to hear this, but the one thing about the liver is that it can regenerate… any chance you can get the ultrasound moved up? And if it is something like a tumor, it can be removed. I believe the chances would be 50/50 cancerous or not. Also have they done any xrays of the lungs?
Do you know what kind of pill for his liver they put him on?
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We lost our Tasha to liver cancer at age 12, she was a Tornado daughter but never developed Fanconi. By the time we diagnosed the cancer she was too far along, she had one Chemo treatment and died a week later. Good luck, hoping you have caught it early and the treatment works.
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thanks guys. It's definately been a rough week.
He's on deramarin for his liver and then amoxicillin and baytril. And they're considering pregnisone. The first appointment they had available was Friday.. I don't know if when my vet calls the specialist if they will move it up because of the severity.. The vet said he was gonna skip xrays since he was getting the ultrasound. What would the lung xray show pat?
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thanks guys. It's definately been a rough week.
He's on deramarin for his liver and then amoxicillin and baytril. And they're considering pregnisone. The first appointment they had available was Friday.. I don't know if when my vet calls the specialist if they will move it up because of the severity.. The vet said he was gonna skip xrays since he was getting the ultrasound. What would the lung xray show pat?
Any possible tumors in the chest is usually picked up with an xray. I know that when they found Kristii's liver tumor, before they would do surgery, they needed to do an xray to check for tumors in the chest. The good news is usually they will ultrasound all the organs while they were doing one.
The Deramarin is a class of SAMe, usually always recommended for the liver. Note that it is to be given at least 1/2 hour before feeding a regular meal. Also, you can usually buy on line and many times cheaper then from your Vet, just seach for Deramarin.
Fingers cross that it is just an infection or a non cancerous liver tumor, because the liver can regenerate itself. It also could be a tumor on the adrenal gland, that will send the liver values off the charts… usually 50/50 non cancer and also Cushings will do that too.
Will be thinking good thoughts for Friday
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If cancer is suspected then chest x-rays are done to check for metastasis. That combined with abdominal ultrasound gives a pretty good idea of what is going on internally.
How is Rocky's appetite? Is he losing weight because he is refusing to eat?
My cat Spot started dropping weight after our cat Sparky had passed away. When we took him in to the vet, his liver enzymes were also elevated. We were told there were about three things that they thought were likely and ultrasound would be most quickly be able to get us on the right track. In Spot's case he had was is called Fatty Liver. All of the fats in his body got processed through his liver. The side effect of this is that it makes them lose their appetite which only makes things worse because the only way to get the liver functioning properly again is to get them to eat. It was a very rough couple of weeks but once we got him eating again, things started to perk up.
Has the vet checked to make sure he is staying hydrated? That was another issue we had with Spot, because he felt sick to his stomach he didn't want to drink either. We had to give sub-Q fluids to him for 2 weeks until he started to get back to eating and drinking normally again.
