I have a 9 year old boy. He’s been showing 800+ levels for ALT for 2 years now. He’s been on Denamarin and an ultrasound also found nothing. Other than this, very healthy and normal. Given all the responses here, I’m not worried until he starts showing other symptoms.
Liver issues
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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.
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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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So sorry to hear this. Sending good thoughts for you and Rocky.. -
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.
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Gotcha. And we give him the deramarin In the morning an hour before he eats.
He eats, he's just become very picky. He'll take a mouthful of the dry food spit it on the floor and pick and choose the pieces he wants to eat. he'll eat treats gladly and today he wolfed down his heartworm pill. I have some soft food he's been eating more than the dry kind. He drinks no more or less than before. Or vet asks us those questions everytime we go in, along with how he's acting. So I've been watching him more than usual to note any significant changes.
How long does an ultrasound take usually? If it's done at a place other than your veterinary clinic do they have a vet go over everything with you there or just send the results to your own vet?
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Ultra sound doesn't take long at all, top 45 minutes… and it depends on what your Vet as requested, they should go over it with you right there and call your Vet along with sending the results to him, but you should be able to check with your own vet to make sure. I would assume that the place they are doing the ultrasound is a specialty clinic? And I would also guess that if he needs surgery, it would be with that same specialty clinic.
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It's like an emergency veterinary center, so I'd assume so. I'm not really sure. Technically rocky is my boyfriends so he's the one who talks to dr mike the most. I know where we go they do surgery I just don't know how extensive they go. And if we needed xrays our vet would be able to do that himself. Luckily after our first visit he started looking into the breed to see if it was something common or not. One of dans friends actually used to work there and said mike never gives up and he'll try whatever he can to find out what's wrong and get him better. We got lucky with our vet. He explains everything to us really well and him and Dan talked for a good half hour On the phone when we got the first set of results back..I'm just hoping we get it figured out soon. I hate to think he's hurting and know I can't do anything because I don't know what's wrong.
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Good thoughts coming Rocky's way for Friday…
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My Max has been having liver issues for a few years now. He had ultrasound and biopsy but nothing specific was found just some "mottling" of the tissues. We've found Denamarin to be very effective but it is important when you give it to them. I even called Nutramax (manufacturer) to verify that an overnight fast is most effective. So, two hours after a meal, right before bed, I give Max one pill and he doesn't eat until the next morning. They said the dog can take up to 4oz of food and the pill will be effective, but I just give it to him with a spoonful of sour cream. I tried the pill at other times but his numbers were not as good. Definitely before bed is the absolute best.
Also a low protein diet is effective. Hills L/D canned food was prescribed and it has only 4.5% crude protein. He hates it so I just give him a little Wysong Senior (14% protein), a tiny taste of meat and tons of veggies and brown rice.
Also, my vet has been hesitant to put Max on any steroids since it's so bad for the liver. Is the steroid your vet suggests safe? I need a safer alternative than Deramaxx (steroid) I'm using now.
I hope your B gets better soon.
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Well guys, it's not good news.
The ultrasound showed his liver is abnormally small. There's a lot of scar tissue. The specialist wanted us to do a biopsy but that's $1300. We decided to talk to our personal vet before we made any decisions because that's a lot of money.
Our vet called Dan this morning, he told us that there are three possibilities. Fibrosis of the liver, scar tissue, or inflammation(hepatitis). All three cause cirrosis which doesn't have a treatment. So the biopsy would narrow it down and tell us which of the three it is but regardless he's dying and there's nothing we can do. He's still on the denamarin and amoxicillin and he could be going on a steroid on Tuesday. It's supposed to help slow down what's happening, but he's been going downhill quick and we don't know how much time we have left with him.:(
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So very sorry to hear this…. but it happens.... your best course of action, IMO... is to be able to keep him as comfortable as possible.... and been there, done that.... it is a hard decision .... and my heart goes out to you...
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Oh no, i was so hoping for some good news. it's so hard to loose a young dog. i lost a 5 year old malinois (very, very suddenly) a while back. i don't know if you're better off knowing or not. i didn't, you do. i agree $1300 is a lot to spend on a biopsy, especially if there's nothing to be done no matter the cause. I hope you can find some joy in this short time you have left with him. You're in my thoughts.
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It breaks my heart to hear this news. I'm so sorry Rocky is not doing well. I've been facing the same issues with medical costs and untreatable illness and I've had to let nature take it's course with Max as well. It's been hard to watch but the best I can do is keep him as pain free and comfortable as I can. My thoughts will be with you and Rocky.
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I'm so sorry to hear this.. I wish you a lot of strength.. Both you and Rocky are in my thoughts.
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I am so sorry to hear your news about Rocky. Maybe with paliative treatment you will have him longer than you think. As i have said earlier Benji had an abnormaly small liver and the nearest we got to a diagnosis was that something was destroying the liver cells.
He was treated with Destolit and samylin for his liver and we had another 18 months with him, although your Rocky is considerably younger so you never know.
