Food recs for dog with liver issues?

Question

My dog has elevated liver enzymes for an unclear reason. Was wondering if anybody has any recommendations for dietary changes in our dog, particularly what types of dog foods have you tried. Though we don't know what kind of disease it is as of yet, we'll assume hepatitis.

Answer 1

There is so much debate, right now, as to which is the best diet for dogs with liver disease.. some say lots of non beef protein, and others say low protein.. If I had a dog with liver disease, I would feed a lentil and rice based homemade food with vegetables and small amounts of lamb, rabbit, or fish..
If you email me I can send you a good recipe.

Answer 2

Ha ha! It doesn't surprise me, as I doubt that liverwurst or duck liver mousse are something that the average person has in their diet and would be familiar with. Duck liver mousse sounds like something that snooty Home Counties ladies would buy from "Weeeeit-rewse" to impress their "foodie" friends at candlelight suppers. Never mind the fact that it tastes like something you'd feed to livestock. Haz, what do you mean the 80s?! I had tinned meatballs for lunch yesterday! And I'm sure there's a Vesta curry at the back of my cupboard somewhere... (it's a guilty pleasure from my student days!)

Answer 3

Have you try s brand call Hill's dog food which have a special diet for liver condition dog?

Answer 4

from what I have read on the internet - any dog with an inflamed liver and no diagnosis yet should have his protein lowered significantly and add 1000mg of fish oil capsules per every 20 pounds of body weight to the diet - once a diagnosis has been reached - then treat according to the vets recommendations.

Answer 5

Liver Problems
Diet for dogs with liver disease is controversial. I have often seen low protein diets recommended, but recent studies indicate that too little protein can actually make liver problems worse. Low fat is also often recommended, but is only needed for dogs having problems with fat malabsorption. Dogs need fat for energy, and again, too little can cause problems.

Please remember that mildly elevated liver enzymes do not necessarily indicate liver disease. Check out the following excerpts from Diagnosing Liver Disease: A Roundtable Discussion: http://www.idexx.com/animalhealth/analyzers/snapreader/lr0905final.pdf

"So the question becomes, “What percentage of animals with abnormal liver enzyme activities truly have liver disease?” I suspect it’s less than 10%."
"Something as simple as dental disease may be causing the increased liver enzyme activities."
"Out of 100 dogs with a twofold or threefold ALT elevation, only a few develop liver disease requiring treatment."
"In animals with twofold to threefold ALT increases, I’d recheck them in three to four weeks. If the enzyme activities are persistently high—that red flag has gone up two or three times—practitioners need to pursue additional diagnostics, even in clinically normal animals."
"I perform additional diagnostics immediately in patients with a fivefold to sevenfold increase in ALT activity, even if they don’t have clinical signs. But in cases with up to fivefold ALT elevations, I monitor them and add other tests as needed."
"Of my canine patients with greater than fourfold ALKP elevations, about 80% have Cushing’s disease, long-term corticosteroid administration, or some other condition—not cholestatic disease. So I would say 20% of dogs with fourfold ALKP elevations have cholestatic disease, but that’s purely an estimate."
"The bottom line is that if practitioners obtain abnormal serum bile acid concentrations in patients that probably don’t have liver disease (based on the entire clinical picture), they should consider malabsorption diseases, such as small intestinal disease and pancreatic insufficiency, which are often associated with changes in the intestinal microflora."
See the chart on page 10, "The steps for Investigating Liver Disease," for some easy to follow input on liver tests.
In general, no diet changes are needed unless your dog has problems with hepatic encephalopathy, or fat malabsorption. Liver-supportive supplements can be given if desired.

Liver cleansing diet: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/liver_diet.htm

Answer 6

2gm sodium, low protein. no more beer. oh, no more sex with the dog either.