[dobes4us]

The biopsy confirmed that Chessie has Chronic Active Hepatitis. Just wondering if anyone else has or is going through this. What meds did you use? I am going today to pick up Pred and a prescription to fill at a pharmacy for Actigal (sp?) and pick up some Milk Thistle. She is also on Denosyl (which I think may be causing a little stomach upset), Pepsid AC and L/D diet from Hill Veterinary. Just want to make sure she gets what she needs....Her only symptom was drinking a little more water than normal. That continued for 4 days and took her in and all liver values were elevated. We have also done the Bile Acids and Cushing’s blood tests. Both were negative. Thanks for your help.

 

[MaryAndDobes]

I went through it with Ember, who passed away nearly a year ago at 11 years of age. However, I didn't know that's what she had at the time. Certainly, we knew there was liver trouble and she went through a couple of severe bouts of illness but she responded to the treatment and we thought she would get bacterial infections that inflamed the bile ducts. Necropsy of the liver after she was euthanized determined that she had cholangiohepatitis when she died but that she had CAH in the past which was not active at that time.

Ember was on Denosyl at times, she did take milk thistle. Reglan helped with the appetite. We found that Clavamox usually helped when Ember was ill. Ember never was on prednisone for it. She was on L/D at times but was able to return to normal diet once things seemed to normalize.

 

[Murreydobe]

We've been fighting elevated liver values with my neutered male for almost a year now. But he's really only been sick in the lab-the liver enzymes being slightly elevated are the only symptoms he's ever shown. The internist has held off on doing a liver biopsy because of his vWD status (affected)..that makes it more high risk for him than usual, and they don't see the point in pursuing that until/unless he actually gets sick. So while he's never been diagnosed with CAH, we've been treating him pretty much as if he had.

He's on Denosyl, Marin (which is a supplement containing the active ingredient in milk thistle, along with zinc and vit. E), and Actigall. He WAS on Clavamox and Baytril for 4 months..right now we're doing a 30 day trial without them, to see what happens (the cost of giving both of these drugs long term is prohibitive). We'll do more bloodwork in 30 days, and if the liver values go up, I guess he'll go back on them. My gut instinct is there'll be no change, taking these abx made no difference to his monthly bloodwork results.

You might look into the liver cleansing diet created by Jean Dodds, a lot of people have reported good results after putting their dogs on it. I don't have a link for it, but it will come up if you google it. I switched from Canidae to Wellness Whitefish and sweet potato kibble for my guy-he's thriving on it.

 

[dobes4us]

Thank you both for your replies. Murrey, hope your boy stays symptom free. I did see the diet from Dr. Dodds and will ask my vet about marin as well. Mary, sorry to hear about your Embers passing. I lost one a year ago as well from something else. Boy, it is never easy....

thank you both again!

 

[Okie-dobie]

Sorry about your baby, I have my Bandit on a natural liver support because she has high liver enzymes. She has been on it for about a month and they have come waaay down. I can't think of the name of it right now, she is up at my parents (with the meds.) but I will phone them tomorrow and let you know what she is taking. They are not very expensive either. Edited to add: they were prescribed by the vet.

 

[dobes4us]

Thanks Okie-dobie. I would be very interested in knowing what she is on. Sorry to hear your girl's enzymes are high. Do you remember how high she originally was? How far did they go down. I am hoping after the month of being on her pills and diet, we will have good results. We are very worried.

 

[Okie-dobie]

I actually phoned the vet and got the information. It is called Hepato support made by Rx Vitamins. There is product information on their website www.rxvitamins.com You can only get it through your vet. Anyways, Bandit's ALT was 210 on Jan.22 normal range is 5-95, on Feb.10th it was down to 166 after being on the hepato support for just two weeks, and that is the only thing she is on. Her ALP count is sky high at 4435, normal is 24-41 it went down to 4255. The main ingredient is Milk Thistle. Maybe mention it to your vet it could be something that might help or be totally useless for your dogs condition. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Murreydobe]

I actually phoned the vet and got the information. It is called Hepato support made by Rx Vitamins. There is product information on their website www.rxvitamins.com You can only get it through your vet. Anyways, Bandit's ALT was 210 on Jan.22 normal range is 5-95, on Feb.10th it was down to 166 after being on the hepato support for just two weeks, and that is the only thing she is on. Her ALP count is sky high at 4435, normal is 24-41 it went down to 4255. The main ingredient is Milk Thistle. Maybe mention it to your vet it could be something that might help or be totally useless for your dogs condition. Good luck and keep us posted!

It sounds very similiar to the Marin supplement I'm giving to my boy..both utilize silymarin, which is the active ingredient in milk thistle.

My best friend is a vet, and she was really adamant I *not* just go out and get milk thistle from a health food store..I can't remember why that was important, tho. So probably either one of these products is a better choice.

 

[Murreydobe]

Thank you both for your replies. Murrey, hope your boy stays symptom free.

Thanks! So far, so good-and like I said, we've been treating him for close to a year now. Since he's symptom free, we only caught this by sheer chance..I took him in to get his thyroid level checked. The thyroid was fine, but the elevated liver enzymes showed up on the chem panel. I think that kind of illustrates why it's a good idea to do annual bloodwork on all dogs.

 

[Okie-dobie]

It sounds very similiar to the Marin supplement I'm giving to my boy..both utilize silymarin, which is the active ingredient in milk thistle.

My best friend is a vet, and she was really adamant I *not* just go out and get milk thistle from a health food store..I can't remember why that was important, tho. So probably either one of these products is a better choice.

I remember my vet saying the same thing and I can't remember why either..lol

 

[MaryAndDobes]

Anytime Ember was in crisis, she was also on HepatoSupport from the vet, but my vet didn't have any problem with me going back to just milk thistle when things were stable. Although I do remember her talking to me once about what part of the plant was used or something to make the supplement.

 

[Okie-dobie]

How is Chessie doing?

 

[Jenny]

How is Chessie doing?

I second that -

 

[dobes4us]

Thank you for asking. Chessie is doing OK. She is not playing as much as she had before, but the Dr. says she may once we cut her pred down, we do that on Friday. She has about a 3 hour time frame that she can be left, drinking and urinating more because of the pred, the cut back will help that as well. She is alert and eating very well. We go in for follow up blood work on 4/11, keeping fingers crossed her levels have gone down. Riggs is beside himself that she will not play with him, so he just cleans her ears (his favorite past time).

Thank you for keeping her in your thoughts!

 

[JavasMom]

For those of us who are totally ignorant on the subject, please bear with the questions....Is this condition something that develops over time or is it passed thru canine contact (like human HepB)? Are liver enzyme levels something that I should be asking my vet to check on specifically? How did you first suspect that something wasn't right with Chessie?

Hope Chessie and any other affected Dobes are feeling better soon!

 

[Murreydobe]

For those of us who are totally ignorant on the subject, please bear with the questions....Is this condition something that develops over time or is it passed thru canine contact (like human HepB)? Are liver enzyme levels something that I should be asking my vet to check on specifically? How did you first suspect that something wasn't right with Chessie?

Hope Chessie and any other affected Dobes are feeling better soon!

There are a lot of different things that can cause elevated liver enzymes. Liver disease itself (CAH, etc.) which probably has a genetic basis. Cancer. Also other diseases like Cushings Disease can cause this as a symptom. Toxins can cause liver issues. So can a communicable disease like leptospirosis.

Liver problems can be chronic or acute. One problem is the dog rarely exhibits any overt symptoms until there's been significant damage to the liver. I think I read that 70-80% of the liver can be damaged before you'll see overt symptoms. For that reason, it's a good idea to get an annual chem panel done that includes liver enzymes.

I mentioned that my neutered male has been fighting elevated liver enzymes for almost a year now, although he's asymptomatic outside of the lab. The only reason we caught it is because I took him in to get his thyroid checked, and decided to do a complete chem panel while we were doing bloodwork.

 

[dobes4us]

Chessie's only symptom was drinking a little more water than usual. She was eating and acting like she normally does. Because of the water drinking I was suspecting kidney or sugar issues. I have come to find out that a full sister to Chessie has had CAH for 6 years and is going strong at 11 years of age. Because of this and that it is an issue in Dobes, I plan to have Riggs checked (again) this coming Wednesday. If I look at the pedigrees, Chessie and Riggs are related somewhere down the line.

I have been doing thyroid (both have it) and ekg (no problems) every year with chest x-rays and a complete blood panel every about 2 years. Maybe I should change it to every year. Something to talk about at our appt Wednesday.

 

[tobyjess]

my Tobie is going through this right now, he is at the vets overnight with iv/fluids and meds. took him to an er the other day and xrays found nothing, lab tests should elevated liver enzymes, came home with meds but after 2 days he has gotten worse. not eating, shaking, very restless, poor guy. tomorrow we will find out after his blood work today.

 

[Australdi]

((((Hugs)))))) Jess (?)
I hope the vet is able to help Tobie. I really empathise as I am going through the same thing right now with my dog Zillah. Keep us updated so we can support you as others have supported us.
best wishes :butfly:
Dianne

 

[dobes4us]

Sending good vibes for Tobie and Zillah. Boy...I started this tread many years ago. Chessie had a wonderful life and her CAH was kept in check by our vet. I am hoping for the same for your guys.