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Old October 14th, 2007, 07:56 AM
attwood attwood is offline
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Chronic Active Hepatitis

Hi everyone, you all supported me when I lost my 10 yr old Kees Kaylee to liver disease in August and I am hoping you can help me again. Within the week of losing Kaylee, my 8yr old Kees Sadie underwent a liver needle biopsy and I found out she has active chronic hepatitis. She is on so many medications but I found out this weekend that her ALT liver enzeme was gone from 2.5 times normal to 10 times normal. They had been hoping she would be going back to normal or at least heading in that direction. The vet has now added steriods to the mix and I have added milk thistle (approved by my vet). Do any of you know of anything else I could try and any home made food that would be good for liver disease. She is acting sicker since she was put on all the med's and I have a feeling they are making her feel much worse because of all the side effects. Right now she is on Vitamin E, Milk Thistle, Amoxicillin, Peptid AC, Zentonil, prednisolone, and ursodiol. Any information you can pass on would be so very much appreciated. Thanks everyone. Sadie's Mom
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Old October 14th, 2007, 09:14 PM
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mummummum mummummum is offline
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Milk Thistle is the best bet. Vitamin A (consult your Vet about dose as you can toxify your dog with excess) and C. Coenzyme Q10 (vitamin Q) is another. Any anti-oxidants at all really. Will your dog eat fruits and veggies ? If so anything with lycopene and selenium in it is fantastic. I can dig up some recipes that are liver-supportive if you like.

Last edited by mummummum; October 14th, 2007 at 10:25 PM. Reason: Spleling eh?
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Old October 15th, 2007, 12:14 AM
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TeriM TeriM is offline
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Lucy (yellow lab) was diagnosed with Chronic Active Hepatitis in June 2002. She is now eleven years old and still healthy and active. When she was first diagnosed her alt was 1280 (normal was 0-113) . My vet wanted me to switch her to the veterinary diet stuff but I was feeding raw and decided to continue with that (she had horrible allergies prior to raw). I did consult a "natural" expert who recommended that I use the following supplements.
Milk thistle (with dandelion extract is best), vitamin E, aloe vera juice, acidophilus, digestive enzymes, colostorum (I didn't use that one). Another one that was not very available at the time was SamE which is supposed to be excellent for liver function.

If you are not comfortable with raw then I would definately go with a home cooked diet that severly limits any gluten containing grains. Good veggie/fruit additions are blueberries, dandelion leaves (not the flowers) and anything with good antioxidants.

We did do an initial course of antibiotics and used the ursodial for about 4 months. I think I remember one other med but can't quite remember what it was. Be sure to give the meds with food if possible as this should help prevent upset tummies.

The good news is that six months later her levels tested in the high end of the normal range and six months after that she was normal. I continue to use milk thistle, vitamin E and acidophilus to this day.

I used this website at the time and found it quite helpful. I'm sure there were others but I only can find the printout from that one.
http://www.minschnauzer.com/diet/sunny.html
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Last edited by TeriM; October 15th, 2007 at 12:18 AM.
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Old October 16th, 2007, 06:41 PM
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mummummum mummummum is offline
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I didn't find any recipes for a home-cooked diet that seemed suitable. But I note that everything I came across recommends a diet low in fat, no or very low grains and moderate on protein. I would strongly support raw as well with the exception of veggies ~ those I would probably steam. The more easily digested the meal is the easier it is on the liver. Including digestive enzymes is a good idea too.

TeriM & Attwood ~ I'm curious (there's a surprize )~ have you read this book http://www.hopeforhealing.com/ ? Any good ?
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Old October 22nd, 2007, 11:32 AM
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wrazens wrazens is offline
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Life after diagnosis...

Charlie, my 5yr old black Lab mix was diagnosed with Hepatitis in August. He spent a week under the care of our vet on IVs and antibiotics. I was terrified. He had lost so much weight and I really didn't think he was going to make it. But with lots of love and care our puppy pulled through! When we brought him home he was on a special vet diet and taking huge pills called Baytril, two a day, but he was doing much better and he began to eat again and play. Now he is doing great! He has put all his weight back on and they say his white blood cell count is normal.
The problem is that I live with my parents and they have two other dogs. All our dogs have their shots on time each year, but my mother is very worried that the other dogs will get sick. We have set Charlie up in a seperate pin with a gate that opens outside of our fenced yard. This way I can take him for walks, to pet-smart, to the park, whatever without him having to go through the yard. Saturday, Charlie managed to get into the backyard where the other dogs play though. My mom had a melt down. She is now scared to let the other dogs loose in the backyard for an indefinite amount of time. Poor Charlie is getting treated like everything he touches is contaminated. She is scared to touch him because then the other dogs might touch her and get sick.
I have no idea where to go from here. I feel like Charlie's quality of life is less than it was before even though he is doing so much better and the other dogs were with him when he was at his most sick. What can we do so that Charlie doesn't have to change his name to Midas?
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