My dog has liver damage & won't eat. What other treatments help?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! When the liver suffers an insult (such as a toxicity) it can take some time for it to regenerate/repair and all values to return to normal. This process can take months. Typical supportive medications given to dogs with liver injury include Denamarin, Vitamin E, Acetylcysteine, and Ursodiol. A prescription hepatic diet (such as Hill's L/D or Royal Canin Hepatic) may also aid in decreasing any ongoing liver injury. Ursodiol is an oral medication, available by prescription only, that can add in reducing bilirubin by stimulating bile flow from the gallbladder through the biliary tree. It cannot be used if there is underlying gallbladder disorder, such as a gallbladder mucocele (gallstone). Your veterinarian will prescribe this if they feel this will benefit Tasha's recovery. You can certainly schedule a recheck with Tasha's veterinarian to discuss any additional medications or treatment options that may benefit her. The liver is a highly regenerative organ, and if given the proper support can make a complete or near-complete recovery.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Hepatitis (infection and inflammation of liver) is a very serious condition and is very hard to treat. If there is an internal medicine specialist in the area I would recommend having Nala seen by them. Otherwise I would be talking with your vet about testing for infectious diseases. However, it looks like they have treated her with broad spectrum antibiotics as well as IV fluids. I would recommend continuing treatment. She may need a feeding tube placed to try to keep her protein up during this illness. Unfortunately, with how severe this is, she may or may not pull through it, but the best chance of her making it through is to be aggressive with her treatment. I would suggest continuing to monitor her liver and white cell count, and to have imaging done and possible samples of her liver to try to determine the cause of the infection. Otherwise I would be talking to your vet about the parasites and infections present in your area and get covered with certain antibiotics. The white cells have increased however not that much, and the liver enzymes are actually improving if I can read the dates right from your picture. This is very hopeful. I would continue with antibiotics (IV if you cannot get them in orally), as well as IV fluids and I would think about syringe feeding or placing a feeding tube. Best of luck with Nala, I hope she makes a good recovery.

Poor Baby! I would make sure you have him on a liver supplement and make sure you have consulted with your vet about medications that he needs to be on for his liver issues. I am okay with him eating chicken because eating something is better than nothing at all. I would consider adding in a multi-vitamin to help supplement the other nutrients he isn't getting. If his appetite is continuing to decrease, I would talk to your vet about rechecking his bloodwork to see if he needs any fluids or change in his medications and also getting him on an appetite stimulant. I hope this helps and he starts to feel better soon!

I’m sorry to hear Charlie isn’t Feeling well. He needs medical attention if he is in liver failure. Even then he may not recover. He needs to be in the hospital on IV fluid therapy to flush the toxins out of his body. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do at home to help him. I recommend aggressive therapy in a vet hospital for his best chance of survival. Good luck and kisses to Charlie!

The condition of her liver does not sound good i'm afraid, in many cases the damage is irreversible. you are giving her almost all you can at the moment, the only thing i would consider to add is a prescription diet called "hepatic" from Royal Canin.

Hello, sorry to hear about your dog. Its likely that his liver disease needs to be further evaluated to rule out the need for antibiotics or steroids and ensure that his liver disease is not secondary to inflammation in another organ such as his pancreas. I would recommend speaking with your veterinarian about obtaining further information with an abdominal ultrasound and recheck bloodwork. It may be necessary for your dog to obtain more aggressive medical management with hospitalization. Hope this helps and best of luck.

please provide more information on the liver condition - tests performed and most recent diagnosis so we can try and help further? Although dogs can withstand 7-10days of fasting as long as they are drinking, any longer can this can cause serious internal damage and worsening of other underlying conditions. I recommend you seek referral to a specialist internist and hospitalisation for supportive feeding and nutrition as well as further investigations and treatment if she is not responding to initial medications