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Dog with liver shunt & enlarged heart: best diet and medications?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Bichon Frise | Male | unneutered | 10 months and 11 days old | 2 lbs

My dog, who has a liver shunt, has now enlarged heart too. Our vet saw that on X-ray. Because of his coundition he told us that we must order L-carnitine and taurine from America. Are that the only medications that he must use? Or something more? And, what is the diet for the dog with liver shunt and enlarged heart? Thank you very much.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 10th, 2018

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If Pako has a deficiency of Taurine and L-carnitine, then yes, he should be on a supplement. However, that being said, most commercial dog food diets have sufficient amounts of both and most dogs do not need supplementation. If your veterinarian thinks this will help, I would look at ordering the following product, which can be found online quite easily.

Liver support medications such as Hepagen C as well as a low protein, low fat diet such as Purina NF, Hills L/D diet, or Royal Canin Hepatic Support diet can help as well. These diets are formulated especially for dogs that have liver problems such as liver shunts, and they make it easier for the liver to metabolize nutrients that are provided to the body.

Pako will have a decreased live span without surgical treatment of this disease. He may live a few years without many problems, but the disease can become refractory, and the neurological signs may worsen over time. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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