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Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom  I am by no means an expert with liver issues, but I do know some nutritionists do use raw with their liver patients. They often use it in combo with other foods, just fyi.  |
I know one lady specifically who had her liver compromised dog on raw meats/bones/organs, and her ALT was through the roof...Then, she put her dog back on vegetarian food, and her ALT came down significantly and symptoms subsided...
Elevated ALT levels show that there is liver cell death...
If my dog's ALT level were increased a good bit but when on vegetarian food came down, I would say hand's down, I'm going to feed my dog the food that keeps him healthy...
It is *known that meat and organs are more encephalogenic and produce high amounts of ammonia. This is something that Dr. Center has stated herself...
Ammonia(toxin/poison) build-up is one of the main problems in dogs with liver disease/shunt/symptomatic MVD...The more ammonia, the harder the liver has to work and many times it cannot filter the amounts of ammonia that come from eating meat/organs...In these cases, the liver is already sick, why cause it more stress...
I know everyone has different opinions...I have just seen too many cases of liver problems where the people put the dogs back on raw or meat protein foods and see problems again down the road whether it be immediately, 3 months down the road, or 6 months...
If there's even a chance that something could be bad for my liver compromised yorkie, then I'm not going to give it to him. Why take the risk?
Now, again, I'm typing this in regards to *symptomatic* liver compromised dogs, and by symptomatic, I mean even the faintest symptom...
I think that there is a misconception that people mean ONLY low protein...This is not the case...Low protein should be given *while* the dog is symptomatic...Then, it should be increased slowly little by little every 7-10 days so that you can watch for more symptoms. If the dog handles it well, increase again...When a dog is symptomatic, you can reach an excellent level of protein by using proper diet, supplements, lactulose, fiber, etc.
Also, the key is the TYPE of protein...A truly liver compromised dog cannot handle meats/fish/organs like they can vegetarian proteins...Vegetarian proteins produce less ammonia leading to less toxic build-up...