[Doodlebug]

We took Daisy to have blood work done because of her changing behavior and heavy panting and fear at night. We wanted to be sure the dog food wasn't causing problems. Blood work showed elevated liver enzymes. The new vet we took her to thought she might also have a kidney or urinary infection so we had an ultrasound and needle draw from her liver and for her urine. From these tests the ONLY thing that showed up was a mild irritation of the liver due to the aging process. Daisy just turned 11 and she is a 17 pound dynamo who has never been sick.

Well, it cost me a pretty penny to find this out but I was terrified that there was something seriously wrong with Daisy because of maybe getting some bad food or treats or something. I got that bad bag of blue buff food with all the extra life source bits and I was sure that she was very ill and probably dying because of a poor choice made by me. Also the vet was throwing around words like cancer and scaring me to death.

We changed her food to Wellness Core Small Breed Formula.

I don't mind spending the money to find out that she checks out ok. I am thanking God that she did and now I have peace of mind about a lot of things. We thought she would get some meds to clear it up and monitor her levels periodically.

But here is my dilemma now. For treatment of a mild liver inflammation he is suggesting the following treatment: (it seems so aggressive to us....can anyone give us advice? We don't want to put her on Hills prescription unless absolutely necessary and don't want her on long term meds unless absolutely necessary...this seems like a lot of meds to us)
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Given her symptoms are so vague and seemingly inconsistent at present, I would elect to treat what we have the best evidence for and that is a mild liver inflammation.

We will get her started on a supplement called denamarin.* It is an antioxidant that accumulates in the liver to reduce inflammation.* We will also start her on ursodiol which helps thin the bile as well as decrease liver inflamation.* The other medical component is an antibiotic called metronidazole.* We briefly discussed that there could be dietary factors at play here as well.* While I have absolutely no proof that the blue buffalo food is a contributor here, I think it would be prudent to change off of it.* The ideal diet for dogs with liver disease is called Hill's Science Diet L/d.* I'll have our office manager order her some.* It should be here next week.* This food needs to be fed exclusively once the transition period (two weeks) is over.* That includes not adding chicken, treats, or other diets to the food.* It comes in canned and dry.* I have people use one for regular feeding and the other for treats and such.

The denamarin and metronidazole are available today at the clinic.
The ursodiol is a mail order medication.* It will likely be early next week before we get it in.
*
The long term plan is to take about 2 weeks to transition her onto the new food.* We start the medications as soon as we get them.* About 30 days down the road we will recheck just a urine sample (to be sure there is nothing more popping up with that) and her liver values.* If they have resolved, we begin drawing down the supplements over several months.* If they have not, we will discuss things further.