Elevated Dog Liver Enzymes 

​​​​Your dog's liver is a multitasking organ and vital for survival. It has roles in blood clotting, toxin filtering and waste elimination. It also stores fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and produces bile, essential for proper fat metabolism.

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Therefore, if the liver gets damaged or is in poor health, your dog's body won't detoxify various metabolic wastes and byproducts. The liver produces several enzymes while performing these tasks. Liver enzymes present in your dog's blood at higher than normal levels are a sign of liver disease and poor liver health. Damaged liver cells leak enzymes. The greater the cellular damage, the higher your dog's enzyme blood count will be.

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If the levels of these helpful liver enzymes are too LOW, your dog's liver will not be able to accomplish the various tasks that it is designed to do, and you'll run into major problems for your pet's health. This can be a sign of liver failure.

 

Low liver enzymes are fairly rare in the dogs that come to me for advice on what to eat. Most often it will be that your dog's liver enzymes are elevated.

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You may ask:  "My dog’s liver enzymes are elevated or are too low. Now what should I do?"

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Elevated liver enzymes in dogs can cause your veterinarian to become concerned, as can liver enzymes that are too low. But, perhaps your dog is acting fine, and the elevated liver enzymes show up on a routine blood panel. Or perhaps your dog is acting sick—maybe vomiting or not wanting to eat—and your vet has discovered liver enzyme abnormalities. Either way, you’re wondering what it means for your dog.

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There are several enzymes that vets look at on a blood panel that can be related to dog liver disorders. Some of the enzymes are normally contained within the liver cells and are only released into the bloodstream if those liver cells are damaged. Other enzymes spill into the bloodstream if there is sluggish flow of bile from the liver to the intestines. Some of the enzymes are produced by other organs besides the liver.

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Your veterinarian may do a complete blood count (CBC, to measure the red and white blood cell levels), urinalysis (to assess kidney function and look for crystals that could be related to liver disease), Bile Acid Test (a blood test measuring liver function), coagulation panel (to assess the clotting factors), x-rays, bacterial culture, ultrasound (to visualize the liver, looking for masses or inflammation), biopsy (to get a small piece of the liver tissue to send to a pathologist for an exact diagnosis), laparoscopy (scoping the belly to look directly at the liver), and blood levels of drugs or toxins.

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If you choose to go down this traditional medical path, realize that each test and procedure can be more invasive and more expensive. Ultimately surgery may even be recommended. 

 

I recommend considering an entirely different path. Further tests may be unnecessary, in my opinion. Save your money. An Ultrasound is very often inconclusive and often provides no or little useful information for the cost involved, in my experience. A Liver Biopsy is a dangerous, invasive procedure that can cause internal bleeding. It also may provide no or little useful information. Again, this is my personal opinion and experience ONLY, working with 1000s of dogs. 

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If elevated liver enzymes indicate that something is wrong with the liver, why not address the underlying possible cause, which very often is poor nutrition? Unfortunately, your Vet may not be able to help you in this area. 

 

Why go down the traditional medical path when by taking an entirely different path, you may be able to heal your dog’s liver once and for all? - FOREVER! Your dog deserves a long and healthy life. Merely finding and treating symptoms with drugs and surgery will not accomplish this. Only by getting to the root cause of poor liver health can you put your dog on a path to long-lasting optimal health, and likely a long and healthy life.  

 

You may be wondering why your Vet cannot help you in this regard? Unfortunately the majority of veterinarians get no or little nutritional training studying for their degree. Their approach is limited to a prescription commercial dog food diet and medications. Your vet has basically two tools in their "toolbox" to help your dog. These tools are drugs and surgery. This medical approach may eliminate some symptoms that your dog is having but it will not provide the nutrients needed to heal your dog's liver for the long term, in my opinion & experience.

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Elevated liver enzymes are indicating your dog has poor liver health. The time to turn this around is NOW before the liver health gets worse.

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Please contact me for a FREE CONSULTATION so I can help you help your dog. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​