Acute Liver Injury vs Copper Storage

[Rits]

vet I talked to from Michigan said she does not have CSD but thinks it’s acute liver injury

Injury from what though?

Glad she's perky and back to normal! Gosh a whole week from lethargic to back home again. She really fought for you guys!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Injury from what though?

I was wondering that too. What about the episode with the oil she ingested along the fence line? I had to wonder what effect that could have had.

 

[Ddski5]

I was wondering the same…
I have no definitive answer to the acute liver injury but it really kinda suggest this imho. Liver values went up high high, then put on liver meds and came down quickly. The expert in Michigan says if CSD, then it would takes weeks for that number to slowly trickle down.

Last March was the fish fry oil episode which increased her pancreatic enzymes and ripped her GI tract up. I checked her vet notes and her ALT was perfectly normal at 35- so there was no liver damage at all with that.

If not CSD then acute liver injury from something she ate- we have tons of acorns, mushrooms come up sporadically and we have been running a lot at home and at different parks. I did not see her actively eat anything and believe me that I am trained to watch her thanks to Ragnar.

Or she got a bad batch of dog food that had a larger than normal amount of copper chelate/sulfate…studies already suggest there is too much of this in dry kibble and is practically unnecessary and harmful anyways.

 

[JanS]

Or she got a bad batch of dog food that had a larger than normal amount of copper chelate/sulfate…studies already suggest there is too much of this in dry kibble and is practically unnecessary and harmful anyways.

I guess that's always a possibility too since you never know with all of the recalls.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Just some other ideas. What about onions or chocolate? Onions can have a cumulative effect and they can show up in places we might not think of. I don’t know how much human food Freyja gets, but Kaiser shows interest in some foods that have onions (everything bagels, veggie crackers). He also shows interest in banana chocolate muffins because of the banana but I never give him any due to the chocolate.

 

[Kswoodssue]

Of interest, I read that an acute hepatitis can be acquired when dogs eat an infected fox’s stool. Fox are canines. I had forgotten that. So so glad she is better. My question might be, would she more likely have a tendency to liver inflammation after an episode like this? Since the liver is so capable of self repair, wouldn’t there be some elevation of enzymes after 30 and 60 days if this was chronic? Thanks for the updates. It is important to hear this information.

 

[Ravenbird]

Of interest, I read that an acute hepatitis can be acquired when dogs eat an infected fox’s stool. Fox are canines. I had forgotten that. So so glad she is better. My question might be, would she more likely have a tendency to liver inflammation after an episode like this? Since the liver is so capable of self repair, wouldn’t there be some elevation of enzymes after 30 and 60 days if this was chronic? Thanks for the updates. It is important to hear this information.

I marked "agree" on this, but I actually had no idea about the fox stool info. And I was wondering about the liver self repair and what the "expected elevation" might be after such a severe episode, and also if total repair is possible or probable if it was a one time thing, or if it weakens the liver to be more vulnerable of this type of event? So many questions... So, I agree with you asking all these questions and that it's really important for all of us to be able to have this personal story for reference if ever needed.

 

[JanS]

It's such a puzzle that may never be figured out, but as long as her numbers bounce back to normal, that would be great.

I've heard the liver is very good at repairing itself and many recommend milk thistle to help that.

 

[Ddski5]

Great news!
Recent blood test revealed that Freyja’s liver values ALT and ALP are WNL’s- (within normal limits).

Crazy to think that her initial ALT was >2000 and now is only 80.?.? I am so glad that I saw her vomit, observed bright urine and tan poop and got her to the vet asap. I have a feeling I got her there just in time for the meds and fluids to do their job.

Idk…be it acute liver injury of something ingested or CSD….just clueless. Just glad she is better.



(Please change title to Acute Liver Injury vs Copper Storage)

 

[Ravenbird]

(Please change title to Acute Liver Injury vs Copper Storage)

Done!

Wow - just awesome news!!!

PS - Did you get an OK for the run/race with her?

 

[JanS]

That's great news!

I am so glad that I saw her vomit, observed bright urine and tan poop and got her to the vet asap.

Without a doubt.

 

[Ddski5]

Done!

Wow - just awesome news!!!

PS - Did you get an OK for the run/race with her?

Tbh, I didn’t ask. It was going through my mind of what I was going to do if they went back up… I was so excited that her ALT values went down to 80.

But she ever since her demeanor picked up after she came home, I have been letting her run 1mile with me 3x week.

Going to start a new thread on this.

 

[Kswoodssue]

Wonderful wonderful news!

 

[MyBuddy]

So happy for you both!

 

[StateOfMine]

Where do you find out how much copper is in certain dog foods? Flint has a genetic marker that says his liver naturally produces lower ALT levels and to let my vet know. I have no idea if thats a good thing or bad, or just a thing. Glad Freyja is okay. I'd be a mess if that had been Flint. I lost my cat of 13 years to something unexplainable; long story short all of his organs slowly became inflamed and nothing was helping. I put him down, then my mom told me I needed to go to the doctor too, since I'd been in a constant state of high level stress for 3 months. My heart has physical damage from the incident and no longer beats correctly. Stress is insane.

 

[Ravenbird]

Flint has a genetic marker that says his liver naturally produces lower ALT levels and to let my vet know.

Asha has that same note on Embark. I don't think it's an issue in itself, but all we did was do a simple baseline blood-test like they do before surgeries and sure enough her ALT was on the low side of normal for her "normal". From what I understand, this means if your Flint is sick or if you have a blood test run for any reason, if his ALT is on the high end of normal on the reading, that might be construed as "normal" but in fact for him it's elevated. It's a good idea to get a base line test for the vets record and I got a printout for my file at home. Do it now while he's young and perfectly healthy. I get one every year and so far they are all very much the same.

Copper in dog food is not required on packages. I use Diamond Naturals kibble and I emailed the company with the names of the 2 bags I use and they replied within a day or so with the answer.

 

[Ddski5]

Where do you find out how much copper is in certain dog foods?

I actually googled these companies phone numbers and called them…

 

[Ravenbird]

This was in my FB feed and thought I'd share it here. Doesn't seem to say anything new, just a little more to add to this thread.

 

[Ddski5]

This was in my FB feed and thought I'd share it here. Doesn't seem to say anything new, just a little more to add to this thread.

Wow..
This was Freyja to a “T”.

I searched all over to see if maybe she ate something but really could not definitively find anything. So be it an acute inflammation from something she ate or, as said in video, she just passed her copper threshold?? I have no idea but I can say that girl was extremely sick. I am so happy that we caught this just in time.

I continue to feed her Voyager dog food and she is doing fantastic…I really like her tucked shape muscular body also.

 

[lady Dobie]

sending best wishes and hope all of them come true for a full recovery..this is so sad but hope everything will be okay now......