Acute Liver Injury vs Copper Storage

[Ravenbird]

Someone mentioned a genetic test for this in a fb thread, so I went to Embarks website and looked... and sure enough, they have added a genetic test for copper storage liver disease. It's a bit detailed, but they explain pretty well, especially for breeders, how to try to avoid doubling up on the causative gene. Anyway, it was just added in May, so probably only a very few dogs have been tested. They listed only two breeds as known to be affected with the gene, the Doberman and Labrador Retriever.

Embark Adds Copper Toxicosis DNA Test

Embark for Breeder's full panel DNA test now includes three new variants for Copper Toxicosis, including APT7B, ATP7A, and RETN.

embarkvet.com

 

[JanS]

I saw a post about that recently too and it's good they're working on more things like this now.

 

[Two Dobes]

I had Falcon embark tested, and he is clear of that....but I decided to check with Instinct to see what their copper content was: 35!!!! Yikes!
It took me forever to find a food that agreed with him (No surprise there when you own a Doberman) and the Be Natural beef & barley has worked great. So I am thinking that even though he does not have the varient, that because he is a dobe, it can't be good to have a copper content that high. UGH. The search begins again. He is sensitive to chicken, so can't have that as top protein.

 

[Ddski5]

I had Falcon embark tested, and he is clear of that....but I decided to check with Instinct to see what their copper content was: 35!!!! Yikes!
It took me forever to find a food that agreed with him (No surprise there when you own a Doberman) and the Be Natural beef & barley has worked great. So I am thinking that even though he does not have the varient, that because he is a dobe, it can't be good to have a copper content that high. UGH. The search begins again. He is sensitive to chicken, so can't have that as top protein.

Take a look at Voyager dog food. Their entire mission is concentrated on little to no copper. My Freyja has been on this for almost a year now and doing very well.

Voyager Dog Food Co. | Low Copper Dog Food

Keep your dog living a healthy and active life with Voyager's clean and complete, low copper dog food.

www.voyagerdogfoodco.com

 

[Ravenbird]

My Freyja has been on this for almost a year now and doing very well.

That is such good news (I am assuming no news was good news with her and no setbacks since the major one)! They say we have to look at the positive sides of everything, and with you and your diligent research you found this food and can share the information to others needing it. Best thing about this chat forum is sharing knowledge.

 

[Ravenbird]

Every time I see something about this, I think of this thread and Freyja's story. This is a screenshot of a FB post. There's some attachments and the comments that I did not include, but if you are interested and on FB you can search the authors page and read it all.

 

[BGpa]

Every time I see something about this, I think of this thread and Freyja's story. This is a screenshot of a FB post. There's some attachments and the comments that I did not include, but if you are interested and on FB you can search the authors page and read it all.



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I did an Embark on Bonnie and among other info I found the marker for active/most penetrant copper storage.
U of Uttrecht is studying this along with DCM (they found the 3,4 markers)

Caveat - genetic markers are not proof the dog will get copper storage disease, either version too little or too much,

Its like college stats course- correlation is not causation.

Still, if you want to be proactive you can continue to check liver test once a year if part of vets wellness blood tests
And
If you feel that lowering risk is worth it;
Change to a lower copper content food.
AAFCO the dog food agency doesnt publish min or max measures but there has been talk.

So the only way is contact pet food and treat makers and ask for copper levels in each. Inukshik was very helpful- switched from 26/16 to Marine 30 and reduced copper about 50%. Have to feed a bit less volume as its more protein dense but Bonnie loves the taste- more fish.

On treats the easy shortcut is no beef liver as its a concentrator of copper in cows. I think chicken is lowest or maybe fish. I just stopped the Costco beef liver treats altogether as 3 was an 3x overdose basically...

Here is a link from a a scientist at U Utrecht interviewd on a podcast

And another by a vet nurse