hi....

Question
my german shephard.."gunnu"...who is 5 yrs..old now...suffered from "parvo" when she was 10 months old.she is fine but doesnt look healthy though she eats a lot.doctors say that since the disease,her liver has become weak...plz..suggest a diet which can help her.i ll be really grateful..thankz....!!!

Answer
Hi Sony,

You need to find out the kind of liver damage your dog has, so you can feed your dog the diet best suited to his needs. There are several different kinds of liver damage, and different diets for each particular disease. Your vet can best advise you which diet your dog needs.
You shouldn't be feeding your dog any diet you can buy in the supermarket, as they aren't made for dogs with liver disease.

The typical dietary recommendations for liver disease are to use a low protein diet that has very good quality protein ingredients so that the liver doesn't have to do much work to convert the protein into forms the body can use.

There are a few commercially available diets made especially for dogs with liver disease. You can buy them online, through your vet's office, and possibly by special order through larger pet stores. These are:

* Pedigree Hepatic Support Diet
* Royal Canin /IVD Veterinary Diet Dog Hepatic
* Purina's NF diet
* Hill's l/d or k/d diets (your vet would decide which variety is right for your dog, depending on the kind of liver disease your dog has.)

There are also prescription medications your dog can be receiving to help improve the liver function. There are some diet supplements used for liver disease in dogs. Before starting your dog on ANY supplement, you should first talk it over with your veterinarian!

Milk Thistle (also known as Silymarin) commonly used to protect the liver from damage, as well as help the liver regenerate after damage has occurred. The standardized extract that has been widely tested for liver disease and functional liver impairment contains 70 to 80 percent silymarin. Milk thistle can be overdosed, so it has to be used in a appropriate manner. Talk to your vet about the correct dose of Milk Thistle for your dog.

SAM-e is S-adenosylmethionine (a good brand to look for is Denosyl SD4). This is also a naturally occurring compound that can be synthesized for pharmaceutical use. It is supposed to help stabilize liver cell membranes and when broken down also provides essential nutrients for repair and maintenance of the liver. It seems to be very safe. Several of the leading experts on liver disease in the US have been endorsing the use of this medication for liver disease and there are now a small number of studies that also support its use. The tablets should not be broken, so if the 20mg/kg dose doesn't match the tablet size it is best to round the dosage up to the next whole tablet dosage. Talk to your vet about the correct dose for your dog.

Vitamin supplementation with B vitamins is often recommended for patients with liver disease, since these are important to liver function and because Vitamin B12 storage partly occurs in the liver. Vitamin K supplementation may be necessary at some time as liver disease progresses, as it may not be stored properly and blood clotting problems may develop. Vitamin C is sometimes recommended for its anti-oxidant properties and Vitamin E is sometimes recommended due to its anti-inflammatory effects. Again, this is something you must talk over with your vet.

These supplements needs to be given daily, and they're not a substitute for the special liver support diets listed above.

You can read about the dietary needs of dogs with liver disease here:
http://www.petz.co.uk/vetontheweb/new/article3.html

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,
Patti